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Florida Right to Clean Water Initiative (2022)

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Florida Right to Clean Water Initiative
Flag of Florida.png
Election date
November 8, 2022
Topic
Water and Constitutional rights
Status
Not on the ballot
Type
Constitutional amendment		Origin
Citizens

The Florida Right to Clean Water Initiative (Initiative #20-03) was not on the ballot in Florida as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022.

Florida Right to Clean Water.org sponsored a new version of the initiative targeting the 2024 ballot, which is available here.

Measure design

The initiative would have provided in the state constitution that "every Floridian has a right to clean water" and would have given legal standing to residents, non-governmental organizations, or government entities to sue in order to enforce or defend such rights.[1]

Text of measure

Ballot title

The proposed title was as follows:[1]

“ FLORIDA RIGHT TO CLEAN WATER[2] ”

Ballot summary

The proposed ballot summary was as follows:[1]

“ Prohibits pollution of Florida’s waters by recognizing a right to clean water for all Floridians and Florida waters, including the Everglades, Florida Springs, the Indian River Lagoon, the St. Johns River, the Caloosahatchee River, Biscayne Bay, Tampa Bay, Pensacola Bay and all other waters within the state; provides for local lawmaking to protect clean water, and provides for enforcement and severability.

[2]

”

Full text

The full text can be accessed here.

Support

FL5.org sponsored the initiative, as well as four other related measures. The five initiatives filed by FL5.org were:[3]

The campaign provided a full list of endorsements on its website, which can be accessed here.

Supporters

  • Joseph Bonasia, Vice-Chair and SWFL Regional Director of the Florida Rights of Nature Movement[4]
  • Save Our Rivers[5]
  • Broward for Progress[5]
  • Earth Ethics[5]
  • Physicians for Social Responsibility[5]
  • Noah's Notes[5]
  • Florida Springs Council[5]
  • SWFL Reset Center[5]
  • Florida Rights of Nature[5]

Arguments

  • Joseph Bonasia, Vice-Chair and SWFL Regional Director of the Florida Rights of Nature Movement, said, "The Right to Clean Water and other four constitutional amendments of FL5.org are a response to the fact that our environmental regulatory system clearly isn’t working, and Floridians want our waterways and ecosystems protected. Look at Orange County, where 89 percent of voters approved their Right to Clean Water Charter Amendment last year. 89 percent! That shows how highly Floridians value clean water and healthy ecosystems, how vital we know they are to our health and economy, how frustrated we are with a system that has failed us for decades, and how citizens are ready to provide the necessary protections themselves. These amendments are about empowering citizens to act effectively to protect our natural treasures when the system doesn’t."[4]

Opposition

If you are aware of any opponents or opposing arguments, please send an email with a link to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Florida

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.[6] 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."[7]

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 sponsored by FL5.org and was approved for circulation on May 20, 2021.[1]
  • Sponsors did not submit the required number of signatures to qualify for the ballot by the deadline on February 1, 2022.[1]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Florida Department of Elections, "Initiative 20-03," accessed May 24, 2021
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  3. ↑ Florida Division of Elections, "Initiatives database," accessed July 20, 2021
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Bradenton Times, "Gamechanger? FL5.org Seeks 5 Referendums for 2022," accessed July 20, 2021
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 FL5.org, "Endorsements," accessed July 20, 2021
  6. ↑ Before the passage of Florida Senate Bill 1794 of 2020, signatures remained valid for a period of two years
  7. ↑ Florida State Senate, "Florida Senate Bill 1794," accessed April 13, 2020
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