Duval Times

On Friday, U.S. Congressman John H. Rutherford (FL-05) expressed strong opposition to Florida’s Constitutional referendum process and Amendments 3 and 4 during a Special Order Hour on the U.S. House Floor.

“This November, Floridians are being asked to vote on state Constitutional amendments,” said Rutherford. “Not only am I opposed to both Amendments 3 and 4, but I am vehemently against using the referendum process to legislate."

Rutherford emphasized the importance of the legislative process, stating, “We have a legislature. We have a process to pass laws that does not involve radically changing our Constitution. The referendum process seeks to circumvent Florida’s legislative process by offering quick, ‘easy,’ and often worse fixes to complicated problems."

He further criticized referendums as inadequate solutions: “Referendums are shortcuts to hard answers. In order to govern well, we must leave the legislating to our legislature, not special interest groups.”