Supreme Court of Florida. Credit: Danielle J. Brown
The Florida Supreme Court has ordered an expedited hearing in a legal challenge to the financial impact statement accompanying Amendment 4, which would reestablish a right to abortion. The justices on Monday ordered briefing in the dispute to conclude no later than Aug. 7.
A challenge to the estimate was filed with the court by Floridian Protecting Freedom, the amendment’s sponsor, on Wednesday. The organization argued that the conference improperly inflated the cost of the amendment, among other complaints.
The statement was developed by the four-member Financial Impact Estimating Conference, comprising three members appointed by opponents of the amendment — Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, and Florida House Speaker Paul Renner. The fourth member was the chair of the conference, coordinator of the Office of Economic and Demographic Research, Amy Baker.
The conference determined, over opposition from Baker, that the statement should include the cost of litigation of hypothetical challenges to the amendment, abandoning precedent used to estimate the costs of proposed constitutional amendments.
The stray from normalcy prompted a warning from Baker that the statement might not win approval by the Supreme Court.
Amendment 4 will appear on ballots in November and, along with it, ballot summary and the 150-word financial impact statement. If the amendment receives 60% approval from voters, it would prevent state impediments to abortions up to fetal viability.