#ammendments

Thank you to all who have served, serve, stood and continue to stand for this beautiful God blessed land. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY AMERICA !

Today in History, September 25, 1789:

The US Congress approves the first ten ammendments to the Constitution, or The Bill of Rights.

The ammendments were more about restricting the powers of government than “bestowing” rights the founders considered natural.

The Bill of Rights would be ratified by the states in December, 1791.

In Florida state politicians do this thing where they bundle unrelated things into ammendments & even then we have a ton to vote on. Here are the bundled ones that passed.

Amendment 6: Expands the scope of victims' rights under the Florida Constitution, including victims' rights to due process, under what's known as Marsy's Law; raises the mandatory retirement age of Florida judges from 70 to 75; prohibits state courts from deferring to an administrative agency's interpretation of a state statute or rule.

Amendment 7: Requires mandatory payment of death benefits and waives some educational expenses to qualifying survivors of first responders and military members who die performing official duties, which is already in state law (and adds paramedics and emergency medical technicians to the list); Requires supermajority votes by university trustees and state university system boards of governors to raise or impose fees; Establishes the existing Florida College System as a constitutional entity.

Amendment 10: This is a Constitution Revision Commission proposal-Require the Legislature to start its annual session in January instead of March during even-numbered years. That’s because these are election years; an earlier start means lawmakers can finish before May; Create a counter-terrorism and security office within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement; Require the state to have a Department of Veterans Affairs, which already exists; Require that all 67 counties must elect their sheriff, tax collector, elections supervisor and clerk of courts. Several Florida counties now have at least one of these positions appointed based on home-rule charters, such as Miami-Dade County, whose top law enforcer is appointed, not elected.

Amendment 11:Florida’s Constitution currently has language that allows the Legislature to prevent non-citizens from buying, selling, owning or inheriting property; Florida’s Constitution added the “Savings Clause” in 1885 and is one of only three states that enforces one. This clause forbids making changes to criminal sentencing laws retroactive. For example, if the Legislature changes a mandatory minimum sentence for an offense from 20 years to five years, anyone still being prosecuted for or already convicted of that offense would still have to serve 20 years. Amendment 11 repeals the Savings Clause; deletes language approving a high-speed rail. Floridians voted down the high-speed rail project in 2004, but the language was never removed.

Amendment 9: Passed

New Post has been published on https://www.chiangraitimes.com/health-activists-protest-juntas-proposed-amendments-to-thai-health-in-chiang-rai.html

Health Activists Protest Junta's Proposed Amendments to Thai Health in Chiang Rai

CHIANG RAI – Health activists have threatened to mobilize if their call for the government to stop amending the Health Promotion Foundation Act is not met by Nov 18.

The calls were made by about 100 activists who converged on the Permanent Secretary of the Public Health Ministry at a mobile cabinet meeting in Chiang Rai Monday.

Jaekapan Prommongkol, coordinator of the Health Promotion Movement’s southern chapter, submitted a petition to Public Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn, calling for the termination of the amendment.

The petition was sent via a representative of a working team aligned with the minister, who was said to have joined the mobile cabinet meeting in Chiang Rai.

The group believed the amendment to the act, which governs the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth), would weaken civil health activism.

Mr Jaekapan said the amendment will cap ThaiHealth’s annual budget at four billion baht, which is not enough to cover campaign costs to promote public health amid recent health threats.

The cap is tantamount to crippling those who are working to promote health, he said.

The amendment would see ThaiHealth’s funds regulated by the Finance Ministry’s Management of Capital Circulation Act, which could slow the disbursement of funds needed for health promotion campaigns, added Mr Jaekapan.

ThaiHealth has its own law to follow and should not come under any other laws, he said.

Mr Jaekapan said the ThaiHealth’s work performance and spending is already under the scrutiny of the Monitoring and Auditing Committee on Fiscal Expenditure and Office of the Auditor-General.

Mr Jaekapan said his group demands that the Justice, Finance and Public Health ministries to stop pushing for the amendment.

He said his group already visited the Finance Ministry to petition against the move, but no response has been received to date.

According to Mr Jaekapan, his organization’s affiliates in Chiang Rai provinces would also lodge petitions with their respective provincial governors against the proposed amendment.

“We will give the government time until Nov 18. If there are no indications that the government will halt the amendment, our network will assemble in a big protest to show that the civil sector is really serious about the issue.

“We plan to organize our solidarity protest at Government House late in November,” said Mr Jaekapan.

The activist said people and patients would be at a disadvantage if the government goes ahead with the amendment.

Meanwhile, Dr Seree Tuchinda, adviser to the Public Health Minister, said the draft of the amendment has been completed.

The proposed amendment is currently being examined for its legal impact, and a public hearing on the draft bill will be scheduled to get the public’s input on the bill, he said.

“There are still several steps that have to be taken before the amended bill comes into effect,” said Dr Seree.