Judge rules Florida Amendment 3 ballot language unlawful, orders 10-day rewrite
Judge orders rewrite of Florida property tax amendment
Florida's property tax amendment took a double hit Tuesday. First from a judge who said the ballot language is biased, then, from the Florida Sheriff's Association, which urged voters to reject it. FOX 13's Evan Axelbank reports.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A Tallahassee judge ordered the Florida attorney general to re-write Amendment 3, saying the language currently in the proposal is political.
Judge David Frank said, "Simply put, the proposed ballot title does not state the basic legal purpose of the amendment; it endorses it and diverts voters from its actual effect." He added, "The ballot summary then sets forth three political taglines — ‘Ensuring funding for core services,’ ‘Protecting small businesses,’ and ‘Ensuring fairness for Florida residents’ — giving reasons why voters should vote for the proposal."
Florida sheriffs on Amendment 3
What they're saying:
Local sheriffs, including Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, are using the words "scary" and "devastating" when it comes to what impact it could have on local budgets.
The title of the amendment is "Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes," which Judge Frank ruled is "more like a political slogan."
"It's a train wreck," said Judd. "So tell your legislators to go back to work next session and give you meaningful, appropriate, well-thought-out, well-managed, well-researched tax relief."
"It's really just squeezing the balloon, because one of the things that could happen," said Gualtieri. "While their property taxes could get cut when government is faced with having to gut things or try and keep things above a water line to some degree, is that they're going to institute different fees and different other taxes and other things."
2026 Election: Amendment 3 in Florida
Dig deeper:
Amendment 3 would increase the homestead exemption from $50,000 to $150,000 in the first year. Then, it would increase it to $250,000 in the second year, costing local governments an estimated $12 billion.
A poll released two weeks ago showed 61% supported it in theory, but only 45% supported it when told of the shortfall it could create for local budgets.
"The judge ruled that it's unlawfully written under Florida law. The Office of the Attorney General is called on to rewrite the ballot language to be consistent with the law," said Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier. "The team is looking at that. This just came down. We got it this morning. So we're giving it a hard look and we'll have updates soon. I don't have anything more specific right now."
School taxes have been exempt from it, but there are no specifics about what other services could be impacted.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from a Florida circuit court ruling by Judge David Frank, public statements from Sheriff Grady Judd, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, and Attorney General Uthmeier, and polling data from the University of North Florida.