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MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR FIRBIS BRYANT
THE LEGISLATURE OgoPLORIDA CONVENED
IN SPECIAL SESSION
NOVEMBER 12. 1962
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate and House
of Representatives of the Legislature of the State of Florida,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
The provisions of the Florida Constitution, the order of the
District Court of the United States for the Southern District of
Florida in the cases of Sahel vs Adams and Susnn vs Adams and the
verdict of the people or Florida rendered in the general election on
November 6 on proposed Constitutional Amendment No. l have brought
us to a moment of crisis in the political history of our State. We
are 'hcist'on the- horns of a dilemma.
The problem of respportionment, even when it required for
solution only a majority vote of these bodies, was so difficult as to
defy solution from 1945 until this year. When, by reason of develop-
ing popular opinion, the need was created for reapportionment beyond
that permitted by the constitutional formula and it became necessary
to secure a three-fifths majority of each house to improve that
formula, the difficulty of achieving a solution was compounded. Now
that, because of the necessity for emergency action, a three-fourths
majority vote of each house is required to approach a solution, the
difficulty has increased in a geometric ratio. Add to that the fact
that with each unsuccessful effort the apparent demands of the citizens
of Florida increase, and the further consideration that time available
for addressing ourselves to a successful solution is reduced from
years to the span of one week. It would be foolish not to recognize
the herculean nature of the task we face.
The course of action open to us are few in number:
1. We can fail or refuse to take any action. I am not
prepared to participate in that conclusion, because the
responsibility is clearly ours to act.
2. You could adopt a reapportionmsnt plan by a simple
statute. Inmnch as I understand the order of the Federal
Court to have relieved us of the limitations imposed by our
Constitution, I favored this approach when l addressed you
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August 1, but a decision was made to submit this matter
to the people. I do not now feel that, having suffered
an adverse decision at their hands, we could conscientiously
withdraw the matter from further consideration by them,
and I would hope you would not try that approach.
3. You could propose a constitutional amendment which
would delegate the responsibility and shift the power to
others to make the decision for you. I have found no
sentiment in these bodies for that approach, and cannot
myself conscientiously recommend it.
u. You can adopt by the necessary three-fourths majority
a plan which is an improvement over that submitted to the
people on November 6. This is our proper course. In my
message to these bodies on August 1, I commended a plan
to you for consideration. I believed then, and believe
now, that it merits your approval.
5. You can submit to the people of Florida alternate
proposals, one reflecting the views of those members or these
bodies representing 505 of the population living in the
larger counties, and one reflecting the views or those
members or these bodies representing the 50% of the
population living in the medium size and smaller counties.
If you are unable to agree on a single measure to submit
to the people, this approach seems to me to have merit.
Since this is a new idea, may I dwell on it for a moment
at greater length.
Heretorore all proposals submitted to the people have been
contrasted in their minds with some vague and general proposal
represented in ideal terms and never defined. The people or
Florida have been assured that if they would turn down the proposal
being offered to them in specific terms on several occasions that
they would have "something better." It is human nature to want
"something better, but it is enlightening to note that each time
something better was offered it was turned down because the illusory
goal had moved on. Like the pot or gold at the end of the rainbow
it moved on over the horizon without losing its beauty or its glow.
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Let us then reduce this "something better" to concrete terms
so that the people can with discrimination and precise information
evaluate the real choices before them. I suspect that some of those
choices will lose their charm when converted into specifics. In any
event the choice will rest in the hands or the people or Florida
represented in greater or less degree by all or us and it is right
that they should make the decision.
I know there are those who fear that the proposals submitted
would be radical and, therefore, dangerous. I do not share that fear.
Each group will, of necessity, design a plan to attract rather than
to repel. The group representing the larger counties, for instance,
while desiring to attract the voters of Dade County and Broward,
will not want to repel the voters or Duval County and Rscambia and
Alachua and Lee. The group representing the small counties on the
other hand, while perhaps desirous of maintaining the status quo,
will want to design a plan which will attract voters from the larger
counties as well as from the small and any plan must secure Judicial
approval.
The Attorney General assures me that this program is
legally practicable, and if you wish to work in that direction, I
shall be glad to work with you.
Let me conclude by saying that the representatives of the
big counties in Florida have a responsibility which, to this date,
they have not discharged. You have the responsibility not only of
opposing these proposals which seem to you inequitable, but of
proposing a solution which is not only equitable but acceptable to
the people or Florida. I have not analysed election returns or last
Tuesday with any care, but I sense that as we draw closer to a plan
which will please Dads, Broward, Pinellss, and Hillsborough, that
there will be a rising tide of opposition in many other counties
of the state. It is a characteristic of the voter that he can be
aroused more easily to vote 'no" than yes;" that his tendency
whenever in doubt is to vote "no" rather than "yes." I think it
wise to recognize that some or the "no" votes cast November 6 were
cast not because the proposal did not give enough representation
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to the large counties but because in the minds of some people it
save too much, and this small group can be expected to grow as the
plans submitted for consideration approach directly proportional
representation.
I have been meeting with representatives of those counties in
which the majority or the peeple opposed the plan submitted last
Tuesday in the hope that from them could be developed a proposal which
I could submit to you today. It is a commentary on the dilemma in
which we find ourselves that even in that relatively homogeneous
group there was no plan for which a three-fourths majority cauld
be mustered.
It is my sincere hope that the plan I have suggested of
permitting the large counties to Join in submitting a prOposal will
result in a definitive plan for consideration.
We seek an iieal -- an ideal which is differently conceived
in each mind. It is well to remember that while we have been seeking
it these last eight years Florida has been moving forward. Decisions
are being made. While we dispute over what improvement to make, no
improvement is made.
There are statesmen in these Houses. Florida, and the cause
of constitutional government, never needed you more.
Every man in this Legislature sought the privilege or serving.
That privilege carries a responsibility you may not avoid. The
peeple of Florida are entitled to a full measure or performance.
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popular cpinion, the need tree t perntitted by the constitutjer secure a three-fiftlas majority mula, the difficulty of achievi
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er what hnprovemer.t to make, a Hovaes. Florida, isnd the e needed you more.
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