Mark Lane: Nobody likes the Constitution Revision Commission, but why not fix it?
As early in-person voting starts, I’m sure the section of the ballot dealing with constitutional amendments will cause some head-scratching in the voting booth. Amendment 2 particularly, with the header, “Abolishing the Constitution Revision Commission.” What is this Constitution Revision Commission?
How soon people forget. The CRC put seven amendments on the ballot in 2018, five of which were bundles of unrelated issues. Voters approved them all. Quite a success rate. Did that mean everybody was pleased with its work? Absolutely not. Displeasure with the group was bipartisan and across the political spectrum. Which is why the Florida Legislature put abolishing the group on the ballot.
But first, what is the CRC and what is it supposed to do?
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The CRC is a group that assembles every 20 years to suggest updates to the state constitution. When first proposed, as part of the brand new and shiny state constitution approved by voters in 1968, it seemed like a great idea. Like home renovations, people put off institutional reforms until something is clearly broken.
With a team assembled every 20 years to suggest updates, like it or not, this work would not be put off. It wouldn’t depend on reforms getting heard during hurried legislative sessions. An auto-refresh mechanism!
Back when that new constitution was drafted, Florida had been operating under the same constitution since 1885. And after 83 years, the old constitution was a mess. It had language like “All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent to the fourth generation, inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited.” The governor had ridiculously limited powers. The Florida Cabinet operated independently of — and often in opposition to — the governor, almost like a kind of statewide version of a county commission. The court system was a maze of overlapping jurisdictions. Local powers were restricted. A total do-over was needed.
Since then, the CRC has met only three times with mixed results.
The first time, in 1978, the group got overambitious and packed 87 constitutional changes into eight ballot questions which were all defeated at the polls. In 1998, the CRC put nine amendments to voters who passed all but one. In 2018, everything it proposed passed (except for a measure rightly voided by the Florida Supreme Court). But not without some confusion and consternation at the way unrelated matters were weirdly bundled together for an up-or-down vote. My personal favorite was an amendment that combined a ban on offshore drilling with a ban on workplace vaping.
For a Legislature jealous of its powers, it’s easy to see why the easiest course would be to just toss the whole thing out and be done with it. If it were still practical to get new amendments into the state constitution by petition, I’d almost agree.
But throwing the CRC into the constitutional dumpster eliminates a needed way to bypass the Legislature to get changes supported by a majority of Floridians. Remember that the referendum process gave us smaller class sizes, legalized medical marijuana, improved redistricting, held out the possibility for people to regain their right to vote if they lost it due to criminal convictions, blocked casino gambling, dedicated funds for land preservation, limited terms of office, strengthened minimum wage and banned indoor smoking in workplaces. Not things the Legislature would have been inclined to do on its own.
Wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of trashing the CRC, voters could consider an amendment to reform the CRC? To forbid it from bundling unrelated measures together. To make its makeup less partisan.
Maybe if this measure fails to pass, somebody will propose that. Hey, the group doesn’t form again until 2037, so there’s lots of time to come up with something. That’s why, although I’m still unhappy with the CRC’s work in 2018, I’ll reluctantly vote no.
Mark Lane is a News-Journal columnist. His email is mlanewrites@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Mark Lane: Don't toss Constitution Revision Commission. Reform it.
