CS/HJR 1471 -- A matter of perspective

This past Friday, the Florida Senate approved 26-10 adding to the 2012 Florida state election ballot, a proposed amendment which says, in part, that “. . . no individual or entity may be denied, on basis of religious identity or belief, governmental benefits, funding, or other support. . . ”. The bill was originally introduced on March 25 of this year into the Florida House by the Judiciary Committee and by Representatives Scott Plakon, R-District 37, and Stephen Precourt, R-District 41, with 17 other representatives signing on as co-sponsors.

The Florida Capitol News' article on Thursday, about Friday's scheduled vote, said in its lead sentence that the amendment would allow "state funds to be used by church-related groups for social services." Later in the article, however, the reporter cited Senator Thad Altman, R-Rockledge, as saying "the amendment is needed to end discrimination against church-affiliated agencies that help drug addicts, foster children, homeless people and others in need."

The bill, CS/HJR 1471, proposes changing the last sentence of Article I, Section 3, of the current Florida constitution as follows:

ARTICLE I
115	DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
116	SECTION 3.  Religious freedom.-There shall be no law
117	respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting or
118	penalizing the free exercise thereof. Religious freedom shall
119	not justify practices inconsistent with public morals, peace, or
120	safety. Except to the extent required by the First Amendment to
121	the United States Constitution, neither the government nor any
122	agent of the government may deny to any individual or entity the
123	benefits of any program, funding, or other support on the basis
124	of religious identity or belief. No revenue of the state or any
125	political subdivision or agency thereof shall ever be taken from
126	the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church,
127	sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian
128	institution.
129	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the following statement be
130	placed on the ballot:
131	CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
132	ARTICLE I, SECTION 3
133	RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.-Proposing an amendment to the State
134	Constitution to provide, consistent with the United States
135	Constitution, that no individual or entity may be denied, on the
136	basis of religious identity or belief, governmental benefits,
137	funding, or other support and to delete the prohibition against
138	using revenues from the public treasury directly or indirectly
139	in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid
140	of any sectarian institution.

The first sections of the bill explain that the original language was added to the Florida Constitution in 1885 as a so-called Blaine Amendment, a proposed amendment to the U. S. Constitution which would have added specific language regarding the separation of Church and State. The federal-level Blaine Amendment failed, but several states added the language in their state constitutions.

The bill also notes that "...in 2000, a plurality of the United States Supreme Court acknowledged that this "doctrine, born of bigotry, should be buried now...."

The bill needed 24 votes to pass the Senate. It passed the House on April 27 by a vote of 81-35.