Florida Amendment 2, Requirements for Citizens' Initiatives Amendment (2004)

Florida Amendment 2
Election date November 2, 2004
Topic Ballot measure process and Initiative and referendum process
Status Approved
Type Legislatively referred constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

Florida Amendment 2 was on the ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in Florida on November 2, 2004. It was approved.

A “yes” vote supported establishing requirements for the submission of citizens' initiatives.

A “no” vote opposed establishing requirements for the submission of citizens' initiatives.

Election results

Florida Amendment 2
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		4,574,361	68.44%
No		2,109,013	31.56%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Amendment 2 was as follows:

“

Proposing amendments to the State Constitution to require the sponsor of a constitutional amendment proposed by citizen initiative to file the initiative petition with the Secretary of State by February 1 of the year of a general election in order to have the measure submitted to the electors for approval or rejection at the following November's general election, and to require the Florida Supreme Court to render an advisory opinion addressing the validity of an initiative petition by April 1 of the year in which the amendment is to be submitted to the electors.

”

Full Text

The full text of this measure is available here.

Constitutional changes

The text of the amendment read:

ARTICLE IV EXECUTIVE SECTION 10. Attorney General.--The attorney general shall, as directed by general law, request the opinion of the justices of the supreme court as to the validity of any initiative petition circulated pursuant to Section 3 of Article XI. The justices shall, subject to their rules of procedure, permit interested persons to be heard on the questions presented and shall render their written opinion no later than April 1 of the year in which the initiative is to be submitted to the voters pursuant to Section 5 of Article XI expeditiously. ARTICLE XI AMENDMENTS SECTION 5. Amendment or revision election.— (a) A proposed amendment to or revision of this constitution, or any part of it, shall be submitted to the electors at the next general election held more than ninety days after the joint resolution, initiative petition or report of revision commission, constitutional convention or taxation and budget reform commission proposing it is filed with the custodian of state records, unless, pursuant to law enacted by the affirmative vote of three-fourths of the membership of each house of the legislature and limited to a single amendment or revision, it is submitted at an earlier special election held more than ninety days after such filing. (b) A proposed amendment or revision of this constitution, or any part of it, by initiative shall be submitted to the electors at the general election provided the initiative petition is filed with the custodian of state records no later than February 1 of the y ear in which the general election is held. (c) (b) The legislature shall provide by general law, prior to the holding of an election pursuant to this section, for the provision of a statement to the public regarding the probable financial impact of any amendment proposed by initiative pursuant to section 3. (d) (c) Once in the tent h week, and once in the sixth week immediately preceding the week in which the election is held, the proposed amendment or revision, with notice of the date of election at which it will be submitted to the electors, shall be published in one newspaper of general circulation in each county in which a newspaper is published. (e) (d) If the proposed amendment or revision is app roved by vote of the electors, it shall be effective as an amendment to or revision of the constitution of the state on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January following the election, or on such other date as ma y be specified in the amendment or revision.

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Florida Constitution

A 60% vote was required during one legislative session for the Florida State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounted to a minimum of 51 votes in the Florida House of Representatives and 18 votes in the Florida State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments did not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot. Amendments on the ballot required a simple majority vote in this year.

See also

2004 Measures

• 2004 Measures
• Initiative and referendum process on the ballot
• Ballot measure process on the ballot
• 2004 legislative sessions

Florida

• Florida ballot measures
• Florida ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Florida Division of Elections, "Initiatives / Amendments / Revisions Database"