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Florida Parole Programs for Elderly Inmates Initiative (2022)
| Florida Parole Programs for Elderly Inmates Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 8, 2022 | |
| Topic Prisons | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Florida Parole Programs for Elderly Inmates Initiative (Initiative #20-01) was not on the ballot in Florida as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022.
Measure design
This measure would have directed the Florida Commission on Offender Review (FCOR) to develop a parole program for inmates over age 50 who have served at least 25 years of their sentence.[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The proposed title was as follows:[2]
| “ | Elder Contract Parole Program Amendment[3] | ” |
Ballot summary
The proposed ballot summary was as follows:[2]
| “ | The purpose of this effort is to extend the commission authority to approve early release of certain elderly offenders over the age of 50 who have served at least 25 years in prison. Involve the department and the commission in program planning with the elderly offender. Involve the elderly offender in developing her or his individual rehabilitation program for the period of incarceration and parole. Requires eligibility criteria. Inmates currently sentenced to death are ineligible.[3] | ” |
Full text
The full text can be accessed here.
Sponsors
Exodus Project of Florida sponsored the initiative.[2]
Path to the ballot
The state process
In Florida, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to 8% of the votes cast in the preceding presidential election. Florida also has a signature distribution requirement, which requires that signatures equaling at least 8% of the district-wide vote in the last presidential election be collected from at least half (14) of the state's 28 congressional districts. Signatures remain valid until February 1 of an even-numbered year.[4] Signatures must be verified by February 1 of the general election year the initiative aims to appear on the ballot.
Proposed measures are reviewed by the state attorney general and state supreme court after proponents collect 25% of the required signatures across the state in each of one-half of the state's congressional districts (222,898 signatures for 2024 ballot measures). After these preliminary signatures have been collected, the secretary of state must submit the proposal to the Florida Attorney General and the Financial Impact Estimating Conference (FIEC). The attorney general is required to petition the Florida Supreme Court for an advisory opinion on the measure's compliance with the single-subject rule, the appropriateness of the title and summary, and whether or not the measure "is facially invalid under the United States Constitution."[5]
The requirements to get an initiative certified for the 2022 ballot:
- Signatures: 891,589 valid signatures
- Deadline: The deadline for signature verification was February 1, 2022. As election officials have 30 days to check signatures, petitions should be submitted at least one month before the verification deadline.
In Florida, proponents of an initiative file signatures with local elections supervisors, who are responsible for verifying signatures. Supervisors are permitted to use random sampling if the process can estimate the number of valid signatures with 99.5% accuracy. Enough signatures are considered valid if the random sample estimates that at least 115% of the required number of signatures are valid.
Details about the initiative
- The initiative was approved for circulation on January 29, 2020.[2]
- The initiative was withdrawn on May 19, 2021.[2]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Florida Department of Elections, "Initiative 20-01 text," accessed March 14, 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedinitiative - ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Before the passage of Florida Senate Bill 1794 of 2020, signatures remained valid for a period of two years
- ↑ Florida State Senate, "Florida Senate Bill 1794," accessed April 13, 2020
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