Florida Amendment 1 (2008)

From Ballotpedia

Florida Amendment 1, also known as the Property rights and illegal aliens act, is a proposed amendment to the state constitution to limit the legislature's ability to regulate the property rights of ineligible aliens. It is largely described as a clean-up measure for the Florida Constitution, deleting regressive and outdated language. It was a legislatively-referred constitutional amendment, and was therefore on the ballot for the general election in 2008 automatically. It was placed on the ballot on May 18, 2007.

Election results

Florida Amendment 1:
		Votes	Percentage
Yes		3,369,894	47.9%
NO		3,669,812	52.1%
Total votes		7,039,706	100%

Results according to the Florida Department of State^[1]

Background

Article 1, Sec. 2 of Florida’s constitution contains regressive language that authorizes the Legislature “to regulate or prohibit the ownership, inheritance, disposition and possession of real property by aliens ineligible for citizenship.”^[2] This measure was to remove that language.

Supporters

Supporters:

• The Organization of Chinese Americans, a non-profit group and minority rights advocate^[3]
• Florida League of Women Voters^[2]

Editorial Support:

• Gainesville Sun^[2]

Arguments in Favor

• The measure would have removed an outdated and discriminitory passage from Florida's constitution.^[4]

Opponents

None Yet Identified

Arguments Against

• There is no present Florida statute prohibiting ownership of property by aliens ineligible for citizenship.^[4]

See also

• Florida 2008 ballot measures
• For information on other citizen initiatives that attempted but failed to make the ballot, see Florida 2008 citizen initiatives.
• Florida ballot initiative news
• Procedures for qualifying an initiative in Florida
• Laws governing the initiative process in Florida
• Campaign finance requirements for Florida ballot measures

External Links

• Full text of the initiative
• Link to Florida Department of State
• OCA Supporters
• 2008 Florida constitutional amendments voter booklet

References

1. ↑ Florida Department of State
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Gainesville Sun: "Right an old wrong," Oct 7, 2008
3. ↑ OCA Webpage
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} LWV of Tallahassee: "2008 State Ballot Initiatives"

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