Florida Senate - 2007 SB 478
By Senator Hill
1-391-07
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to financial impact statements
3 for constitutional amendments; amending ss.
4 100.371 and 101.161, F.S.; requiring that, for
5 every amendment to or revision of the State
6 Constitution, not merely for amendments
7 proposed by initiative, a separate financial
8 impact statement concerning the measure and
9 prepared by the Financial Impact Estimating
10 Conference must appear on the ballot; providing
11 deadlines for preparing and, if necessary,
12 revising such a financial impact statement;
13 providing a contingent effective date.
14
15 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
16
17 Section 1. Subsection (5) of section 100.371, Florida
18 Statutes, as amended by section 11 of chapter 2006-119, Laws
19 of Florida, is amended to read:
20 100.371 Initiatives; procedure for placement on
21 ballot.--
22 (5)(a) Within 45 days after receipt of a proposed
23 revision or amendment to the State Constitution by initiative
24 petition from the Secretary of State, 45 days after passage of
25 a proposed constitutional amendment by both houses of the
26 Legislature, or 45 days after adoption of the final draft of a
27 revision proposed by a constitutional revision commission or
28 constitutional convention, the Financial Impact Estimating
29 Conference shall complete an analysis and financial impact
30 statement to be placed on the ballot of the estimated increase
31 or decrease in any revenues or costs to state or local
1
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2007 SB 478
1-391-07
1 governments resulting from the proposed amendment or revision
2 initiative. The Financial Impact Estimating Conference shall
3 submit the financial impact statement to the Attorney General
4 and Secretary of State.
5 (b) The Financial Impact Estimating Conference shall
6 provide an opportunity for any proponents or opponents of the
7 amendment or revision initiative to submit information and may
8 solicit information or analysis from any other entities or
9 agencies, including the Office of Economic and Demographic
10 Research.
11 (c) All meetings of the Financial Impact Estimating
12 Conference shall be open to the public. The President of the
13 Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
14 jointly, shall be the sole judge for the interpretation,
15 implementation, and enforcement of this subsection.
16 1. The Financial Impact Estimating Conference is
17 established to review, analyze, and estimate the financial
18 impact of amendments to or revisions of the State Constitution
19 proposed by initiative. The Financial Impact Estimating
20 Conference shall consist of four principals: one person from
21 the Executive Office of the Governor; the coordinator of the
22 Office of Economic and Demographic Research, or his or her
23 designee; one person from the professional staff of the
24 Senate; and one person from the professional staff of the
25 House of Representatives. Each principal shall have
26 appropriate fiscal expertise in the subject matter of the
27 amendment or revision initiative. A Financial Impact
28 Estimating Conference may be appointed for each amendment or
29 revision initiative.
30 2. Principals of the Financial Impact Estimating
31 Conference shall reach a consensus or majority concurrence on
2
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2007 SB 478
1-391-07
1 a clear and unambiguous financial impact statement, no more
2 than 75 words in length, and immediately submit the statement
3 to the Attorney General. Nothing in This subsection does not
4 prohibit prohibits the Financial Impact Estimating Conference
5 from setting forth a range of potential impacts in the
6 financial impact statement. Any financial impact statement
7 that a court finds not to be in accordance with this section
8 shall be remanded solely to the Financial Impact Estimating
9 Conference for redrafting. The Financial Impact Estimating
10 Conference shall redraft the financial impact statement within
11 15 days.
12 3. If the members of the Financial Impact Estimating
13 Conference are unable to agree on the statement required by
14 this subsection, or if the Supreme Court has rejected the
15 initial submission by the Financial Impact Estimating
16 Conference and a no redraft has not been approved by the
17 Supreme Court by 5 p.m. on the 75th day before the election,
18 the following statement shall appear on the ballot pursuant to
19 s. 101.161(1): "The financial impact of this measure, if any,
20 cannot be reasonably determined at this time."
21 (d) The financial impact statement must be separately
22 contained and be set forth after the ballot summary as
23 required in s. 101.161(1).
