Advisory Opinion to Attorney General Limited Political Terms in Certain Electric Offices, GENERAL--LIMITED
| Citation | 592 So.2d 225 |
| Decision Date | 19 December 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 78647,GENERAL--LIMITED,78647 |
| Parties | ADVISORY OPINION TO THE ATTORNEYPOLITICAL TERMS IN CERTAIN ELECTIVE OFFICES. 592 So.2d 225, 16 Fla. L. Week. S779 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Florida |
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Louis F. Hubener, III, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, Michael L. Rosen and David E. Cardwell of Holland & Knight, Tallahassee, for Citizens For Ltd. Political Terms.
Cleta Deatherage Mitchell, Oklahoma City, Okl., for Term Limits Legal Institute, and Richard N. Friedman, Miami, for amicus curiae, In Support Of Proposed Amendment.
Arthur J. England, Jr., Chet Kaufman and Ross A. McVoy of Fine Jacobson Schwartz Nash Block & England, Miami, and James S. Portnoy of Arnold & Porter, Washington, D.C., for respondents: Let the People Decide--Americans For Ballot Freedom, R. Ed Blackburn, former Sheriff of Hillsborough County and former member of the Florida House of Representatives, J. Hyatt Brown, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Doyle E. Conner, former Com'r of Agriculture Louis de la Parte, former President of the Florida Senate, Raymond Ehrlich, former Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, Richard W. Ervin, former Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, Richard A. Pettigrew, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, T. Terrell Sessums, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Parker D. Thomson, Partner, Thomson, Muraro, Bohrer & Razook, and Ralph Turlington, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and former Com'r of Educ.
Jonathan B. Sallet, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. and Scott A. Sinder of Jenner & Block, Washington, D.C., for respondents, Nat. Conference of State Legislatures and Southern Legislative Conference of The Council of State Governments.
Steven R. Ross, Gen. Counsel to the Clerk and Charles Tiefer, Deputy Gen. Counsel to the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., for amicus curiae, U.S. Representative Lawrence J. Smith, In Opposition to the Proposed Amendment.
The Attorney General has petitioned the Court for an advisory opinion on the validity of an initiative petition providing for limited political terms for certain elective offices. 1 In response to the Attorney General's request, we issued an order permitting interested parties to file briefs and heard oral argument on the validity of the proposed amendment.
The initiative petition provides as follows:
The people of Florida believe that politicians who remain in office too long may become preoccupied with re-election and become beholden to special interests and bureaucrats, and that present limitations on the President of the United States and Governor of Florida show that term limitations can increase voter participation, citizen involvement in government, and the number of persons who will run for elective office.
Therefore, to the extent permitted by the Constitution of the United States, the people of Florida, exercising their reserved powers, hereby declare that:
1) Article VI, s. 4 of the Constitution of the State of Florida is hereby amended by a) inserting "(a)" before the first word thereof and, b) adding a new sub-section "(b)" at the end thereof to read:
2) This amendment shall take effect on the date it is approved by the electorate, but no service in a term of office which commenced prior to the effective date of this amendment will be counted against the limit in the prior sentence.
3) If any portion of this measure is held invalid for any reason, the remaining portion of this measure, to the fullest extent possible, shall be severed from the void portion and given the fullest possible force and application. The people of Florida declare their intention that persons elected to offices of public trust will continue voluntarily to observe the wishes of the people as stated in this initiative in the event any provision of this initiative is held invalid.
The Attorney General has concluded that the proposed amendment meets the single-subject requirement of article XI, section 3, Florida Constitution, and the ballot title and summary requirements of section 101.161, Florida Statutes (1989). In addition to those issues, opponents of the proposed amendment have raised various constitutional challenges. 2 However, based on the following provisions, we find that those issues are not justiciable in the instant proceeding. The Florida Constitution provides that "[t]he attorney general shall, as directed by general law," request this Court's opinion "as to the validity of any initiative petition circulated pursuant to Section 3 of Article XI." Art. IV, Sec. 10, Fla. Const. General law provides that the attorney general shall seek an advisory opinion "regarding the compliance of the text of the proposed amendment or revision with s. 3, Art. XI of the State Constitution and the compliance of the proposed ballot title and substance with s. 101.161." Sec. 16.061(1), Fla.Stat. (1989). Thus, we are limited in this proceeding to addressing whether the proposed amendment and ballot title and summary comply with article XI, section 3, Florida Constitution and section 101.161, Florida Statutes (1989). 3 See Grose v. Firestone, 422 So.2d 303, 306 (Fla.1982) ().
Article XI, section 3, Florida Constitution, provides, in relevant part that:
The power to propose the revision or amendment of any portion or portions of this constitution by initiative is reserved to the people, provided that, any such revision or amendment shall embrace but one subject and matter directly connected therewith.
(Emphasis added.)
A proposed amendment meets this single-subject requirement if it has "a logical and natural oneness of purpose[.]" Fine v. Firestone, 448 So.2d 984, 990 (Fla.1984). To state the test another way, a proposed amendment is valid if it "may be logically viewed as having a natural relation and connection as component parts or aspects of a single dominant plan or scheme." Id. (quoting City of Coral Gables v. Gray, 154 Fla. 881, 883-84, 19 So.2d 318, 320 (1944)). The single-subject requirement imposes a "functional as opposed to a locational restraint on the range of authorized amendments." Fine, 448 So.2d at 990. Its intent is to "protect against multiple precipitous changes in our state constitution." Id. at 988.
We find that the proposed amendment meets the single-subject requirement. The sole subject of the proposed amendment is limiting the number of consecutive terms that certain elected public officers may serve. Although the proposed amendment affects officeholders in three different branches of government, that fact alone is not sufficient to invalidate the proposed amendment. We have found proposed amendments to meet the single-subject requirement even though they affected multiple branches of government. For example, in Weber v. Smathers, 338 So.2d 819 (Fla.1976), we upheld the proposed "Ethics in Government" amendment against a single-subject attack. That amendment required financial disclosure by all elected constitutional officers and candidates, provided for forfeiture of rights under the public retirement system for any public official who violated the public trust, and limited the ability of legislators and statewide elected officers to represent persons before the governmental bodies of which they were members.
We do not agree with opponents that the proposed amendment fails to identify constitutional provisions with which it conflicts or which it substantially affects. The initiative proposal is intended to amend article VI, section 4 of the state constitution, which provides that "[n]o 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." The amendment, if passed, will add term limits as a further disqualification on holding office. The proposed amendment does not change or affect the age or residency requirements of article III, section 15 (state legislators) or article IV, section 5 () of the Florida Constitution. Further, should the proposed amendment be approved by the voters, state senators will still be elected for four-year terms and state representatives for two-year terms as provided in article III, section 15. Cabinet members and the lieutenant governor will still serve four-year terms as provided in article IV, section 5.
Section 101.161(1), Florida Statutes (1989), provides in relevant part:
Whenever a constitutional amendment ... is submitted to the vote of the people, the substance of such amendment or other public measure shall be printed in clear and unambiguous language on the ballot.... The substance of the amendment ... shall be an explanatory statement, not exceeding 75 words in length, of the chief purpose of the 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.
The proposed ballot title and summary at issue here provide:
LIMITED POLITICAL TERMS IN CERTAIN ELECTIVE OFFICES
Limits terms by prohibiting incumbents who have held the same elective office for the preceding eight years from appearing on the ballot for re-election to that office. Offices covered...
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