Utility Ballot Measure Gets $208,000 in November

By NSF Staff

As it continues to gradually move toward reaching a petition-signature threshold, a political committee that wants to overhaul Florida’s electric-utility industry received $208,000 in cash contributions last month, a newly filed finance report shows. The committee Citizens for Energy Choices is trying to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the November 2020 ballot that would deregulate and revamp the way Floridians get electricity.

To do so, it needs to submit 766,200 valid petition signatures to the state Division of Elections by a February deadline and needs the Florida Supreme Court to sign off on the proposed ballot wording. As of Wednesday evening, the state had tallied 583,116 signatures for the initiative. The Supreme Court heard arguments Aug. 28 on the proposed ballot wording but has not issued a ruling. The proposed constitutional amendment is opposed by state leaders, major business groups and current players in the utility industry.

The $208,000 in cash contributions in November came from a non-profit group called Coalition for Energy Choice, Inc. The committee also received $11,750 in in-kind contributions from the firm Infinite Energy. The committee also spent nearly $213,000 in November, with almost all of the money going to petition gathering and verification, the finance report shows.

Article reposted with permission from The News Service of Florida.