When Florida voters arrive at the polls in November 2018, they will be given an opportunity to approve or reject revisions to Florida's constitution as put forth by the 2017-18 Florida Constitution Revision Commission.
The commission has been working since the beginning of 2017 to hear from Floridians about changes they’d like to see. All told, the commission has held nine public hearings, received countless comments and emails, and collected more than 1,400 public proposals.
Three of those proposals came from students at the Fourth Annual Future of Florida Summit, which focused on the revision commission and its process.
At the summit, 12 groups of students worked through the weekend with state policy experts and leaders to discuss the state's biggest challenges and draft amendment proposals. These drafts were presented to a panel of six judges and evaluated based on quality and feasibility. Three proposals, chosen by the judges, were sent to the commission for consideration. Two of the three proposals have continued on in some form.
One — a proposal to close Florida's primary elections write-in loophole — was proposed by Fifteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida State Attorney Dave Aronberg and sponsored by Constitution Revision Commission Commissioner Sherry Plymale. It reflects the intent of a proposal put forth by summit attendees.
Another, which changes the mandatory retirement age of state judges from 70 to 75, was proposed by Commissioner Robert Martinez and mirrors a proposal from the summit.
However, in order to make it on the November 2018 ballot, proposals still require 22 votes from the full 37-member commission. The proposal process must be completed 180 days before the election, meaning that all commission-referred amendments must be in place by May 10, 2018.
More information on how proposals advance through the CRC process can be found at: https://www.flcrc.gov/PublishedContent/ADMINISTRATIVEPUBLICATIONS/CRCProposalProcess2017.pdf.
The Future of Florida Summit is a student-run conference that invites the brightest and most politically engaged students from Florida's colleges and universities to examine issues facing Florida. Modeled after the National Campaign Conference at Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics, the mission of the Future of Florida Summit is to bring together a select group of Florida students to identify problems, propose solutions and create an action plan for implementing change.
