February 4, 2008

ISSUE 1204

GROWERS OFFER VIEWS ON DEPARTMENT OF CITRUS REFERENDUM

A majority of citrus growers present at a meeting of the Joint Legislative Sunset Committee spoke in favor of delaying a referendum asking whether the Florida Department of Citrus should be able to continue to tax them.
The committee met Jan. 31 in Winter Haven to decide if and how the agency should continue to exist.

Growers and the committee discussed whether a grower referendum should be conducted as well as how votes would be counted in such a referendum.
Some growers spoke in favor of a "one grower-one vote" referendum, but others pushed for "one share-one vote."

The committee staff had recommended that a referendum be conducted among growers as a condition for allowing the department to continue to act as a taxing authority.

Time is short because the committee must make its recommendation by March 1.