Florida Family
Association
Clarification
on FFA's recommendations for Florida Constitutional Amendments'
Dear M,
Our first
email regarding recommendations for Florida's Constitutional Amendments
needs to be clarified. We need to clarify the reason why we
"made
no recommendation" on Amendment No. 2 and Amendment No. 5 is because
these
amendments were removed from the ballot.
Florida Family
Association makes the following recommendations regarding the proposed
state constitutional amendments that appear on the November 7, 2006
ballot.
Amendment
3, which seeks to dilute voters’ rights for the benefit of special
interest
lobbying groups, is the only amendment we recommend a NO vote.
No.
1 STATE PLANNING AND BUDGET PROCESS. This
amendment
provides for fiscal conservatism and accountability. FFA
recommends
a YES vote .
No.
2 TERM LIMITS - THIS AMENDMENT WAS
REMOVED FROM THE BALLOT.
No.
3 REQUIRING BROADER PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS OR
REVISIONS.
This amendment proposed by the Florida Legislature
increases by Ten
percent (10%) the percentage needed to approve a state constitutional
amendment.
Future constitutional amendments would require a Sixty percent (60%)
vote
to be approved.
This amendment
decreases voters rights while giving greater power
to
the Florida
Legislature and lobbyists.
In effect, voters are being asked by the legislature to reduce their
voting
power from One vote to Ninety percent (90%) of one vote.
Most
constitutional amendments are initiated by citizen groups because the
Florida
Legislature failed to respond to their legislative requests.
Many
times this failed legislative
response is
caused by the opposing influence by special interest lobbying
groups.
Making it more difficult "for the people" to influence their government
by increasing the amendment approval percentage gives more
power
to those special interest groups and the
legislature
they are seeking to influencing.
Section 1
of The Florida Constitution states "All political power is inherent in
the people." Amendment 3 dilutes the political power of the people.
Some amendments
approved in prior years certainly do not belong in the Florida
Constitution.
However, reducing the Power of the People is not the answer.
FFA
recommends a NO vote.
No.
4 PROTECT PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY YOUTH, FROM ADDICTION, DISEASE,
AND
OTHER HEALTH HAZARDS OF USING TOBACCO. This
amendment requires
that money received from the Tobacco settlement be used to curb teen
smoking.
FFA recommends a Yes vote .
No.
5 INDEP ... THIS AMENDMENT WAS
REMOVED FROM THE BALLOT.
No.
6 INCREASED HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION. This
amendment increases
the homestead exemption for low income seniors from $25,000 to
$50,000.
FFA recommends a YES vote .
No.
7 PERMANENTLY DISABLED VETERANS' DISCOUNT ON HOMESTEAD AD
VALOREM
TAX. This amendment provides ad valorem
tax relief for
disabled veterans. FFA recommends a YES vote.
No.
8 EMINENT DOMAIN. This amendment
prohibits the taking of
private property through eminent domain and giving it to a natural
person
or private entity. This amendment should stop local
governments from
taking private property to give to developers in order to increase
property
values and tax bases. FFA recommends a YES vote
.
Florida Family
Association (FFA) is a non-profit 501C3 organization. IRS
rules permit
non-profit 501C3 organization to take positions regarding
issues.
However, IRS rules forbid non-profit 501C3 organizations from endorsing
or recommending candidates.
The media
is buzzing with alleged news that evangelical Christians are
disenchanted
with what their elected leaders are doing or not doing. Many
news
organizations are predicting that social conservatives are so upset
over
the events taking place that they will likely sit this election
out.
Some media pundits and talk elitists are suggesting that Christian
conservatives
are planning to show their leaders who's the boss by not re-electing
them
to office. Is the liberal media actually going to convince us
to
stay home? I hope and pray not. Exercising our
right to vote
is imperative to ensure proper representation in government.
And
maybe in this election, voting means keeping status quo or choosing the
lesser of two unsatisfactory candidates. But we must
vote.
If we do not vote, we lose by default.
If you are
encouraged by the results of our efforts and feel our mission is
worthy,
please
click here to make a small contribution to help our efforts
to continue.
All online contributions are processed through Bank of America's
secured
site.
Sincerely,
David
Caton Florida
Family Association - http://floridafamily.org/
Copyright
©2006, Florida Family Association
Florida Family
Association Post Office Box 46547 Tampa, FL
33647-0105
Toll Free 1-800-357-7128
Fax 1-813-264-0658
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