Court-Ordered Rewrite Keeps Florida’s Amendment 3 on the Ballot as New Fiscal Tools and Promises of State Aid Surface

Overview

• A Leon County judge found the Legislature’s original ballot title and summary biased and ordered a neutral rewrite, leaving Amendment 3 on the November ballot with revised wording now under a tight objection window.
• Florida TaxWatch launched a public Property Tax Resource Center that maps projected local impacts and shows an estimated $45.8 billion reduction in local property tax revenue over five years if the amendment passes.
• Governor Ron DeSantis said lawmakers would call a special session to implement the measure and that the state could provide targeted aid for rural and fiscally constrained counties, but officials and analysts note state budgets may not cover recurring multibillion-dollar shortfalls.
• State economists and independent analysts estimate the amendment would expand the non-school homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028 and cut roughly $5 billion from local nonschool revenue in year one growing to about $12 billion later, with some rural counties risking 20–33% revenue losses.
• A broad coalition of public-safety, engineering and planning groups warns the measure could force cuts or delays to policing, firefighting, emergency recovery, roads and stormwater, and commentators urge the Legislature to design orderly transition rules for struggling municipalities and counties.