Amendment 4 - A Potential Florida Disaster!

Vote NO on Amendment 4! This ill-conceived amendment, that would force Floridians to vote on every comprehensive land-use change, would be extremely detrimental to Florida’s economy. As former Florida Governor, Jeb Bush, has stated, Amendment 4, or the Hometown Democracy Initiative (to paraphrase), is the best name for the worst possible idea!

This “vote on everything” amendment would, in effect, require the citizens of every county in Florida to cast a vote on each and every proposed change to their respective county’s Comprehensive “Master” Plan. And no government body or business entity referendum is exempt – not the smallest local government – not county School Boards – not hospitals - not parks – not roadway expansions - not even police or fire stations! In other words, every two years, Florida citizens would go to their respective polling places and be potentially faced with hundreds of referenda to their counties’ Comprehensive Plan! As a result, the cost of elections would skyrocket, state-wide job losses would be in the hundreds of thousands – and Florida can’t afford to lose even one more job – and businesses would look to other states for relocation or expansion of their facilities.

If Amendment 4 would have been in place in 2006, Tallahassee’s Leon County would have had 94 referenda on its ballot, and if Amendment 4 would have been in place in 2005, Orange County would have had 501 referenda on its ballot!

In 2006, the City of St. Pete Beach passed a similar local ordinance, and a recent article in “The St. Petersburg Times” states “A three-year experiment in St. Pete Beach shows land planning via referendum is a messy, unpredictable business that leads to higher government costs due to litigation and a stalemate when it comes to development.”

The logistics of this amendment will be expensive – and a nightmare! Please join Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Better Economy in fighting the Sierra Club – Special Interest Lawyer – Adult Entertainment Owners Interests – so that we can unite to defeat this dangerous legislation! A link to the “No on Amendment 4” website www.florida2010.org is also posted on our Home page.