Supreme Court of Florida.April 20, 2017215 So.3d 120242 Fla. L. Weekly S464 (Approx. 11 pages)
215 So.3d 1202
Editor's Note: Additions are indicated by Text and deletions by Text.
Supreme Court of Florida.
ADVISORY OPINION TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL RE: VOTING RESTORATION AMENDMENT.
Advisory Opinion to the Attorney General Re: Voting Restoration Amendment (FIS).
No. SC16–1785No. SC16–1981
[April 20, 2017]
*1203 Original Proceedings—Advisory Opinion—Attorney General
Attorneys and Law Firms
*1204Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Ellen B. Gwynn, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida, for Petitioner
Jon L. Mills of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, Miami, Florida; and Andrew M. Starling, Orlando Florida, for Floridians for a Fair Democracy, Sponsor
Ion Sancho, Former Supervisor of Elections for Leon County, Tallahassee, Florida; and Dr. Brenda Snipes, Supervisor of Elections for Broward County, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as Proponents
On October 4, 2016, the Attorney General petitioned this Court for an advisory opinion as to the validity of an initiative petition sponsored by Floridians for a Fair Democracy (“the Sponsor”) and circulated, pursuant to article XI, section 3 of the Florida Constitution. The Sponsor submitted a brief supporting the validity of the initiative petition.
(a) No person convicted of a felony, or adjudicated in this or any other state to be mentally incompetent, shall be qualified to vote or hold office until restoration of civil rights or removal of disability. Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, any disqualification from voting arising from a felony conviction shall terminate and voting rights shall be restored upon completion of all terms of sentence including parole or probation.
(b) No person convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense shall be qualified to vote until restoration of civil rights.
(bc) No person may appear on the ballot for re-election to any of the following offices:
(1) Florida representative,
(2) Florida senator,
(3) Florida Lieutenant governor,
(4) any office of the Florida cabinet,
(5) U.S. Representative from Florida, or
(6) U.S. Senator from Florida
if, by the end of the current term of office, the person will have served (or, but for resignation, would have served) in that office for eight consecutive years.
The ballot title for the amendment is: “Voter Restoration Amendment.” The ballot summary states:
This amendment restores the voting rights of Floridians with felony convictions after they complete all terms of their sentence including parole or probation. The amendment would not apply to those convicted of murder or sexual offenses, who would continue to be permanently barred from voting unless the Governor and Cabinet vote to restore their voting rights on a case by case basis.
On October 28, 2016, the Financial Impact Estimating Conference forwarded to the Attorney General a financial impact statement on the initiative petition. On November 1, 2016, the Attorney General requested this Court's opinion as to whether the financial impact statement prepared by the Financial Impact Estimating Conference *1205 on the constitutional amendment is in accordance with section 100.371, Florida Statutes (2016). The financial impact statement regarding the Voter Restoration Amendment states:
The precise effect of this amendment on state and local government costs cannot be determined, but the operation of current voter registration laws, combined with an increased number of felons registering to vote, will produce higher overall costs relative to the processes in place today. The impact, if any, on state and local government revenues cannot be determined. The fiscal impact of any future legislation that implements a different process cannot be reasonably determined.
No briefs or comments were submitted to this Court in response to the financial impact statement.
ANALYSIS
Standard of Review
We have explained the standard of review for citizen initiative petitions as follows:
When this Court renders an advisory opinion concerning a proposed constitutional amendment arising through the citizen initiative process, the Court limits its inquiry to two issues: (1) whether the amendment itself satisfies the single-subject requirement of article XI, section 3, Florida Constitution; and (2) whether the ballot title and summary satisfy the clarity requirements of section 101.161, Florida Statutes.
Additionally, the proposed amendment does not substantially alter or perform the functions of multiple branches. As it currently stands, the Governor, with the approval of two members of the Florida Cabinet, may restore civil rights on a *1207 case-by-case basis. Seeart. IV, § 8, Fla. Const. If the proposed amendment passes, the Governor and the Florida Cabinet would still review the restoration of civil rights on a case-by-case basis, but only for those persons convicted of murder or felony sexual offenses, rather than for all felony offenders, which would reduce their current obligations in an insignificant way. “[I]t [is] difficult to conceive of a constitutional amendment that would not affect other aspects of government to some extent.” Advisory Op. to Att'y Gen. re Ltd. Casinos, 644 So.2d 71, 74 (Fla. 1994). A proposed amendment having some effect on government does not necessarily result in the substantial alteration or performance of functions of government. SeeSolar Energy, 188 So.3d at 830 (“Although the proposed amendment would affect the government in a literal sense by requiring State and local governments to comply with a provision of the Florida Constitution while retaining their existing abilities, it does not cause the ‘precipitous’ or ‘cataclysmic’ changes to the government structure indicative of substantially altering or performing the functions of multiple branches of government.”). Therefore, the proposed amendment does not substantially alter or perform the functions of multiple branches of government.
Section 101.161(1) provides the following requirements for the ballot title and summary:
The ballot summary of the amendment or other public measure shall be an explanatory statement, not exceeding 75 words in length, of the chief purpose of that measure. ... The ballot title shall consist of a caption, not exceeding 15 words in length, by which the measure is commonly referred to or spoken of.
Here, the ballot title and summary comply with the respective word limitations. The title is three words in length and the summary contains sixty-two words, which is within the word requirements of section 101.161(1).
*1208 Thus, the remaining issues are: (1) whether the ballot title and summary inform voters of the chief purpose of the proposed amendment; and (2) whether the ballot title and summary are misleading. We conclude that both issues are satisfied here.
First, the ballot title and summary clearly and unambiguously inform the voters of the chief purpose of the proposed amendment. Read together, the title and summary would reasonably lead voters to understand that the chief purpose of the amendment is to automatically restore voting rights to felony offenders, except those convicted of murder or felony sexual offenses, upon completion of all terms of their sentence.
In conclusion, we hold that the proposed amendment meets the legal requirements of article XI, section 3 of the Florida Constitution, and that the ballot title and summary complies with section 101.161(1). Moreover, we conclude that the financial impact statement complies with section 100.371(5). Accordingly, we approve the amendment for placement on the ballot.