Leon County judge orders Amendment 3 rewrite

Leon County Judge David Frank of the Second Judicial Circuit ordered Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier to rewrite Amendment 3. 

Amendment 3, or Florida's property tax amendment to be on the ballot in November, needs its title and summary rewritten due to the lack of fairness and neutrality. 

"Simply put, the proposed ballot title does not state the basic legal purpose of the amendment; it endorses it and diverts voters from its actual effect," the final order reads. 

Frank said the title, "Save Our Homes From Excessive Property Taxes" is more akin to a political slogan, lacking neutrality and fairness. 

"It advocates a policy position: to stop excessive property taxes," he said in the order. 

The term "save," he said, is a rhetoric used to elicit an emotional response, and not allowed to be used for ballot titles. 

Furthermore, Frank said the term "save" is misleading because if a voter rents his or her home, the property tax to be paid on the home would not benefit from the homestead exemptions and would not be subject to lower property taxes. Instead, the voter most likely would be subjected to a higher property tax due to the likely increase of millage rates, Frank said. 

"Even if a voter owns his or her home and it is a primary residence, the voter still may not be "saved" from higher 'excessive property taxes' because the benefit from the higher exemption for a particular homestead property could be offset by a higher millage rate," Frank continued. 

He also said the ballot summary tells voters the amendment will benefit Florida taxpayers, but voters are the ones being asked to decide if it would benefit taxpayers or not. 

On top of that, the ballot summary said it would ensure funding for core services, protect small businesses and ensure fairness for Florida residents, but Frank said that is not the point of an amendment. 

"The purpose of a ballot summary is to explain what an amendment would do, not to advocate for its adoption," Frank said. 

Phrases such as "limits future property tax assessments on businesses," "exempting homestead properties from taxation," "requires, through general law, a schedule for full elimination," must be erased and rewritten for accuracy, fairness and neutrality. 

Uthmeier was given 10 days from Tuesday, Aug. 4, to rewrite the title and summary, and submit it for review. 

Challenges to the revised ballot title and summary must be made within 10 days after the revision was submitted.