Charles Fenwick: Florida Referendums 2004

Some June storm history

Thu, 09 Jun 2005 01:17:04 GMT

While the hurricane season starts on June 1, it is not uncommon for the month to pass by without so much as a tropical depression (as was the case last year). Storms that do manage to form and develop tend to do so in the west Carribean and Gulf of Mexico since that is where the warmest water is during this time of year. Because the water is not at its peak temperature yet (and the relatively small area of the Gulf,) such storms are rarely major.

Here are some highlights and trivia of June storms (based on the past 50 years):

16 storms made landfall in the United States in June. Six of those did so as hurricanes, two of them major.

Florida leads the way in landfall location (seven storms). Texas and Louisiana have four apiece.

The strongest and deadliest of them was Hurricane Audrey, which hit Louisana in 1956. A category 4 storm with 125 knot winds, she claimed the lives of 390 people.

Hurricane Alma was a major hurricane in June, 1966. It cut across the Florida Panhandle and Georgia without losing Tropical Storm strength.

Hurricane Agnes of 1972 managed to regain tropical storm strength over North Carolina despite having been over land for three days. It made a second landfall in New York.

The complete oddball of these storms is 1981's Tropical Storm Bret. It formed due north of Bermuda and made landfall on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. A peculiar way to make landfall at any time of the year, much less June.

The most common name among the sixteen: Allison. The 1989 and 2001 editions hit Texas, while the 1995 one hit Florida.

The 1995 edition of Allison is also the closest analog to Tropical Depression One, having formed a mere 21 miles away nautical miles away from TD 1's birthplace.

Bullet train and two medical malpractice amendments make the ballot

Sat, 31 Jul 2004 02:36:47 GMT

The amendment that would repeal the bullet train amendment passed in 2000 made the November ballot on Thursday, along with two amendments sponsored by trial lawyers. One would give patients the right to review records of adverse medical inicdents by doctors and the other would require revocation of a doctor's license after a third malpractice judgement.

Train, malpractice make ballot (St Petersburg Times)

Fast train, malpractice amendments acheive ballot status (Palm Beach Post)

High-Speed Rail System Goes Back to Ballot (Tampa Tribune)

Lawyers get to med-mal amendments on ballot (Naples Daily News)

Anti-train item makes ballot (Orlando Sentinel, registration required)

Minimum Wage Initiative makes the ballot

Thu, 29 Jul 2004 15:41:55 GMT

Florida to vote on minimum wage (St Persburg Times)

$6.15 minimum wage will be up for a vote (Orlando Sentinel)

Amendment on ballot for minimum wage hike (Tallahassee Democrat)

Paid petition signature collection considered harmful

Thu, 22 Jul 2004 15:15:16 GMT

Vote Smart Florida , a group formed by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, has put out news of the dark side process of collecting signatures to put proposed Constitutional amendments on the ballot. With a combination of hidden cameras, interviewing petition collectors and signers, they have uncovered practices such as collectors encouraging voters to sign a petition multiple times and giving out incorrect information about the proposed amendments.

Group cites deceptive petition procedures (Tallahassee Democrat)

Panhandle peition signatures suspicious (Pensacola News Journal)

The Pensacola News Journal article reports that over 1300 forged signatures were found in the Panhandle region.

I've witnessed the process at work. There were ads all over campus here at Florida State that encouraged people to make money by collecting signatures. For most of the spring it was impossible to walk around campus without running into at least one person collecting signatures.

I tried to avoid the collectors as much as possible. Of the ones that I didn't manage to avoid, I was roundly unimpressed with their knowledge of the issue they were collecting signatures for. For instance, a person collecting signatures for the minimum wage petition claimed that Florida has the lowest minimum wage in the country (actually, we are one of eight states that does not have a state law on the matter, and the majority of the remaining states opt to mirror the federal minimum wage). When I challenged her on that statement, she insisted it was true. After arguing with her a little bit, I asked her where she was getting her information from. She said it was from the people paying her. (She was getting paid 50 cents per signature. I don't know for sure who was paying here, but I believe it was a company specializing in signature collection).

I did not witness attempts to get people to sign a petition multiple times, but as I've said, I wanted nothing to do with those collecting signatures, so it could have been going on here.

The free market side of me does not like the idea of banning they paying of people to collect signatures. However, the pragmatic side of me does not oppose the idea. As a whole, I am not a fan of the initiative process. The default for a referendum that makes the ballot is for it to get passed. Only if groups make very active (and often costly) efforts to defeat it will an amendment fail. Our state constitution has items in it that are not fitting for a constitution because of this.

Disclosure: I did sign petitions for the bullet train amendment and the medical liability amendment. In both instances the collectors were members of the groups sponsoring the amendment, not employees of a petition signature collection company. Note that the bullet train amendment repeals a previously passed amendment.

