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A few years ago, the Florida Legislature got sick of outraged citizens passing constitutional amendments, such as classroom size limits, that made the Legislature pay more attention to the state’s pressing needs. So the Legislature pushed through an amendment of its own that set the bar for approval of constitutional amendments at 60 percent of the voters rather than the previous 50.

That 60-percent-rule has now come back to bite the Legislature in the butt. The Legislature and the Governor would like all of us to go to the polls next Tuesday and vote for Amendment One, the property tax change amendment. However, the latest poll shows only 45 percent of the Florida electorate in favor, with 21 percent undecided. And the majority of undecideds usually vote NO, according to political experts.

I hope when you vote on Tuesday you give yourself lots of time. The abbreviated wording of Amendment One on the ballot is about 500 words. The actual wording of the amendment took up one full page, in small type, in the Gainesville Sun. It came to about 3,000 words. I consider myself a person of average intelligence. I read the small type version three times, and I still cannot figure out how the amendment makes unambiguous the portability provision – the provision allowing you to take your Save Our Homes 3 per cent with you in case of moving to a new home.

This is one typical sentence in the small print version of the amendment, and I quote: “A county may, in the manner prescribed by general law, provide for a reduction in the assessed value of homestead property to the extent of any increase in the assessed value of that property which results from the construction or reconstruction of the property for the purpose of providing living quarters for one or more natural or adoptive grandparents or parents of the owner of the property or of the owner’s spouse if at least one of the grandparents or parents for whom the living quarters are provided is 62 years of age or older.” End Quote. That is a 95-word sentence with only two commas.

Say what?

If you are an adoptive grandparent, that sentence might be hunky-dory with you. But if this amendment passes, I would suggest that our Alachua County Property Appraiser Ed Crapo get ready to at least double or triple his staff and install about 10 more telephone lines into his office.

OK, so the amendment probably won’t pass. But what worries me is this: What will the Legislature come up with this year if it doesn’t?

This is Radio Ralph with a comment at midweek for AM850.