ADVISORY OPIN. TO ATTY. GEN. RE TAX EXEMP.

• Decision Date: 15 July 2004
• Docket Number: No. SC04-942.,SC04-942.
• Citation: 880 So.2d 646
• Parties: ADVISORY OPINION TO the ATTORNEY GENERAL RE ADDITIONAL HOMESTEAD TAX EXEMPTION.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

880 So.2d 646

ADVISORY OPINION TO the ATTORNEY GENERAL RE ADDITIONAL HOMESTEAD TAX EXEMPTION.

No. SC04-942.

Supreme Court of Florida.

July 15, 2004.

Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, for Petitioner.

Jeffrey Saull, Chair, West Palm Beach, FL; and Barry S. Richard of Greenberg Traurig, P.A., Tallahassee, FL; Arthur J. England, Jr., and Charles M. Auslander of Greenberg Traurig, P.A., Miami, FL, on behalf of Families for Lower Property Taxes, Inc., for Proponents.

Joy Causseaux Frank, General Counsel to Florida Association of District School Superintendents, Tallahassee, FL; and Jon Mills and Timothy McLendon, Gainesville, FL, on behalf of Florida School Boards Association and Florida Association of District School Superintendents; and Virginia Saunders Delegal, General Counsel, Florida Association of Counties, Inc., Tallahassee, FL, on behalf of Florida Association of Counties, Inc.; and Victoria L. Weber, Dan R. Stengle, and Gary V. Perko of Hopping Green and Sams, P.A., Tallahassee, FL, on behalf of Florida League of Cities; and Katherine E. Giddings, Joseph W. Hatchett, Nancy Mason Wallace, James E. Joanos of Akerman Senterfitt, P.A., Tallahassee, FL, on behalf of Floridians for Responsible Tax Reform, for Opponents.

PER CURIAM.

The Attorney General has requested that this Court review a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution. We have jurisdiction. See art. IV, § 10; art. V, § 3(b)(10), Fla. Const.

I. FACTS

Families for Lower Property Taxes, Inc., a political committee registered pursuant to section 106.03, Florida Statutes (2003), has invoked the petition process of article XI, section 3, of the Florida Constitution to propose a constitutional amendment through citizen initiative. The amendment would provide an additional homestead exemption of $25,000 for persons having title to real estate on which they maintain their permanent residence.

The ballot title for the proposed amendment is "Additional Homestead Tax Exemption." The summary for the proposed amendment provides:

This amendment provides property tax relief to Florida home owners by increasing the homestead exemption on property assessments by an additional $25,000.

The full text of the proposed amendment reads as follows:

Article VII Section 6 of the Florida Constitution is hereby amended to add the following paragraph (g).

(g) By general law and subject to conditions specified therein, effective for assessments for 2005 and each year thereafter, an additional homestead exemption of twenty-five thousand dollars shall be granted to any person who has the legal or equitable title to real estate and maintains thereon the permanent residence of the owner.

The Secretary of State submitted the amendment to the Attorney General, pursuant to section 15.21(2), Florida Statutes (2003). Pursuant to section 16.061(1), Florida Statutes (2003), the Attorney General petitioned this Court for an advisory opinion as to whether the text of the proposed amendment complies with the single-subject requirement of article XI, section 3, Florida Constitution, and whether the ballot title and summary comply with the requirements of section 101.161, Florida Statutes (2003). Families for Lower Property Taxes, Inc. has filed a brief in favor of the amendment. The Florida School Boards Association, the Florida Association of District School Superintendents,¹ Floridians for Responsible Tax Reform, Florida Association of Counties, Inc., and the Florida League of Cities have filed briefs in opposition.

II. THIS COURT'S INQUIRY

When the Court renders an advisory opinion concerning a proposed constitutional amendment arising through the citizen initiative process, no lower court ruling exists for the Court to review. Therefore, no conventional standard of review applies. Instead, the Court limits its inquiry to two issues: (1) whether the amendment violates the single-subject requirement of article XI, section 3, Florida Constitution, and (2) whether the ballot title and summary violate the requirements of section 101.161(1), Florida Statutes (2003). See, e.g., Advisory Op. to Att'y Gen. re Amendment to Bar Gov't From Treating People Differently Based on Race in Pub. Educ., 778 So.2d 888, 890-91 (Fla.2000).

