Florida voters adopted the current state constitution in 1968 to create a modern democracy. Nothing lasts forever.
It brought self-governing home rule to cities and counties, mere puppets of a backward, rural-dominated legislature that met every other year. The legislature would never again be able to block constitutional reforms. There would be an appointed revision commission every 20 years. Voters could put their own amendments directly on the ballot through petition gathering, as 22 other states had done.
Thirty-one successful initiatives brought changes that, like them or not, legislators and their lobbyist friends would never have done — a code of ethics, term limits, medical marijuana, a state minimum wage, anti-gerrymandering rules, voting rights for ex-felons and smoke-free workplaces. The lottery was an initiative, and so was the limit on homestead tax assessment increases.
Power to the people is poison to the powerful. The legislature has intentionally made it much harder and expensive to get initiatives on the ballot.
A second well-financed attempt at recreational marijuana was questionably deemed too short of verified signatures at the Feb. 1 deadline.