Abortion rights advocates speak out after oral arguments at the Florida Supreme Court on abortion bans and the state’s privacy clause. Sept. 8, 2023. Credit: Mitch Perry
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State economists will have to rewrite their estimate of the financial implications of the abortion-rights amendment that will be on the ballot in November.
State Circuit Judge John Cooper in Tallahassee partially ruled in favor of the group pushing the initiative on Wednesday, in a suit arguing that the statement is inaccurate and misleading.
Floridians Protecting Freedom filed the suit on April 5, days after the Florida Supreme Court approved Amendment 4 for the ballot, seeking to ensure the financial impact statement doesn’t mislead voters.
“It’s the plaintiffs’ right not that we get the amendment passed, but that a clear and accurate amendment is up in front of the voters, and this financial impact statement impedes the ability of the voters to understand what they were voting for,” plaintiffs’ attorney Margaret Good said.
In November, when the economists wrote the financial impact statement for the amendment, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, the abortion landscape in Florida remained in limbo.
The Florida Supreme Court had not yet upheld the 15-week abortion ban enacted in 2022, which triggered the six-week abortion ban that went into effect on May 1 this year. So, the economist group, known as the Financial Impact Estimating Conference (FIEC), wrote in an inconclusive statement that the potential costs and revenues of Amendment 4 couldn’t be determined.
Once Cooper issues a formal written opinion, which he signaled would come early next week, the same economists will have to come up with an updated estimate, given that the six-week ban is in effect.
Circuit Judge John Cooper: Source: Florida Channel/Screenshot
“I’m gonna make it clear, I’m not finding that [FIEC] intentionally made this misleading or inaccurate,” Cooper said during the hearing. “They drafted this at a time where the information we now know was not known, and so I don’t want them to have cast upon them a negative connotation. I know a little bit about some of them, but they strike me as a professional group of people. They don’t do politics.”
Amendment 4 will need 60% voter approval to pass and restore access to abortion beyond six weeks’ gestation. When voters head to the polls, they will see a summary of the abortion rights amendment and the financial impact statement.
Additionally, Cooper clarified that the economists must produce a statement in line with their previous analysis. In a 14-page document, the FIEC forecast broader savings for state and local governments if Amendment 4 passes while the six-week ban is law, because then there would be fewer children using government services.
“I will say this committee has already found that there’s a positive impact if you consider just a six-week statute. If they somehow find something different, they’re gonna have to justify that,” Cooper said. “But the parameters of the analysis should be on what the law is now, not what used to be or what it might be at some future time.”
Jurisdictional challenge
Attorneys for the defendants — the FIEC members and Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd — argued that the circuit court lacks jurisdiction over the matter.
“The statutory scheme doesn’t create a private cause of action. It instead sends the financial impact statements solely to the Florida Supreme Court through the attorney general, a process that’s long been understood as excluding circuit court jurisdiction,” said FIEC’s attorney, Daniel Bell.
Still, the judge opined that circuit courts do enjoy jurisdiction over the financial impact statements, citing a previous ruling by the Florida Supreme Court.
Neither Bell nor the other defense attorneys argued that the financial impact statement was accurate.
On another matter, Cooper ruled against amendment sponsor Floridians Protecting Freedom in refusing to order the 67 Florida supervisors of elections or Secretary Byrd to change any ballots at this stage.
Attorneys representing the organization argued that a clear division such as a line or heading should separate the Amendment 4 summary language on the ballot from the financial impact statement.
But Cooper disagreed, reasoning that he lacks jurisdiction from his courtroom in Leon County over all of the state’s supervisors, or to decide how the ballot should look.
“I just decline the invitation to become an editor for the ballots of 67 counties in Florida,” Cooper said.
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