Florida Voters to Consider Malpractice Cap

Tue, 20 Jul 2004 04:01:11 GMT

Today, the proposed Medical Liability Claimant's Compensation Amendment became the first of the initiatives to completely qualify for the November ballot as it attained 492,840 valid signatures.

Proposed Florida Constitutional Amendments

Sat, 17 Jul 2004 05:18:18 GMT

On Thursday the Florida Supreme Court released judgements on proposed initiatives that may go on the ballot in November. AP Story

The Supreme Court reviews citizen initiatives to judge if they're clearly explained and if they deal with just one subject, as the state constitution requires. Those are the only two issues the court addresses.

None of the citizen initiatives yet has enough verified signatures to make the ballot, but most are close and look likely to hit the 488,722 threshold by the Aug. 3 deadline.

There are six initiatives that cleared the review process:

1. Florida Minimum Wage Amendment

This amendment creates a Florida minimum wage covering all employees in the state covered by the federal minimum wage. The state minimum wage will start at $6.15 per hour six months after enactment, and thereafter be indexed to inflation each year. It provides for enforcement, including double damages for unpaid wages, attorney's fees, and fines by the state. It forbids retaliation against employees for exercising this right.

Floridians For All (sponsor of amendment) Has 326,338 validated signatures out of the 488,722 required.

2. The Medical Liability Claimant's Compensation Amendment

Proposes to amend the State Constitution to provide that an injured claimant who enters into a contigency fee agreement with an attorney in a claim for medical liability is entitled to no less than 70% of the first $250,000.00 in all damages received by the claimant, and 90% of damages in excess of $250,000.00, exclusive of reasonable and customary costs and regardless of the number of defendants. This amendment is intended to be self-executing.

Citizens For A Fair Share (sponsor of amendment) Has 482,807 validated signatures of 488,722 required.

The next three amendments are sponsored by Floridians For Patient Protection (who oppose the previous amendment).

3. Patients' Right to Know About Adverse Medical Incidents.

Current Florida law restricts information available to patients related to investigations of adverse medical incidents, such as medical malpractice. This amendment would give patients the right to review, upon request, records of health care facilities' or providers' adverse medical incidents, including those which could cause injury or death. Provides that patients' identities should not be disclosed.

Has 373,865 valid signatures (488,722 required)

4. Public Protection from Repeated Medical Malpractice

Current law allows medical doctors who have committed repeated malpractice to be licensed to practice medicine in Florida. This amendment prohibits medical doctors who have been found to have committed three or more incidents of medical malpractice from being licensed to practice medicine in Florida.

Has 384,083 valid signatures (488,722 required)

5. Physician Shall Charge the Same Fee for the Same Health Care Service to Every Patient

Current law allows a physician to charge different prices for the same health care provided to different patients. This amendment would require a physician to charge the same fee for the same health care service, procedure or treatment. Requires lowest fee which physician has agreed to accept. Doesn't limit physician's ability to provide free services. A patient may review the physician's fee and similar information before, during or after the health care is provided.

Has 341,501 valid signatures (488,722 required)

6. Repeal of High Speed Rail Amendment

This amendment repeals an amendment in the Florida Constitution that requires the Legislature, the Cabinet and the Governor to proceed with the development and operation of a high speed ground transportation system by the state and/or by a private entity.

Derail the Bullet Train (sponsor's website) Has 341,501 valid signatures (488,722 required). This seeks to repeal an amendment that narrowly passed in 2000 (results by county). In Florida (like many other states,) amendments are usually approved unless they are exceptionally controversial or strongly lobbied against. As a result, its constitution has gotten littered with trivial stuff like this that has no business being in a constitution.

The deadline for signatures is August 3, 2004. On (or soon after) that day, I will have another post on this subject.

Initiative Petition Process (Florida Division of Elections)

LATER: St Petersburg Times article on how it's the doctors versus the lawyers in four of these amendments.

MUCH LATER: And in the bullet train amendment, it's Seaworld and Universal theme parks versus Disney!

EMBARASSINGLY LATER: My inattention do detail caused me to think there were only six proposed amendments. I failed to consider that there could be other amendments out there that had cleared Supreme Court Approval. This one was approved on May 13, 2004.

7. Authorizes Miami-Dade and Broward County Voters to Approve Slot Machines in Parimetual Facilities.

Authorizes Miami-Dade and Broward Counties to hold referenda on whether to authorize slot machines in existing, licensed parimutuel facilities (thoroughbred and harness racing, greyhound racing, and jai alai) that have conducted live racing or games in that county during each of the last two calendar years before effective date of this amendment. The Legislature may tax slot machine revenues, and any such taxes must supplement public education funding statewide. Requires implementing legislation.