Governor should Veto HB 131

For immediate release
May 15, 2010

For further information, contact:
John Hedrick, 850-339-5462
Joyce Tarnow, 954-593-3834

Don't Use Taxpayer Dollars To Tell Us How To Vote
Governor Should Veto HB 131

Citizens organizations are again calling upon Governor Crist to veto HB 131 because it could allow local governments to spend taxpayer dollars on campaigns to get taxpayers to vote how the government wants them to vote.

“That's just wrong,” says Joyce Tarnow, President of Floridians for a Sustainable Population. “We do not believe the governments have any business using voters’ own money to tell voters how to vote on an issue. Inevitably, you’re forcing people who do not agree with the politicians’ stance on an issue to subsidize a point of view that they oppose."

"Collectively, we and other citizens groups are asking voters to call or e-mail the Governor as soon as possible to ask him to once again strike down this measure and veto HB 131 -- at (850) 488-7146 or Charlie.Crist@myflorida.com," states Tarnow.

HB131, like the vetoed HB 1207 from earlier this year, threatens the law passed in 2009 that prohibits local governments from using taxpayer dollars to tell voters how to vote on ballot issues. If HB 131 removes that prohibition, a county commission could conduct an expensive campaign, at the taxpayers' expense, to get voters to vote, say, for higher taxes.

Specifically, current law now prohibits a local government from using public funds for a "political advertisement" or "electioneering communication" on a state or local referendum issue. (A "political advertisement" specifically urges voters to "Vote Yes" or Vote No," while an "electioneering communication" can fall just short of that.)

The problem with HB 131 is that it redefines the term "electioneering communication" to exclude ballot issues, or referenda, leaving the term “electioneering communication” to prohibit only campaigns for or against individual candidates.

If HB 131’s change is passed by the Governor, then the law will conflict with itself because the 2009 change already prohibits a local government from issuing "electioneering communication" on ballot issues, or referenda.

In this confusion, a city or county commission could argue that HB 131 now allows it to conduct an expensive, possibly one-sided, and deceptive campaign, at taxpayer expense, to get taxpayers to vote for higher taxes, or to vote as politicians want voters to vote on some other referendum, so long as the local government’s ads stop short of saying "Vote Yes" or "Vote No".

“Governor Crist should veto HB 131 to avoid this internal conflict in the law,” says John Hedrick, Chair of Panhandle Citizens Coalition. “He should also veto the bill to avoid the possibility that local governments will use the change to say that local governments can now use our taxpayer dollars to pay for propaganda to get us to vote the way they want, such as against Amendment 4, which 78% of the voters support if the election were held today.

Unquestionably, given the number of local government resolutions passed against Amendment 4, our opposition wants to get their hands on those millions of government dollars to fight Amendment 4. And it's already happened on other issues before now, in St. Petersburg and Tallahassee. This bill is a bold effort at government control of voting rights and the Governor needs to veto it again, just as he did on HB 1207 earlier this year.”