Amendment
Bill No. 1979
Amendment No. 751859
CHAMBER ACTION
Senate House
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1Representative Pickens offered the following:
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3     Amendment (with title amendment)
4     Remove everything after the resolving clause and insert:
5     That the creation of Section 8 of Article XI of the State
6Constitution set forth below is agreed to and shall be submitted
7to the electors of Florida for approval or rejection at the
8general election to be held in November 2004:
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ARTICLE XI
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AMENDMENTS
11     SECTION 8.  Limitation on amendments requiring state
12government to spend in excess of ten million dollars per year.--
13Each amendment proposed to this constitution that imposes a cost
14on state government greater than $10 million per state fiscal
15year, as estimated in a manner provided by general law, shall
16directly impose new state taxes or fees sufficient to fund the
17expenditures required by implementation of the amendment,
18including the cost of levying and collecting such taxes or fees.
19The imposition of such taxes or fees shall not be deemed a
20violation of the single-subject requirement of Section 3. No
21amendment approved after the effective date of this section
22shall be construed to require expenditures in excess of the
23taxes or fees imposed by the amendment, but the legislature may
24by general law revise the taxes and fees so imposed, provided
25such authority shall not affect the level of expenditures that
26would otherwise be required by the amendment. The legislature
27may, but need not, appropriate funds to implement the purposes
28of such amendments in amounts greater than the expenditures
29required under the provisions of this section. A proposed
30amendment subject to this section may not provide for an
31exemption from this section. Notwithstanding the provisions of
32this section, no tax upon estates or inheritances or upon the
33income of any resident or citizen of the state, nor any other
34tax prohibited by Article VII of this constitution, shall be
35imposed by a revision or amendment proposed by initiative unless
36the proposal embraces but one subject and matter directly
37connected therewith.
38     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the title and substance of the
39amendment proposed herein shall appear on the ballot as follows:
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IMPOSING ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS ON
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PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS THAT REQUIRE
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STATE SPENDING ABOVE A SPECIFIED AMOUNT
43     Proposes the creation of Section 8 of Article XI of the
44State Constitution to require that any proposed constitutional
45amendment requiring state government to spend more than $10
46million per fiscal year must identify a new revenue source
47sufficient to pay for that increased spending.  The increase in
48state spending would be estimated according to a process
49specified in general law.  To identify a new revenue source,
50such a proposed constitutional amendment would be required to
51specify new state taxes or fees that would be imposed if voters
52approved that amendment. Because adoption of such a proposed
53constitutional amendment would impose new state taxes or fees,
54the present requirements of Section 7 of Article XI of the State
55Constitution would require that such proposed amendment be
56approved by at least two-thirds of those voting in the election
57in which that proposed amendment is considered. Such an
58amendment's imposition of new state taxes or fees pursuant to
59this measure would not violate the single subject requirement of
60Section 3 of Article XI, which regulated citizen initiative.
61However, new inheritance, estate, income taxes, and other taxes
62prohibited by Article VII would continue to be limited by a
63single subject requirement if proposed by citizen initiative. No
64proposed constitutional amendment subject to this measure could
65be construed to require state expenditures in excess of the
66taxes or fees imposed by such an amendment. If such an amendment
67were approved by the voters, the Legislature could by general
68law revise or repeal the taxes or fees imposed by that
69amendment, but the expenditures otherwise required by the
70amendment could not be affected. The Legislature could choose to
71appropriate additional funds to implement the amendment beyond
72those generated by the amendment's new state taxes or fees. No
73proposed constitutional amendment subject to this measure could
74exempt itself from the requirements of this measure.
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76================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T =================
77     Remove the entire title and insert:
78
House Joint Resolution
79A joint resolution proposing the creation of Section 8 of
80Article XI of the State Constitution to impose additional
81requirements on proposed constitutional amendments that
82require state spending above a specified amount.


CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.