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Florida lawmakers hate being told what to do, so they are back with their annual effort to make it harder for citizens to amend their constitution.

The good news is that voters have the final say.

Currently, six in ten voters must approve a constitutional amendment.

Now lawmakers in control want to raise the threshold to 66 and 2/3 percent.

“This bill makes sure that a broader group of our citizens must approve changes that are near permanent,” said Senate sponsor Anna Maria Rodriguez.

It didn’t sit well with Democrats on the committee.

“This a such a spit in the face to every member of the voting electorate,” said Senator Randolph Bracy.

Trish Neely with the League of Women Voters said the reason behind the change is obvious.

“Water and land legacy would have failed. 2018, restoration of civil rights would have failed. 2020, the minimum wage increase would have failed,” said Neely.

Governor Jeb Bush was the first to push for higher passage rates.

That was after the class size amendment was approved in 2002.

Since then Republicans have raised the number of signatures for judicial review, cut the life span of petitions in half, restricted signature gatherers and raised the cost of verifying petitions ten fold.

“Frankly, whoever raises the most money gets the vote,” said Senator Doug Broxson.

So dismayed, Senator Bracy left the room for the vote.

“I didn’t even think it was worth my presence,” said Bracy.

The bill passed along party lines.

We asked the sponsor if her motivation was tied to the passage of the of the $15 minimum wage.

“No. This bill was not prompted by any previous bill that passed,” said Rodriguez.

And if the measure reaches voters, it will only take 60 percent of the voters to raise the threshold to 66 and 2/3 percent.

The measure would also make it easier to repeal previously adopted amendments by requiring the removal by the same percentage that was required to approve something at the time.

In the case of the class size amendment, that would be just 50 percent.