In the runup to Tuesday’s election, political prognosticators eyed Florida’s Amendment 3 with skepticism, doubting it would get the required 60% to pass.

But it did — and then some. It only fell short of that benchmark in a few counties including Leon, Alachua, Orange and (surprisingly) Seminole. Statewide, the amendment drew 61% of the vote.

That opens the door to speculation about what happened. After a strong, coordinated campaign about the deceptive nature and significant dangers of this amendment — which increases the $50,000 homestead property tax exemption to $150,000 in 2027, and then to $250,000 in 2028 — it’s hard to believe that Floridians didn’t understand the likely consequences of their actions.

Polling suggested that Amendment 3 would fall well short of the votes needed for it to pass. The polling was wrong. Alone in the voting booth, many Floridian homeowners made the decision that saving a few thousand dollars a year was worth the statewide threat to local services like ballfields, libraries, senior centers and homeless assistance and the inevitable tax-burden shift onto lower-income residents and startup businesses.

Or maybe they believed the lies — orchestrated by Blaise Ingoglia, who just won election as Florida’s chief financial officer — that depicted city and county leaders sitting on mounds of money, spending recklessly.

It doesn’t really matter now. The people have spoken, and the amendment passed. Now comes the difficult job of implementing it.

Gov. Ron DeSantis says he will call a special session before his term ends in January to write the rules that will spring from Amendment 3’s passage. Legislators should push back — hard. Throughout his time in the governor’s office, DeSantis has abused special sessions to force rushed and often deceitful debate (including the two days of meetings that produced the badly flawed Amendment 3 in the first place). The scope of Amendment 3 is vast, and its potential impact goes beyond the question of local property taxes. The wording of the amendment was left deliberately vague, but we believe it opens the door for state bureaucrats to assume near-total control over what happens in Florida’s cities and counties.

There’s a reason local officials — including common conservative allies like the Florida Sheriff’s Association —united in opposition to this amendment. It will almost certainly bring drastic cuts to services Floridians expect from their local governments. The wording of Amendment 3 could give the Legislature the authority to prioritize certain expenditures over others — for example, forcing cities to maintain their current levels of law enforcement funding even if it forces deep and unsustainable cuts in other critical services.

Finding the least damaging path forward will take time, deliberation and honesty. That’s not going to happen if DeSantis stampedes lawmakers into a special session. He’s seeking a political trophy to hang on his wall, not a solution that will cause the least possible damage.

There are better ways to handle this. The best solution we’ve heard is to hand the question to the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, an appointed group of experts that is mandated to meet every 20 years to evaluate the state’s taxing structure. It’s scheduled to convene in 2027, so the timing is perfect. Handing this thorny question off to the commission would provide the opportunity for public hearings, with carefully vetted data and plenty of opportunity for public comment.

There’s also plenty of time. The first set of tax breaks must kick in by 2027, and local governments will start debating their budgets next summer. Putting the budget reform commission to work in the first months of 2027 will create plenty of time for testimony, debate and thoughtful consideration of different options. That is a far better option than whatever scheme a lame-duck DeSantis is dreaming up.

The passage of Amendment 3 signals a seismic shift in the structure of Florida government — and right now, nobody can say exactly how that might play out. Legislative leaders should let DeSantis know that they are not going to rush to meet his demands — and that Amendment 3 will get the time and consideration that it deserves.

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