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April 25, 2018
After holding numerous public hearings and committee meetings over the past year, the full Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) met in April to hold final votes on proposed amendments to the Florida Constitution. The CRC finished its work after approving eight proposed amendments for the November 6 general-election ballot. Six of the eight ballot measures bundle multiple subjects that were debated and advanced by the commission. The CRC's eight proposals will join five other measures on the ballot, including three approved by the Florida Legislature and two approved in petition initiatives, bringing the total number of proposed constitutional amendments that will go before voters to 13. Look for more information from the FCCB on these amendments as the election nears.
When the full CRC convened earlier this month, the following two proposals of interest to the FCCB remained under consideration:
Employment Eligibility Verification
This FCCB-opposed proposal was defeated by the CRC in a 12-24 vote. The proposal would have required the Florida legislature to establish an employment verification process "to ensure that all employees in the state are legally authorized to work under applicable federal immigration law."
While the overarching goals of employment verification systems may be meritorious, such a mandatory expansion of the system should only be implemented at the federal level as part of a larger legislative effort on immigration reform. Archbishop Wenski outlined the FCCB's opposition to the proposal in a letter to the CRC's Style and Drafting Committee.
Rights of Crime Victims
Referred to as Marsy's Law after Marsalee (Marsy) Nicholas who was tragically murdered in 1983, the proposal aims to codify victims' rights into the state constitution. As with other CRC proposals, Marsy's Law has been combined with multiple proposals into one constitutional amendment.
Among the various provisions of Marsey's Law, the FCCB is concerned about one in particular that would establish hard deadlines for the completion of state-level appeals in capital cases.
A letter from executive director, Michael Sheedy, to CRC Chairman Carlos Beruff highlighted that:- of the six other states that have passed similar laws, none included hard deadlines for the completion of appeals;
- having already exonerated more persons from death row than any other state, Florida cannot risk speeding the appellate process in handing down the most extreme of sentences; and
- similar hard deadlines have already been stricken by the Florida Supreme Court.
Other proposals of interest to the FCCB were withdrawn or postponed earlier in the process. These included two FCCB-supported proposals: restoration of the privacy clause to its original intent to limit broad application to abortion and removal of a prohibition on funding of religious entities. Additionally, FCCB expressed concern with a proposal that sought to deregulate the hospital certificate of need process. For more information on these proposals, visit the FCCB website.