2024 AMENDMENTS
2024 AMENDMENTS
PARTISAN SCHOOL BOARD RACES
AMENDMENT 1
Amendment 1 would make district school board elections partisan starting with the 2026 general election.
This would bring politics into local school board elections by making them partisan. It would nullify part of a 1998 amendment passed by 64% of Florida voters that ensures school board races are nonpartisan. It also creates closed party primaries that take away the ability for millions of Floridians to vote in school board elections.
Lawmakers are pushing the amendment (HJR 31) and placing it on our ballots, pointing to the current politicization, said it would only increase transparency for voters. Opponents worry it would further politicize school board races.
Florida Education Association, League of Women Voters of Florida, NAACP Florida State Conference, Equality Florida, FLIC Votes
AMENDMENT 2
Amendment 2 establishes a state constitutional right to hunt and fish. If approved by voters, Florida would join around two dozen other states that already have that right in place, including nearby Georgia and Alabama.
This establishes a state constitutional right to hunt and fish, even though that right already exists in state law. Amendment 2 also proclaims hunting and fishing the ‘preferred means of responsibly managing and controlling fish and wildlife,’ potentially overriding existing wildlife protections.
RIGHT TO HUNT AND FISH
Florida Bar Animal Law Section, Sierra Club Florida, Humane Society of the United States
AMENDMENT 3
Amendment 3 legalizes recreational marijuana in Florida. It allows those 21 and older to have up to 3 ounces and up to 5 grams of cannabis concentrate.
Floridians approved medical marijuana in 2016, getting more than 71% of the vote, though it failed to get enough votes when it first made the ballot in 2014.
RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA
Florida NOW, SEIU Florida, Florida Rising, National Council of Jewish Women, NAACP Florida State Conference, Equal Ground, ACLU Florida
Amendment 4 guarantees abortion access in Florida. This amendment is generating the most attention in Florida, especially since the Florida Supreme Court approved a six-week abortion ban that is currently in effect, negatively impacting women across the state and Southeast United States.
Ensures that Floridians, not politicians, are able to decide what is best for their own lives and bodies by limiting government interference with abortion. Overturns Florida’s abortion ban, which outlaws abortion before many women even realize they are pregnant and provides no real exceptions for rape or the health of the patient.
ABORTION ACCESS
AMENDMENT 4
League of Women Voters of Florida, Florida NOW, SEIU Florida, Sierra Club Florida, Florida Rising, NAACP Florida State Conference, Equality Florida, FLIC Votes, Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, Alianza for Progress, Mi Familia en Acción, National Council of Jewish Women, Equal Ground, Faith in Public Life, Latina Institute Florida, Florida For All, ACLU Florida
AMENDMENT 5
Amendment 5 could lead to more savings for property owners who apply for homestead property tax exemptions — and cost local governments millions in reduced revenues. The Legislature-passed ballot measure (HJR 7017) requires annual adjustments to a chunk of the homestead exemption for inflation increases.
Creates an annual inflation adjustment on the amount that is tax-exempt from a homeowner’s primary residence homestead exemption, reducing revenue for local communities by an estimated $111 million annually by 2029 for services like public safety workers, parks, and sanitation collection.
Those savings were touted by the lawmakers in favor of the measure, but some opponents worried about the cost to local government. The measure would reduce non-school local government property taxes by nearly $23 million in the 2025-26 fiscal year, the first time it would take effect, according to a legislative analysis. Within a few years, those losses would reach nearly $112 million, it estimates.
HOMESTEAD ANNUAL INFLATION ADJUSTMENT
Florida NOW, NAACP Florida State Conference
Amendment 6 was approved for the ballot by lawmakers (SJR 1114). It repeals public campaign financing. Public funding is available in Florida for those running for governor and lieutenant governor (who are on the same ticket), attorney general, chief financial officer and agriculture commissioner. To be eligible, candidates must first raise a certain amount from state residents: $150,000 for governor and $100,000 for cabinet positions. They must also abide by state campaign finance laws as well as certain contribution limits.
Ultimately, this Amendment would give more political power to corporations and wealthy individuals and candidates by repealing the public financing option available for state candidate campaigns passed by voters in 1998.
PUBLIC CAMPAIGN FINANCING
AMENDMENT 6
League of Women Voters of Florida, Common Cause Florida, Florida NOW, NAACP Florida State Conference, Equal Ground, SEIU Florida, Florida For All