'Take it to the people:' Passionate citizens address Florida CRC in Pensacola

Hour after hour, a steady stream of judges, county commissioners, grandparents, students, environmentalists and entrepreneurs made their way to the podium.

From the microphone, they advocated for their families, their businesses, their rights and their future. Behind them, onlookers signaled their approval or disapproval by holding up large green or red cards.

For more than six hours, members of the Florida Constitution Revision Commission heard citizens' opinions on 37 proposed amendments to the Florida Constitution. Hundreds of people registered to speak, some traveling from across the state for a chance to be heard.

Some proposals were popular, such as measures that would respectively ban use of electronic cigarettes at workplaces, prohibit drilling in Florida's territorial waters and support the public education system.

Others were more controversial, such as a proposal that would ban greyhound racing in Florida.

Terri Suggs, who said training greyhounds was a family business, pleaded with commission members to vote no on Proposition 67. She said she relished caring for the dogs each day, and it was a passion as well as a profession.

“When I think about you taking the greyhounds away, I worry,” Suggs told commissioners. “Changing the constitution threatens my livelihood. I thought the constitution was supposed to protect me.”

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In front of her, a small sea of red signs flashed, while behind her a contingent of dog trainers waved green signs in support.

Theresa Dennis was one of those who disagreed, and she said data showed that dog racing is harmful and dangerous to the animals, and trainers and track owners had been unwilling or unable to get their acts together. She said even if individual trainers treated their dogs well, it didn’t negate the suffering of others dogs.

"If (the dog racing industry) can't solve the problem — which we all agree is cruelty — we need to take (dog racing) off the table," Dennis said.

During her turn at the podium, she also voiced her opposition to Proposition 29, which would sanction employers who fail to verify whether or not new employees are eligible to work in the U.S. Dennis said the verification database is inaccurate and prohibitively expensive for small business owners to access.

Michael Williams was at the public hearing in support of Proposal 96, which would give victims of crime additional protections such as the right to be notified when their assailant is in court or released prior to trial.

Relating an incident where a murder victim’s family bumped into their loved one's killer at a convenience store, Williams said the bill was of huge impact to families affected, but unlikely an afterthought to everyone else.

“The problem is it’s a bill everyone hopes never applies to them,” Williams said.

The 37 bills the CRC is currently discussing were whittled down from thousands proposed by citizens and commissioners.

Matthew Cunningham attended the hearing for a proposal that has already been voted down but that he hopes can be resurrected, an amendment increasing medical access to marijuana. Cunningham uses a wheelchair after suffering a broken neck, and said he was afraid of the addictive nature of painkillers.

“It should be my right as an adult to plant a seed, grow medicine and treat myself,” he said.

After the meeting, Don Gaetz, a former Florida Senate president who represented the Panhandle area, said it was a productive hearing with passionate, informed attendees.

Gaetz said the commission will likely end up selecting only four or five proposals to land on the ballot during the general election this November, and the hearings were a good measure of which ones had the will of the public behind them.

The Gaetz family has been strong advocates for greyhounds, and he said he was enthusiastic to see there was organic, grassroots support for ending the greyhound racing industry.

He said some important issues — such as the greyhound racing or his own proposal to establish ethics guidelines for elected officials — often got weighed down or shut out in the legislative process.

Gaetz said he always remembered something former Gov. Reubin Askew told him about such issues: “It’s not that it couldn’t be done in statute, it's that it wouldn’t be done in statute. So sometimes you have to find another way, and that’s to take it to the people.”

Kevin Robinson can be reached at krobinson4@pnj.com and 850-435-8527.