Amendment 9 is one of a handful on the November ballot that enjoys widespread bipartisan support and very little vocal opposition, but critics are warning it will further complicate the tax code and drain much-needed tax revenues from local governments.

If passed by 60 percent of the voters, the measure (whose full title is the Property Tax Exemption for Surviving Spouses Amendment) would empower the Florida Legislature to enact a 100 percent homestead (i.e., primary residential) property tax exemption for the surviving spouses of law enforcement officers, correctional officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and military servicemen killed in the line of duty.

The brainchild of Rep. Shawn Harrison, R-Tampa, Amendment 9 was placed on the ballot by the Florida Legislature, which approved the measure by a unanimous vote of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

“I spent eight years on the Tampa City Council prior to being elected to the House, and during that time I developed a huge amount of respect for our first responders in Tampa, especially after attending many police officers’ funerals,” Harrison tells Sunshine State News. “When I got here to Tallahassee, I did some research on homestead exemptions in other states, and I came across something similar [to Amendment 9] in Georgia, and thought we should do something like that here in Florida.”

Harrison insists that passage of the amendment isn’t just sound public policy, but a duty the state owes to its fallen heroes.

“We need [Amendment 9] in order to give something back to the families of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for us,” he says. “Whether in the military or as a first responder, your job is to protect our freedoms and our safety, and some you lose your life in performing that job; we as elected officials and the cities of Florida should say thank you, and this is a way to say that."

But not everyone thinks the measure is a good idea. According to Progress Florida, a leading leftist think tank in the state, organizations opposing Amendment 9 include the Florida Association of Retired Americans, the Florida Consumer Action Network, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. But perhaps the amendment’s most outspoken opponent is the League of Women Voters of Florida.

“[Our] position is that there should be no increase or extension of homestead exemption,” reads a statement on the League’s website. “In addition to concerns that this lost revenue could result in cuts to essential services, such as education, transportation and public safety, the League’s position has always been that no tax sources or revenues should be specified, limited, exempted or prohibited in the Constitution."

“Florida's Constitution should be a simple, understandable, and integrated statement of basic law,” according to another statement on the site. “This Amendment adds extraneous language to our state Constitution and could lead to $600,000 of cuts in local government services within the next three years."

Harrison is convinced those considerations do not outweigh Amendment 9’s benefits.

“I’m appalled at the opposition from the League of Women Voters,” he tells Sunshine State News. “I will stand with those who protect us every single day, over some government official in some municipality or county somewhere who says ‘Please don’t take away our tax revenue.’ I think [the League’s] priorities are wrong.”

Harrison, who is an attorney, says he wishes that Amendment 9 did not have to go on the November ballot, but points out that it is a well-settled principle of state constitutional law that the Legislature has no authority to implement additional homestead exemptions without a constitutional amendment.

“This little bit of tax relief could really be a godsend for some of these families who are left all of a sudden with no income from their husband or wife who has been killed in the line of duty,” he says. “Amendment 9 is a measure that does good things for good people whose families deserve a bit of a break in a time of need.”


Reach Eric Giunta at egiunta@sunshinestatenews.com or at 954-235-9116.