Truth or DARA Blog by Lloyd Dunkelberger

September 25, 2017

As the Florida Constitution Revision Commission begins its debate this week on a slate of constitutional amendments for the 2018 ballot, a group of Democratic-leaning organizations is calling for more public hearings.

The commission has already received more than 1,000 proposals from the public and is expected to extend the filing deadline, because of Hurricane Irma, to Oct. 6. The 37 members of the commission will have until Oct. 31 to file their own proposals under the new schedule, with seven commissioner proposals filed thus far.

The coalition, which includes the Florida Education Association, the League of Women Voters of Florida, the Florida AFL-CIO, the ACLU and other groups, in a letter today asked the commission to consider another round of public hearings around the state “after the full commission has determined, by majority vote, which proposals will be further considered.”

“As was evident during the first round of public hearings, Florida’s citizens are concerned about a wide range of issues in our state. A second round of hearings after many issues are eliminated will allow citizens the opportunity to make focused and in-depth public comment about issues that have been determined to have a real chance of making it to the ballot,” the letter said. “And commissioners will have the benefit of that comment before they take their final vote.”

Additionally, the coalition asked the commission to hold itself to a strict interpretation of Florida’s open-government laws, including prohibiting private communication between two commissioners when they are discussing proposals. [READ MORE]