Constitution panel responds to Corcoran criticism

BY THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

After House Speaker Richard Corcoran criticized plans for the Constitution Revision Commission to hold meetings during the legislative session, a spokeswoman for the panel issued a statement Friday pointing to the "short time" for its work. Corcoran on Thursday took a public jab at commission Chairman Carlos Beruff for scheduling four public hearings during the ongoing legislative session. Corcoran appointed five lawmakers to the 37-member commission, which will propose constitutional amendments for the November 2018 ballot. The speaker's comments spurred a response Friday from Meredith Beatrice, a spokeswoman for the commission. "As a commission which meets just once every 20 years, commissioners have a responsibility to be accountable to the people of Florida and accomplish as much as we can in the short time we have," Beatrice said. "The work before this commission is incredibly important. We will be working with all commissioners on additional public hearings to ensure the best possible outcome for families in our state. It is very important commissioners participate and hear from the public. That is why we only released a few dates, more will be scheduled soon. Videos of the meetings will also be posted online." The first scheduled public hearing will be held Wednesday in Orange County. The others are April 6 in Miami-Dade County; April 7 in Palm Beach County; and April 12 in Escambia County. Corcoran, R-Land O' Lakes, expressed his displeasure to reporters Thursday during a news conference. "Obviously ... especially when you have such a once-in-20-year august body dealing with something that is of the highest impact, which is our Constitution, and you only have a limited number of members, 37, and immediately the first action is to disenfranchise one-sixth, I don't think that's a good start," he said.