Group sues over ‘misleading’ financial impact statement on abortion amendment

Video above: DeSantis says abortion, marijuana amendments ‘will make Florida more blue’ and ‘mess up the state’

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A lawsuit was filed Wednesday over a financial impact statement that will be included alongside Florida’s abortion amendment, claiming that the statement is not only misleading, but that it was unlawfully revised.

The filing was made Wednesday evening with the Florida Supreme Court by Floridians Protecting Freedom.

The group claims that the statement includes language that has “nothing to do” with the financial impact of Amendment 4, and was written in a way that doesn’t conform to a circuit court’s order.

“Since this Court’s decision, the Sponsor has been fighting to protect its constitutional and statutory rights to a clear and accurate presentation of this amendment to voters — rights this Court upheld — against the State’s efforts to undermine Amendment 4 by appending a misleading ‘Financial Impact Statement’ to it on the ballot,” the lawsuit reads.

The group claims that without court intervention, the “misleading” statement will be allowed on the ballot.

“The revised Statement is devoted in large measure not to the required probable fiscal impact, but to speculative prognostication on the impact of potential future litigation on reproductive care, in what is a rather obvious attempt to put a thumb on the scale in precisely the way the court’s precedent forecloses,” the lawsuit reads.

Both Gov. Ron DeSantis and House Speaker Paul Renner publicly oppose Amendment 4, which is titled “Limit Government Interference with Abortion.” They maintain that the ballot summary is too vague and intentionally confusing for voters, even after the DeSantis-stacked Florida Supreme Court gave it their approval .

The four-person panel convened after a judge ordered the previous financial impact statement, which was drafted before Florida’s 6-week abortion ban took effect , be reworked due to “inaccurate, ambiguous, misleading, unclear and confusing” language.

The financial impact statement, which estimates how the proposed amendment could affect the state budget, appears alongside the amendment’s summary on the ballot.

The group argues that the panel was convened to “consider potential revisions” to the statement while a previous court ruling was still under appeal.

“The State did not explain what authority it had for revising the Statement outside the process mandated by the circuit court,” the lawsuit reads.

The group is asking the court to find the revised financial impact statement unlawful on the grounds that the panel did not have the authority to adopt it.

“Because the State lacks authority to unilaterally revise a Financial Impact Statement and avoid the judicial oversight contemplated by law, this Court should invalidate the unlawfully revised Statement,” the lawsuit reads.

“Nowhere in the text of the Legislature’s duly enacted ‘scheme’ does the Legislature vest the Senate President or House Speaker with freewheeling authority to sua sponte reconvene the Conference at any time, outside the process the statute establishes, to revise a Financial Impact Statement that has already been submitted to the Secretary of State, published to the public, and invalidated by a circuit court order,” according to the lawsuit.

Yes on 4, a group supporting the amendment, previously blasted the new statement .

“They’re trying to cause confusion and hide the real issue: Amendment 4 is about ending Florida’s extreme abortion ban which outlaws abortion before many women even realize they are pregnant,” Campaigns Director Lauren Brenzel previously said in a statement .

“This sham of a process is a reminder to Florida voters that politicians are playing dirty tricks to overcomplicate and politicize a simple administrative fix,” Brenzel wrote.

In order to pass, the amendment must be approved by 60% of the voters.

This story includes reporting by Rachel Tucker .

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