Medical marijuana passes, controversial solar bill fails

After all the ballot dust settled on the Florida election, medical marijuana finally passed the bar.

“Florida is ready for medical marijuana,” prominent Orlando attorney and medical marijuana proponent John Morgan had said in early May. He was right.

The amendment that would legalize medical marijuana passed by a margin of more than 70 percent with nearly all Florida precincts reporting.

Voters had weighed in on a similar vote two years ago, when a citizen-fronted ballot referendum narrowly failed to pass Florida’s 60 percent positive vote threshold to become law.

Voters rejected a controversial amendment concerning solar energy systems by a 51-49 margin. The vote required a 60 percent approval to pass. The amendment had been decried by solar energy groups as a deceptive bill fronted by, and whose campaign was funded by, utility companies.

Amendment 4, which exempted solar power systems from certain taxes, passed during the primary election on Aug. 30 with 73 percent support.

Bills that would extend property tax cuts also passed easily, with Amendment 3, helping disabled first responders, passing by a 84 percent margin, and Amendment 5, adding further tax cuts for low-income seniors, passing by a 78 percent margin.

The disabled first responder tax exemption, which applies to police, firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians who are “totally and permanently disabled” from injuries sustained in the line of duty, would still need to be approved by the state legislature to become law.

The low-income senior tax exemption would provide property tax breaks for seniors 65 and older making $28,448 or less in 2015, whose home’s market value is less than $250,000, and who have lived in their home for at least 25 years. That amendment already passed the Florida Senate and House of Representatives.