Speed traps would be a thing of the past if Florida voters enact a Taxpayers Bill of Rights proposition currently under review by a statewide panel. The Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission has until May 8 to decide whether to place this proposed limitation on the size of local and state government before the voters in November.

Constitutional Proposal 41 specifically would impose a constitutional limit on any form of revenue increase for municipal, state and local government beyond the current level, adjusted annually for growth in inflation or population. Local officials looking to fund new projects would need to cut spending in other areas, instead of using the current procedure of creating a new "fee," sending out police patrols or installing red light cameras to provide quick revenue boosts. Only a supermajority vote of the legislature or the approval of a majority of voters could raise the cap on the amount of revenue government entities are allowed to raise each year.

The idea is based on an initiative that Colorado voters adopted in 1992 to slow the runaway growth of local government spending and taxation. A total of twenty-three states have some sort of constitutional limitation on spending, four have taxation limits and three states have limitations on both.

A full copy of the proposal is available in a 25k PDF file at the source link below.