That was more than 30 years ago. What does it take today to launch a successful citizen-initiative campaign to amend the Florida Constitution?
A few million dollars, for starters.
In Florida, citizens have a rare right to bypass elected state lawmakers and amend the state constitution by popular vote.
Since acquiring that right in 1972, they have been successful 16 times.
Today, critics including Gov. Jeb Bush and leaders of both legislative chambers and the business community say the process works too well, and that it has been hijacked by special interests.
In the legislative session beginning next week, lawmakers will consider trying to make it harder for citizen initiatives to succeed.
``The real concern with a process that was meant to help the little guy, is that it has now taken on the dimension where somewhere between $3 million and $6 million is the cost of getting something on the ballot,'' said state Sen. Rod Smith, D-Alachua, who heads a select committee on constitutional amendments.
``The system may have been diverted from its original purpose. ... The [people] who are getting things on the ballot are the ones with a whole lot of money,'' he said.
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Source: http://news.tbo.com/news/MGANW0XH1RD.html
Courtesy: Marc R.
State and federal workers drove up rural driveways and knocked on doors today
in a continuing effort to find all the chickens within a 10-mile radius of a
flock of Gonzales County birds that were sickened with avian influenza. “We’re testing anything in that area,” said Mark Michalke, field veterinarian
for the Texas Animal Health Commission, down to “folks who may have 10 hens in
the back yard for fresh eggs.” The state found last week that the birds from a flock of an independent
grower in Gonzales County, 50 miles east of San Antonio, had the H5N2 virus,
which has not been known to threaten humans. But further tests over the weekend
confirmed that the virus was “highly pathogenic,” meaning deadlier to the birds,
and that triggered a federal-level response. It also meant other countries, alert to avian flu issues with the recent
outbreak in Asia of an unrelated strain that killed 22 people, and low-path
outbreaks in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Jersey, shut down imports in a
way one poultry trade expert called unprecedented. China, Hong Kong, Mexico, South Korea, Guatemala, Colombia and least three
dozen other countries have banned bird imports from either the affected states
or the entire country, said Toby Moore, spokesman for the USA Poultry & Egg
Export Council. “We’ve had bans before,” Moore said. “In the past couple of years, every time
a chicken sneezes in Texas it’s felt in Tokyo.” Officials have not found any other evidence of infection so far and are
hopeful that it has been contained. But the combination of attention to the fatal Asian virus and what Moore
suspects is growing opportunism among countries that have their own chicken
industries has led to more bans than anybody expected, he said. “This guy in Texas couldn’t have picked a worse time to get an infected
flock,” he said. The virus was also detected in two live bird markets in Houston, where
officials suspect the Gonzales birds had either picked it up or carried their
infection. Those markets and others in the area have been closed for the time
being. Poultry is a $100 million industry for Gonzales County, where many growers
raise the birds for companies like Tyson Foods, while others raise them for live
markets, niche markets and cockfighting. Much like human strains, avian flu tends to be seasonal and is not uncommon
this time of year. Source: http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/stories/MYSA0225birds.2a16f972.html