A public policy institute is pushing back against legislation to abolish the state’s Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) even as the proposal passed the state Senate on a lopsided 27-12 vote last week.
The LeRoy Collins Institute, a strong backer of the CRC process, has called on state lawmakers to reform the commission rather than scrap it entirely. The panel’s work during 2017 and 2018 was criticized when panel members combined unrelated issues, such as offshore oil development and indoor vaping, into a single ballot initiative.
Supporters of abolishing the CRC, which meets every two decades to consider updating the state’s primary governing document, say the panel’s appointed members are not accountable to Floridians and that other options are available to revise the constitution. These avenues consist of citizen petitions, legislative action, the Taxation & Budget Reform Commission and a constitutional convention.
But the institute sees the CRC as a key method to allow citizens to take an active role in the operation of democratic government.
“No other state has a commission that meets every 20 years to take an independent look at needed constitutional revisions and can put their recommendations directly on the ballot,” Carol Weissert, the institute’s director, told the Florida Record in an email.
Since 1977-78, the commission has spearheaded important revisions of the state constitution, including restrictions on the size of the state Cabinet, public financing of the political campaigns of statewide candidates, financing for the court system, crime victims’ rights and ethics reform for public officials, according to Weissert.
In addition, critics’ concerns can be addressed by reform rather than abolishing the CRC, she said.
“These include requiring future CRCs to abide by the single-subject provision, prohibiting the appointment of registered lobbyists and sitting state and local officials, and providing that the CRC chair be appointed by the CRC members, not the governor,” Weissert said.
A survey conducted in recent months found that 87 percent of respondents support having a commission charged with making proposals for constitutional revisions, she said. Such proposals need 60 percent voter majorities in order for the revisions to take effect.
The original CRC concept grew out of advice by Thomas Jefferson, who said each generation should have an opportunity to update its constitution.
“We have 16 years to evaluate the (current) CRC and make changes before the next one,” Weissert said. “We should take that time to improve, not abolish, Florida’s stellar example of popular governance.”