1S-2.009. Constitutional Amendment by Initiative Petition

(1) Forms. All forms referenced herein are incorporated by reference and are available online on the Division of Elections’ website at https://www.dos.myflorida.com/elections under the header for forms, through the rule as adopted under www.flrules.org, or from the Florida Department of State, Division of Elections, Room 316, R.A. Gray Building, 500 S. Bronough Street, Tallahassee, 32399-0250, [phone].

(2) Initiative Petition Approval Process.

(a) Submission. Before a petition to place a proposed amendment to the Florida State Constitution on the ballot by initiative can be circulated for signatures, the sponsoring political committee must receive approval of the initiative petition from the Secretary of State. The sponsoring committee shall email a written request that includes the proposed language to [e-mail].

(b) Requirements.

1. The Secretary of State shall review the initiative petition form solely for sufficiency of the format and shall render a decision within seven (7) days following receipt.

2. The proposed language submitted by the sponsoring political committee shall consist of the following:

a. The ballot title, which shall not exceed 15 words.

b. The ballot summary, which shall not exceed 75 words.

c. The article and section being created or amended in the Florida State Constitition. For each existing article and/or section being amended, the langugage shall be in the format “Amends Article [insert number], Section [insert number].” The article and section number provided must correspond to an existing section of the Constitution and must correspond with the full text of the proposed amendment. For each article and/or section being created, the language shall be in the format, “Creates Article [insert], New Section”.

d. The full text of the amendment being proposed. If the proposed constitutional amendment amends an existing section or sections, the full text shall include the entire existing text of the section or sections being amended. Text that is being inserted into the Constitution shall be notated with an underline, and text that is being deleted shall be notated with a strike through.

3. Word Count. The following provisions apply to determine the word count for a ballot title and summary:

a. Hyphenated compound words count as two or more words.

b. A plus or minus sign shall count as one word.

c. Punctuation such as commas, periods, hyphens, question marks, parentheses, quotation marks or exclamation points, does not affect the word count.

d. Each word joined by a forward or back slash to another word counts separately as a word.

e. Each part of a date counts as one word. Example: January 1, 2025 shall count as three words.

f. Each word in a name is individually counted. Example: George Washington shall count as two words.

g. Each whole number shall count as a word.

h. Spaces do not affect the word count.

(c) Approved Petition Forms.

1. Upon approval of the format of an initiative petition, the Secretary of State shall assign a serial number to the petition. The serial number shall begin with the last two digits of the calendar year in which the petition form is approved followed by a number in numerical sequence. For example, the first petition form approved in 2021 is assigned the serial number 21-01. The serial number assigned and approval date will be printed in the designated location on the forms as described below.

2. Upon assignment of a serial number, the Division shall include, in the designated spaces:

a. On Consitutional Amendment Initiative Petition Forms: the ballot title, ballot summary, serial number and date approved, and name and address of the sponsoring committee on Form DS-DE 155A (effective 10/2021) entitled “Constitutional Amendment Initiative Petition Form – Volunteer.” An electronic copy in PDF format, suitable for use by volunteers or directly by voters, shall be provided to the sponsoring political committee and made available on the Division’s website. Paid petition circulators, as defined below, will obtain their forms, Form DS-DE 155B (effective 10/2021) entitled “Constitutional Amendment Initiative Petition Form – Circulator” directly online in PDF format once they are registered with the Division pursuant to subsection (6).

b. On Constitutional Amendment Full Text Forms: the ballot title, ballot summary, article and section being created or amended, full text of the proposed amendment, serial number and date approved, and name and address of the sponsoring committee on a supplemental Form DS-DE 156 (effective 10/2021) entitled “Constitutional Amendment Full Text.” An electronic copy shall be provided to the sponsoring political committee and made available on the Division’s website. If the full text of the proposed amendment fits on a single page, it shall be clearly indicated with page numbers in the following format: Page 1 of 1” as indicated on the DS-DE 156 form. If the full text of the proposed amendment does not fit on a single page, the language can extend onto the reverse side of the paper or onto multiple sheets of paper. In such a case, the box entitled “Initiative Information” shall appear at the bottom of each page. In addition, it shall be clearly indicated that the form is multiple pages in length with page numbers in the following format: “Page [current page] of [total number of pages]” as indicated on the DS-DE 156 form. Wherever the DS-DE 155A or DS-DE 155B forms are circulated for signature, a copy of the full text of the associated proposed amendment on DS-DE 156 shall also be provided or displayed to show the voter before signing the petition.