24 (e)1. Any financial impact statement that the Supreme
25 Court finds not to be in accordance with this subsection shall
26 be remanded solely to the Financial Impact Estimating
27 Conference for redrafting, provided the court's advisory
28 opinion is rendered at least 75 days before the election at
29 which the question of ratifying the amendment will be
30 presented. The Financial Impact Estimating Conference shall
31 prepare and adopt a revised financial impact statement no
3
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2007 SB 478
1-391-07
1 later than 5 p.m. on the 15th day after the date of the
2 court's opinion.
3 2. If, by 5 p.m. on the 75th day before the election,
4 the Supreme Court has not issued an advisory opinion on the
5 initial financial impact statement prepared by the Financial
6 Impact Estimating Conference for an initiative amendment that
7 otherwise meets the legal requirements for ballot placement,
8 the financial impact statement shall be deemed approved for
9 placement on the ballot.
10 3. In addition to the financial impact statement
11 required by this subsection, the Financial Impact Estimating
12 Conference shall draft a an initiative financial information
13 statement. The initiative financial information statement
14 should describe in greater detail than the financial impact
15 statement any projected increase or decrease in revenues or
16 costs that the state or local governments would likely
17 experience if the ballot measure were approved. If
18 appropriate, the initiative financial information statement
19 may include both estimated dollar amounts and a description
20 placing the estimated dollar amounts into context. The
21 initiative financial information statement must include both a
22 summary of not more than 500 words and additional detailed
23 information that includes the assumptions that were made to
24 develop the financial impacts, workpapers, and any other
25 information deemed relevant by the Financial Impact Estimating
26 Conference.
27 4. The Department of State shall have printed, and
28 shall furnish to each supervisor of elections, a copy of the
29 summary from the initiative financial information statements.
30 The supervisors shall have the summary from the initiative
31 financial information statements available at each polling
4
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2007 SB 478
1-391-07
1 place and at the main office of the supervisor of elections
2 upon request.
3 5. The Secretary of State and the Office of Economic
4 and Demographic Research shall make available on the Internet
5 each initiative financial information statement in its
6 entirety. In addition, each supervisor of elections whose
7 office has a website shall post the summary from each
8 initiative financial information statement on the website.
9 Each supervisor shall include the Internet addresses for the
10 information statements on the Secretary of State's and the
11 Office of Economic and Demographic Research's websites in the
12 publication or mailing required by s. 101.20.
13 Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 101.161, Florida
14 Statutes, is amended to read:
15 101.161 Referenda; ballots.--
16 (1) Whenever a constitutional amendment or other
17 public measure is submitted to the vote of the people, the
18 substance of such amendment or other public measure shall be
19 printed in clear and unambiguous language on the ballot after
20 the list of candidates, followed by the word "yes" and also by
21 the word "no," and shall be styled in such a manner that a
22 "yes" vote will indicate approval of the proposal and a "no"
23 vote will indicate rejection. The wording of the substance of
24 the amendment or other public measure and the ballot title to
25 appear on the ballot shall be embodied in the joint
26 resolution, constitutional revision commission proposal,
27 constitutional convention proposal, taxation and budget reform
28 commission proposal, or enabling resolution or ordinance.
29 Except for amendments and ballot language proposed by joint
30 resolution, the substance of the amendment or other public
31 measure shall be an explanatory statement, not exceeding 75
5
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2007 SB 478
1-391-07
1 words in length, of the chief purpose of the measure. In
2 addition, for every amendment proposed by initiative, the
3 ballot shall include, following the ballot summary, a separate
4 financial impact statement concerning the measure prepared by
5 the Financial Impact Estimating Conference in accordance with
6 s. 100.371(5). The ballot title shall consist of a caption,
7 not exceeding 15 words in length, by which the measure is
8 commonly referred to or spoken of.
9 Section 3. This act shall take effect upon the
10 effective date of a joint resolution amending Section 5 of
11 Article XI of the State Constitution which requires that a
12 statement of the probable financial impact of any proposed
13 constitutional amendment or revision be provided to the
14 public.
15
16 *****************************************
17 SENATE SUMMARY
18 Requires that, for every amendment to or revision of the
State Constitution, not merely for amendments proposed by
19 initiative, a separate financial impact statement
concerning the measure and prepared by the Financial
20 Impact Estimating Conference must appear on the ballot.
Provides deadlines for preparing and, if necessary,
21 revising such a financial impact statement.
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
6
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.