In addressing these two issues, the Court's inquiry is governed by several general principles. First, we will not address the merits or wisdom of the proposed amendment. See, e.g., Amendment to Bar Gov't From Treating People Differently Based on Race in Pub. Educ., 778 So.2d at 891. Second, "[t]he Court must act with extreme care, caution, and restraint before it removes a constitutional amendment from the vote of the people." Askew v. Firestone, 421 So.2d 151, 156 (Fla.1982). Specifically, where citizen initiatives are concerned, "the Court has no authority to inject itself in the process, unless the laws governing the process have been `clearly and conclusively' violated." See Advisory Op. to Att'y Gen. re Right to Treatment and Rehabilitation for Non-Violent Drug Offenses, 818 So.2d 491, 498-99 (Fla.2002); see also Amendment to Bar Gov't From Treating From Treating People Differently Based on Race in Pub. Educ., 778 So.2d at 891 ("In order for the Court to invalidate a proposed amendment, the record must show that the proposal is clearly and conclusively defective.").

III. THE SINGLE-SUBJECT RULE

A threshold issue raised by the interested parties in this case is whether the single-subject rule applies to the proposed amendment. Article XI, section 3 provides an exception to the single-subject rule for proposed amendments which limit the power of government to raise revenue. "In order to meet this exception, the initiative's focus must be limited solely to the power of government to raise revenue." Advisory Op. to Att'y Gen. re People's Property Rights Amendments, 699 So.2d 1304, 1310 (Fla.1997). Here the initiative's focus is to provide an additional homestead exemption which, although it would reduce the taxable value of certain homestead property, does not in any way limit the basic power of the government to raise revenue. Cf. Advisory Op. to Att'y Gen. re Tax Limitation, 673 So.2d 864, 865 (Fla. 1996) (finding that an initiative requiring a two-thirds vote for new constitutionally imposed state taxes or fees fell within this exception to the single-subject rule). Accordingly, the proposed amendment does not fall within the exception to the single-subject rule.

Article XI, section 3, Florida Constitution, sets forth the requirements for a proposed constitutional amendment arising via the citizen initiative process and contains the single-subject rule:

SECTION 3. Initiative.—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, except for those limiting the power of government to raise revenue, shall embrace but one subject and matter directly connected therewith.

Art. XI, § 3, Fla. Const. (emphasis added). The single-subject requirement is a "rule of restraint" that was "placed in the constitution by the people to allow the citizens, by initiative petition, to propose and vote on singular changes in the functions of our governmental structure." Advisory Op. to Att'y Gen. re Prohibiting Public Funding of Political Candidates' Campaigns, 693 So.2d 972, 975 (Fla.1997) (quoting Fine v. Firestone, 448 So.2d 984, 988 (Fla.1984)). Specifically, the single-subject rule prevents an amendment from engaging in either of two practices: (a) logrolling, or (b) substantially altering or performing the functions of multiple branches of state government.

A. Logrolling

Logrolling is "a practice wherein several separate issues are rolled into a single initiative in order to aggregate votes or secure approval of an otherwise unpopular issue." In re Advisory Op. to Att'y Gen.— Save Our Everglades, 636 So.2d 1336, 1339 (Fla.1994); see also Advisory Op. to Att'y Gen. re Limited Casinos, 644 So.2d 71, 73 (Fla.1994) ("A primary reason for the single-subject restriction is to prevent `logrolling,' a practice whereby an amendment is proposed which contains unrelated provisions, some of which electors might wish to support, in order to get an otherwise disfavored provision passed."); Fine, 448 So.2d at 993 ("The purpose of the single-subject requirement is to ... avoid voters having to accept part of a proposal which they oppose in order to obtain a change which they support."). In addressing this issue, the Court utilizes a "oneness of purpose" standard. See Fine, 448 So.2d at 990

("[T]he one-subject limitation deal[s] with a logical and natural oneness of purpose."). A proposed amendment meets this test when it "may be logically viewed as having a natural relation and connection as component parts or aspects of a single dominant plan or scheme. Unity of object and plan is the universal test...." Id. (quoting City of Coral Gables v. Gray, 154 Fla. 881, 19 So.2d 318, 320 (1944)).

In this case, the proposed amendment embraces one purpose, an increase in the homestead exemption. Accordingly, the amendment does not violate the single-subject rule by engaging in impermissible logrolling.

B. Altering or Performing the Functions of Multiple Branches of Government

The single-subject rule also prevents "a single amendment from substantially altering or performing the functions of multiple branches of government and thereby causing multiple `precipitous' and `cataclysmic' changes in state government." Right to Treatment and Rehabilitation for Non-Violent Drug Offenses, 818 So.2d at 495. We previously have held that while most amendments will "affect" multiple branches of government, this fact alone is insufficient to invalidate an amendment on single-subject grounds:

As the proponents of the amendment point out, the fact that an amendment affects multiple functions of government does not automatically invalidate a

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