(3) Changes. Any change to a previously approved petition form shall be submitted to the Secretary of State for review. No person or entity other than the sponsoring political committee of the previously approved petition form can submit a change or changes to the previously approved petition form. The Secretary of State must approve any material change to a previously approved petition form. A material change constitutes a change in the wording of the text of the proposed amendment, the ballot title, or ballot summary, or a change in punctuation or layout, or a change in the name of the sponsoring political committee. Any material change submitted for approval to a previously approved initiative petition constitutes a request for approval of a new petition form and shall be assigned a different serial number upon approval by the Secretary of State. Upon assignment of the new serial number, the old serial number shall be deactivated, and the forms bearing that serial number shall no longer be valid for circulation and collection of signatures.

(4) Translation. A translation into another language does not constitute a material change to an initiative petition form. The sponsoring political committee is responsible for ensuring that if translated into another language, the translation must not add or subtract from the approved English language and format of the petition and its blank entries.

(5) Reproduction. Subject to the requirements of Section (2), petition forms may be reproduced in newspapers, magazines, and other forms of printed mass media, made available through the internet for download printing, or mailed, emailed, or faxed directly to voters, provided such forms are reproduced in the same format as approved by the Secretary of State. The petition forms may be included within a larger advertisement, provided the forms are clearly defined by a solid or broken line border.

(6) Petition Circulators.

(a) Paid Petition Circulator. An individual who collects signatures for compensation for the purpose of qualifying a proposed constitutional amendment for ballot placement is herein referred to as a “paid petition circulator.” A paid petition circulator must register online with the Division of Elections through the Division’s petition circulator portal at https://dos.elections.myflorida.com/InitiativePetitions/InitiativePetitionsPublic.

1. The paid petition circulator must provide his or her name, permanent address, temporary address, if applicable, and date of birth. Additionally, if the permanent address is not a Florida address, the paid petition circulator must provide a Florida address at which the circulator will accept service of process. The paid petition circulator must select each approved initiative petition for which the circulator is being paid to collect signatures. The paid petition circulator must email the Division of Elections at [e-mail] with any changes to name, permanent address, and temporary address that occur subsequent to initial registration.

2. The Division of Elections shall assign a login account. The paid petition circulator shall be assigned a unique paid petition circulator registration number. If the petitions for which the petition circulator is registered are closed, and the petition circulator is no longer registered for any petitions, the Division will notify the petition circulator via the email address used by the paid petition circulator to register and inquire of the circulator’s intent to remain registered. If the Division does not receive a response from the paid petition circulator within 10 days, the paid petition circulator’s online registration will expire. The paid petition circulator may re-register at any time.

3. Once registered, a paid petition circulator can obtain electronic copies of DS-DE 155B and DS-DE 156 forms from the Division by logging into the petition circulator portal available on the Division’s website. The portal will provide each petition circulator with electronic copies of DS-DE 155B forms in PDF format that provides the circulator’s information in the designated spaces on the form. The DS-DE 155B petitions provided to the circulator will be uniquely marked for that circulator. The circulator is then responsible for producing physical copies from the electronic file.

(b) Volunteer Petition Circulators. All other individuals who collect signatures, but not for compensation, for the purpose of qualifying a proposed constitutional amendment for ballot placement are not required to register with the Division of Elections. Volunteer circulators shall circulate the DS-DE 155A form, as provided to the sponsoring political committee or downloaded and printed from the Division of Elections’ website.

(7) Submission of Signed Petition Forms. All signed petition forms shall be returned to the sponsoring political committee. Only the sponsoring political committee shall submit the signed petition forms to the Supervisors of Elections for verification of signatures in accordance with Rule 1S-2.0091, F.A.C.

(8) Pursuant to Section 100.371(9), F.S., the petition sponsor shall account for all petition forms turned in by their agents. Such accounting shall be provided upon request to the Division of Elections.

(9) Effect on Previously Approved Petition Form.

(a) For volunteer petition circulators, any petition form approved by the Secretary of State prior to the effective date of this rule may continue to be used and circulated for signature gathering unless a material change, as defined above in subsection (3), to the previously approved petition form has been approved by the Secretary of State or until the sponsoring political committee notifies the Secretary of State that the committee is no longer seeking to obtain ballot position, or the registration of the sponsoring political committee has been revoked in accordance with Rule 1S-2.021, F.A.C.

(b) For forms circulated by paid petition circulators, a signature gathered on or after October 1, 2021, the effective date of this rule, may only be verified by a Supervisor of Elections in accordance with Rule 1S-2.009 if the signature is on Form DS-DE 155B, the paid petition circulator has signed the Petition Circulator’s Affidavit, and the paid petition circulator was validly registered with the Division of Elections when the signature was obtained.

Rulemaking Authority 20.10(3), 97.012(1), 100.371(2), (7), 101.161(2) FS. Law Implemented 100.371, 101.161 FS. History–New 7-2-79, Formerly 1C-7.09, Amended 7-7-86, Formerly 1C-7.009, Amended 3-5-96, 7-31-02, 3-16-06, 10-15-07, 10-13-08, 5-21-14, 10-1-21.