LPF Recommendation for Amendment 7: NO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct 17, 2018
Contact: Marcos Miralles,
Chairman, Libertarian Party of Florida
chair@lpf.org

 

The seventh ballot proposal Florida voters will consider this November is the impossibly-named “Florida First Responder and Military Member Survivor Benefits, Supermajority Board Votes for College Fees, and State College System Amendment.” Even though we agree with one of the three proposals, because they are combined we recommend a No vote. Let’s take a look at each component.

Supermajority Board Votes for College Fees (Proposal 44:) Requires supermajority votes by university trustees and state university system board of governors to raise or impose all legislatively authorized fees if law requires approval by those bodies.

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF FLORIDA PLATFORM

I. STATE GOVERNMENT
6. We advocate a sunset law requiring an automatic end to most government offices, agencies, departments, laws, regulations, taxes, and expenditures within ten years if not reauthorized.
VI. TAXES
1. The legislature should find more voluntary means of supporting state services, such as lotteries and user fees.

DISCUSSION

This proposal assures there must be strong backing to approve state college and university fee hikes. It requires nine of the 13 members of a state college’s Board of Trustees to propose a new fee or a fee increase. If the fee is also subject to Board of Governors approval, 12 of those 17 BOG members would also have to approve increase.
We absolutely agree it should always be difficult to raise any public fee or tax. If we could, we’d vote YES for P44, but unfortunately, we will not be able to do so.

Florida First Responder and Military Member Survivor Benefits (Proposal 49:) Grants mandatory payment of death benefits and waiver of certain educational expenses to qualifying survivors of certain first responders and military members who die performing official duties.

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF FLORIDA PLATFORM

I. STATE GOVERNMENT
In the absence of a declaration of war by the United States Congress, for any purpose other than natural disaster relief, we oppose any use of Florida troops by the federal government without the approval of both the Florida Legislature and Governor.

VI. TAXES
The legislature should find more voluntary means of supporting state services, such as lotteries and user fees.

DISCUSSION

This would assure state-funded death benefits for any first responder killed in the line of duty. This includes state employees, such as corrections officers and Florida National Guard Members but would also include city and county firefighters and law enforcement officers. It would include all active duty Armed Forces members whether Florida residents or even those stationed in Florida at the time of their death. If applicable, the benefit would be payable to surviving spouse, children parents or estate. Benefits range from $50,000 to $150,000 and include significant waivers to state college tuition.
We agree wholeheartedly society should certainly honor its fallen public servants, but we must oppose such a tremendous increase in both taxpayer expense and government bureaucracy to be established in our state Constitution. Analysts have not been able to put a dollar value on the cost to state and local taxpayers. There were 55,862 active military members and 36,387 reservists stationed in Florida at the time of the staff analysis of this proposal. That is in addition to all state, county and city first responders.
We believe health, life and death Insurance benefits are part of employer / employee negotiations. If a town’s taxpayers cannot, or are unwilling, to pay a competitive benefit then sure, desirable prospects may go elsewhere. That’s how the workplace works, but not this proposal. If we could, we’d vote No for this one.

State College System (Proposal 83:) Establishes existing state college system as constitutional entity; provides governance structure.

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF FLORIDA PLATFORM

I. STATE GOVERNMENT
6. We advocate a sunset law requiring an automatic end to most government offices, agencies, departments, laws, regulations, taxes, and expenditures within ten years if not reauthorized.

DISCUSSION

This proposal would institutionalize the state college system (which were known as “community colleges,”) by placing the entire system into the Constitution. Local priorities may be lost due to state-wide standards which must be established by this proposal. The amendment would also perpetuate the current governor-seated local college boards.
While there may be a place for state universities, we disagree the state should also control local education choices: choices taxpayers must pay for. For this reason, we would vote No for this proposal if we could.
– By J. Mark Barfield, Staff Writer
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