Florida Dept. of State v. Slough

992 So. 2d 142, 33 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 639, 2008 Fla. LEXIS 1625, 2008 WL 4191801
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedSeptember 15, 2008
DocketSC08-1569
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 992 So. 2d 142 (Florida Dept. of State v. Slough) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Florida Dept. of State v. Slough, 992 So. 2d 142, 33 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 639, 2008 Fla. LEXIS 1625, 2008 WL 4191801 (Fla. 2008).

Opinion

992 So.2d 142 (2008)

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Appellant,
v.
Beverly SLOUGH, et al., Appellees.

No. SC08-1569.

Supreme Court of Florida.

September 15, 2008.

*143 Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Scott D. Makar, Solicitor General, and Louis F. Hubener, Chief Deputy Solicitor General, FL, Florida; Mark Herron and Robert J. Telfer, III of Messer, Caparello and Self, P.A., Tallahassee, FL, for Appellants.

Barry Richard of Greenberg Traurig, P.A., Tallahassee, FL, for Appellees.

Robert E. Weissert, Tallahassee, FL, on behalf of Florida TaxWatch, as Amicus Curiae.

LEWIS, J.

The Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission proposed an amendment (Amendment 5) to the Florida Constitution that would impact and change several aspects of Florida's taxation and financial *144 structure. Plaintiffs/Appellees (collectively "Slough") filed an action in the Second Judicial Circuit Court contending that the ballot title and summary for proposed Amendment 5 were misleading. The trial court entered a summary final judgment that ordered proposed Amendment 5 removed from the November 2008 general election ballot. The Florida Department of State (State) sought review of that summary final judgment in the First District Court of Appeal, which certified to this Court that the judgment is of great public importance and requires immediate resolution by this Court. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(5), Fla. Const.

BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Article XI of the Florida Constitution provides that, beginning in 2007 and every twentieth year thereafter, a Taxation and Budget Reform Commission (Commission) shall be established. See art. XI, § 6(a), Fla. Const. Section 6 further provides:

(d) The commission shall examine the state budgetary process, the revenue needs and expenditure processes of the state, the appropriateness of the tax structure of the state, and governmental productivity and efficiency; review policy as it relates to the ability of state and local government to tax and adequately fund governmental operations and capital facilities required to meet the state's needs during the next twenty year period; determine methods favored by the citizens of the state to fund the needs of the state, including alternative methods for raising sufficient revenues for the needs of the state; determine measures that could be instituted to effectively gather funds from existing tax sources; examine constitutional limitations on taxation and expenditures at the state and local level; and review the state's comprehensive planning, budgeting and needs assessment processes to determine whether the resulting information adequately supports a strategic decisionmaking process.
(e) .... Not later than one hundred eighty days prior to the general election in the second year following the year in which the commission is established, the commission shall file with the custodian of state records its proposal, if any, of a revision of this constitution or any part of it dealing with taxation or the state budgetary process.

See id. The Commission conducted meetings during its 2007-08 session, and subsequently proposed seven constitutional amendments. Proposed Amendment 5 is the subject of the instant case. The Commission's resolution concerning proposed Amendment 5 provides that the purpose of the amendment is "to limit the growth of assessments of certain real property for the purposes of ad valorem taxation, to mandate the elimination of property taxes set as required local effort, to reduce the maximum millage for school purposes, and to replace the revenues from property taxes set as required local effort with other funds."[1]

Slough filed an action in the Second Judicial Circuit Court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Slough contended that the ballot title and summary for this proposed Amendment 5 are unconstitutionally misleading and fail to adequately inform voters of the chief purposes of the amendment in violation of section 101.161, *145 Florida Statutes (2007). Slough requested that the State be enjoined from placing the proposed Amendment 5 on the ballot.

The title and summary of the proposed Amendment 5 to be placed on the ballot for the general election states:

ELIMINATING STATE REQUIRED SCHOOL PROPERTY TAX AND REPLACING WITH EQUIVALENT STATE REVENUES TO FUND EDUCATION.
Replacing State required school property taxes with state revenues generating an equivalent hold harmless amount for schools through one or more of the following options: repealing sales tax exemptions not specifically excluded; increasing sales tax rate up to one percentage point; spending reductions; other revenue options created by the legislature. Limiting subject matter of laws granting future exemptions. Limiting annual increases in assessment of non-homestead real property. Lowering property tax millage rate for schools.

The trial court considered and addressed the complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief as a motion for summary judgment. The State and intervenor-defendant, VOTE YES ON 5 FOR PROPERTY TAX RELIEF, INC. (Vote Yes),[2] filed cross-motions for summary judgment.

The trial court heard argument on August 13, 2008, and subsequently entered a summary final judgment in favor of Slough. The trial court determined that the ballot title and summary were misleading. First, Slough asserted that the title and summary implied that the obligation to replace revenue eliminated by the amendment with equivalent revenue from alternate sources was permanent and continuous. The trial court noted that under the actual amendment, but not disclosed by the proposed ballot language, the Legislature would only be required to implement the "equivalent hold harmless amount" mentioned in the summary for a single year — the 2010-2011 fiscal year. The actual proposed amendment stated:

In implementing this section, the amount appropriated and set in the General Appropriations Act in the 2010-2011 fiscal year shall not be less than the amount appropriated and set in the 2008-2009 fiscal year for the funding of public schools under the Florida Education Finance Program, as increased by the average historical growth for such amounts during state fiscal years 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, which appropriated and set amount shall be referred to as the "education hold harmless amount."

(Emphasis added.) The trial court found that "the language of the title and summary convey the distinct impression that the balance of lost revenue and replacement revenue are continuing." The trial court concluded that this impression is inaccurate, and after the 2010-2011 fiscal year, there is nothing in the proposed amendment that would prohibit the State from reducing the replacement funding to an amount less than that generated by the ad valorem tax before that funding was eliminated. According to the trial court, the failure of the title and summary to inform voters of this limitation on the "equivalent hold harmless amount" rendered the provisions misleading.

The trial court also found the ballot title and summary to be misleading because they created the impression that the proposed amendment would only apply to *146 school taxes, but the proposed amendment would also actually reduce the annual maximum increase in real property assessments by local government for taxes other than school taxes from 10 percent to 5 percent.[3]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
992 So. 2d 142, 33 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 639, 2008 Fla. LEXIS 1625, 2008 WL 4191801, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/florida-dept-of-state-v-slough-fla-2008.