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Florida Weekly Roundup: Judicial Wordsmithing
August 2, 2026
As the primary draws closer without any gubernatorial candidates tossed from the ballot, a far-reaching property tax cut proposal set to go before voters later this year had a day in court this week.
Now the wait is on for Leon County Judge David Frank to decide whether to toss a series of lawsuits or order the state’s attorney general to rewrite what voters will read.
BALLOT ADVOCACY
Three groups of plaintiffs, including former local government elected officials and a former Republican legislator, contend the title and ballot summary for Amendment 3, approved by the GOP-led Legislature in June, uses “emotional and political rhetoric” designed to mislead voters.
“I don’t think there is anybody who can say when this amendment was drafted that it’s not partial and it’s not advocacy,” said former Sen. Jeff Brandes, a St. Petersburg Republican, who brought one of the lawsuits against the property tax cut proposal. “All we are asking the court to do is follow the law and follow what the constitution lays out when it relates to advocacy.”
Opponents argue the measure could cost cities and counties as much as $12 billion annually and shift the tax burdens to renters and businesses, which isn’t reflected in the ballot language that is under the amendment’s title of “Save Our Homes From Excessive Property Taxes.”
Representing one of the opposition groups, attorney Jamie Cole told Frank the wording voters see “has to be fair and it has to be accurate.”
“It should not be political rhetoric, it should not be emotional language,” Cole said.
Benjamin Gibson, an attorney representing the state, said the onus was on the plaintiffs to prove the ballot summary was defective. Also, the measure’s title wasn’t misleading because it spells out the danger to homesteads: excessive taxes.
He also downplayed arguments that the measure would essentially give the Legislature veto power over how local property taxes are spent because it restricts such spending to infrastructure, education, public safety and other major needs.
“The ballot title and summary does not need to explain unknowns or hypothetical consequences,” Gibson said.
FISHBACK STAYS
Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback remains on the primary ballot.
Judge Frank ruled Monday that Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, another GOP candidate for the governor’s office, didn’t prove Fishback lived outside the state within the last seven years.
Collins alleged Fishback voted in Washington D.C. in 2020 and established a homestead there when he bought an apartment in 2021, making him ineligible due to the state’s seven-year residency requirement for the office.
With Fishback testifying that he never gave up his Florida residency and voted in D.C. to support President Donald Trump, Frank determined the burden of proof was on Collins to show Fishback abandoned his residence in Florida.
“This isn’t just a victory for our campaign. It’s a victory for the constitution and for every Floridian who believes elections should be decided by voters, not politicians trying to rig the system,” Fishback stated after the ruling was released.
DOUBLE EXECUTION
Florida completed a rare day-night execution Tuesday, putting Dominick Anthony Occhicone to death about five hours after James Aren Duckett was pronounced dead.
After a flurry of emergency applications and petitions were turned down the past few days at the federal level, including the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, Occhicone, 80, became the oldest inmate executed by the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty described the twin executions as an “unprecedented escalation” of the state’s use of the death penalty.
“These are two profoundly different cases, but they point to the same troubling reality: Florida continues to expand the use of capital punishment, despite mounting evidence that it is not what Floridians want,” said Grace Hanna, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
Occhicone and Duckett were put to death by lethal injection at Florida State Prison, bringing the number of inmates executed this year to 12.
DeSantis signed his 14th death warrant of the year Thursday, for Harold Gene Lucas to be executed Sept. 1. Lucas received the death sentence for the murder of his 16-year-old former girlfriend in Bonita Springs almost 50 years ago.
On Tuesday, DeSantis said he didn’t “take joy” in presiding over the double execution or take “pride” in signing the warrants even though it will be “more than any administration in the history of the state.” But DeSantis said capital punishment is needed to “bring justice,” as “some of the victims’ families have been waiting a long time.”
“We do owe it to them to do it,” DeSantis said Tuesday night at the Florida Sheriffs Association Summer Conference at Trump National Doral.
STORY OF THE WEEK:
Opponents of a Florida property tax-cutting ballot measure, Amendment 3, get their day in court, but must wait on a ruling.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
“You shouldn’t be going for 20 years. You should be able to try and maybe appeal, but then at some point, we’ve got to get cracking here.” — Gov. Ron DeSantis on the death sentence appeal process while at the Florida Sheriffs Association Summer Conference on Tuesday.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
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