Proposed Florida amendments may bring big changes

They could increase the minimum wage, ban assault weapons, expand Medicaid, open primary elections to all voters and clarify that only citizens can vote.

Already pivotal in the race for the White House, voters in Florida may also face ballot choices next year that could dramatically change the shape of future elections, the economy and even how Floridians turn on their lights at home.

Ballot campaigns underway could increase the state’s minimum wage, ban assault weapons, add more Floridians to Medicaid coverage, open Democratic and Republican primary elections to all registered voters, and clarify that only citizens can vote.

They’ve all secured enough petition signatures to qualify for review by the state Supreme Court.

The proposed constitutional amendment allowing only citizens to vote — basically affirming current law — was sent to justices Tuesday for review by Attorney General Ashley Moody, who already has forwarded the proposed Medicaid expansion, energy deregulation and minimum wage increase to the court.

Arguments on the validity of the proposals are soon to be scheduled.

But as the ballot campaigns head toward the seven-member Supreme Court, justices, themselves, may loom as a wild card. Gov. DeSantis appointed three new justices in January to fill retirement vacancies and they will be expressing for the first time their views on ballot amendments.

The three new members appointed by DeSantis — Justices Carlos Muniz, Robert Luck and Barbara Lagoa — are members of the conservative Federalist Society, a legal organization that favors the authority of legislatures to make laws.

That may suggest they hold a dim view of the kind of citizen initiatives now making their way toward the ballot. DeSantis has said he is not a fan of adding voter-approved amendments to the state constitution.

DeSantis recently said: We’ve let too much policy go into the constitution … if the policy doesn’t work out then, you’re hamstrung and you’ve got to go back and do another amendment.”

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