#floridaisweird

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