Florida Constitution Amendments: Ballot Routes, Review, and Passage

There are five ways to amend the Florida Constitution, and all of them end at the same place: a statewide general election ballot where the proposal needs at least 60 percent approval to pass. That supermajority rule, adopted by voters in 2006, applies no matter who put the amendment on the ballot.¹ What changes from route to route is who gets to propose a change in the first place and what they have to do to qualify it for the ballot.

The Five Routes to the Ballot

Each of these paths produces a proposed amendment that goes to voters at the next general election. The difference is who starts it.

Legislative Joint Resolution

The Legislature can place an amendment on the ballot by passing a joint resolution with a three-fifths vote in both the House and the Senate. The Governor does not sign it. Once both chambers clear the threshold, the proposal is on the ballot.²

Constitution Revision Commission

Every twenty years, a 37-member Constitution Revision Commission convenes to review the entire document and send proposals directly to voters. The most recent commission met in 2017–2018; the next convenes in 2037.³ Unlike citizen initiatives, the commission can combine multiple topics into a single ballot proposal.

Taxation and Budget Reform Commission

A separate commission dedicated to tax and spending policy convenes on its own twenty-year cycle. It first met in 2007 and next meets in 2027. A proposal needs a two-thirds vote of the full commission to reach the ballot.³

Citizen Initiative

Florida voters can put an amendment on the ballot themselves by collecting petition signatures equal to 8 percent of the votes cast in the last presidential election. Those signatures must come from at least half of the state’s congressional districts, and each qualifying district has to hit the 8 percent mark independently.¹ This is the only route that works without any legislator or appointed official.

Constitutional Convention

The broadest option is a convention that could rewrite the whole constitution. Calling one takes a petition signed by 15 percent of voters from the last presidential election, met in at least half the congressional districts. If that qualifies, voters decide at the next general election whether to hold the convention, and a simple majority is enough. Delegates are then elected from each state representative district at the following general election.³

Running a Citizen Initiative

The citizen initiative is the route most people encounter, and it carries the most procedural rules. A mistake in the petition form, the ballot language, or the collection process can end a campaign that has already spent millions.

The Single-Subject Rule

A citizen-initiated amendment must address a single subject. The Florida Supreme Court enforces the rule to stop sponsors from bundling popular and unpopular measures together or writing a question so broad that voters cannot tell what they are approving. One carve-out exists: amendments that limit the government’s power to raise revenue are exempt.²

What the Petition Form Must Collect

Under Florida Statute 100.371, every petition form must capture specific information from the signer:

The voter’s full legal name as registered.
Residential address and county of legal residence.
The voter’s Florida registration number or date of birth, plus a Florida driver license number, state ID number, or the last four digits of a Social Security number.
An attestation that the signer is a registered Florida voter and is petitioning to place the amendment on the ballot.
The voter’s original signature and the date signed.

Starting July 1, 2025, the financial impact statement must also appear prominently on the petition form once it has been prepared.⁴

Who Can Collect Signatures

Florida tightened its circulator rules in 2025. Anyone who collects more than 25 signed petition forms, beyond their own and their immediate family members’ forms, must register as a petition circulator with the Secretary of State. Circulators must be United States citizens, Florida residents, and cannot have an unrestored felony conviction.⁵

Registration requires identification details, an in-state address for service of process, and sworn statements about citizenship and felony status. Before collecting a single signature, a registered circulator must complete an online training course from the Division of Elections. Sponsors cannot pay circulators per signature.⁵

Signature Verification and the February 1 Deadline

Signed petitions go to the Supervisor of Elections in the county where each signer is registered. The Supervisor verifies signatures against the voter rolls and charges a fee based on actual county cost, which varies across the state. Supervisors have to publish their current verification cost online and may update it annually on March 1.⁴

The required number of valid, verified signatures must be on file with the Secretary of State by February 1 of the general election year. The petition is deemed filed on the date the threshold is met. Supervisors generally have 60 days to verify signatures, but that window shrinks to 30 days for petitions submitted within 60 days of the February 1 deadline.⁶ Falling one valid signature short pushes the campaign to the next election cycle.

Ballot Language and the Financial Impact Statement

Florida Statute 101.161 limits the ballot title to 15 words and the explanatory summary to 75 words. Both must be clear and unambiguous about what a “yes” vote does.⁷ Poorly drafted summaries are one of the most common reasons the Supreme Court blocks an initiative.

Every citizen initiative also carries a financial impact statement prepared by the Financial Impact Estimating Conference, a nonpartisan body. After the Secretary of State receives a proposed amendment, the Conference has 75 days to produce a statement estimating revenue and cost changes, with the clock paused while the Legislature is in session. The statement cannot exceed 150 words and must appear on both the petition form and the ballot, listed separately after the ballot summary.⁴

Supreme Court Review Before the Ballot

The Florida Supreme Court reviews every citizen initiative before it can appear on the ballot. Under Florida Statute 16.061, the Attorney General must petition the court for an advisory opinion within 30 days of receiving the proposed amendment from the Secretary of State. The court looks at whether the proposal complies with the single-subject rule, whether the title and summary are accurate and not misleading, whether the proposal is facially valid under the U.S. Constitution, and whether the financial impact statement meets statutory requirements.⁸

If the court finds the ballot language misleading or the proposal in violation of the single-subject rule, the initiative is struck from the ballot no matter how many signatures it has gathered. Sponsors who finish signature collection before the court rules are betting that their drafting survives review.

What It Takes to Pass, and When It Takes Effect

Every proposed amendment, no matter which route produced it, appears at a November general election. Passage requires at least 60 percent approval from voters who cast a vote on that question. Florida used a simple majority until voters raised the bar in 2006.¹

Amendments that clear 60 percent do not take effect on election night. Under Article XI, Section 5, approved changes become part of the constitution on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January following the election, which gives the Legislature, state agencies, and affected parties time to prepare for whatever the amendment requires.³

1
Florida Department of State. Constitutional Amendments/Initiatives
2
Ballotpedia. Article XI, Florida Constitution
3
Florida Senate. The Florida Constitution
4
Florida Statutes. Florida Code 100.371 – Initiatives; Procedure for Placement on Ballot
5
Florida Senate. Florida Code 100.371 – Initiatives; Procedure for Placement on Ballot
6
Florida House of Representatives. Florida Code 100.371 – Initiatives; Procedure for Placement on Ballot
7
Florida Statutes. Florida Code 101.161 – Referenda; Ballots
8
Florida Senate. Florida Code 16.061 – Initiative Petitions