JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Every 20 years a new Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) is formed to consider changes to Florida's constitution presented by the people.
Hank Coxe, a Jacksonville attorney, was appointed to the most recent commission in 2017-2018. He was honored having seen the previous work of the commission.
But left the commission with mixed feelings.
"This time around it was a toy of the Governor, and it was a toy of the speaker of the house, and it just became so unmeaningful," Coxe said. "... I really believe that the governor and the speaker of the house thought it was their little mini legislature and that's never what it was intended to be."
Amendment 2 is on the ballot, a yes vote would get rid of the CRC. Senator Jeff Brandes proposed the bill saying it "should be abolished."
House Rep Mike Beltran (R) has also been critical of the CRC, specifically its bundling, such as pairing the ban of offshore drilling and indoor vaping into one bill.
Coxe, the former Florida Bar President, agrees with some of the criticisms, but not getting rid of the CRC.
"The solution to that problem is not to repeal the constitution revision commission which was great 40 and 20 years ago I mean they messed it up this time it was to just change some of the structural issues," he said. "Forbid bundling that's easy enough just don't let it happen, but there were people who had their agendas in play, and they wanted to bundle it to make sure certain things got passed."
If Amendment 2 gets a yes vote, with at least 60 percent of voter support, Coxe says the only option for citizens to meaningfully challenge the constitution would be through the petition process.
He says he hopes the CRC stays and gets back to its roots.
"Twenty years ago, the only items that were put on the ballot and the public voted for some and didn't vote for others were a meaningful use of the constitution revision committee," Coxe said.
"When this was created, there were some great minds who sat around a put it together because Florida had a new constitution, but they wanted to make sure it served the people and if it didn't and the legislature wouldn't solve those problems let the people speak up and do it."