Your Property, Your Rights

   The Broward County Commission recently adopted--voting eight to zero-- a resolution directing the Broward County Attorney to contest recent amendments to section 581.184, Florida Statutes. This article will provide background on the reasons your County Commission chose to take such unanimous strong action.

   For almost two years the Broward County Attorney had been successfully litigating against the Department of Agriculture's ("DOA") proposed rules which have been destroying healthy individually owned citrus trees in the name of eradicating citrus canker. (The Statute directs the DOA to destroy all citrus trees in a 260-acre area for every infected tree found) The County Attorney's successes in preventing the wholesale destruction of healthy trees in Broward County and elsewhere were the result of the courts agreeing that the actions of the DOA were illegal. On the eve of a full trial at which the DOA would have the opportunity to prove the science, which allegedly would justify their mass eradication of your healthy citrus trees, the Department had a statute introduced to by-pass the court system and to eradicate healthy citrus trees by statute.

   The statute is radical, offensive and abusive of the rights of citizens of this state and the United States. It contains several violations of your fundamental rights as provided in the Bill of Rights of the United States as well as similar rights under the Constitution of the State of Florida.

   The statute provides, notwithstanding the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, that the DOA "may" obtain a county-wide warrant to invade your yard and your home (and all other yards and homes in Broward County) without seeking an individual search warrant from a judge based on reasonable cause. This is contrary to the Fourth Amendment, which was adopted in response to similar tactics of the British before our independence, and which states:

   "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

   You should be aware of the fact that this statute, if permitted to override your basic constitutional rights, could set a precedent to justify the invasion of every home-and not just your yards-- on a county-wide basis, for anything the legislature may deem more appropriate than abiding by the Constitution, such as, for example, if the police are looking for stolen goods or escaped criminals or drugs or anything else.

   The statute also provides that your property may be destroyed without due process¹ and without fair compensation as required under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:

   "No person shall be. . . deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

   The DOA has arbitrarily determined that it will send those of you whose healthy trees it has destroyed a $100 gift certificate at Walmart for the first destroyed tree and $55 for each additional tree. The Fifth Amendment, as interpreted by the courts for the past 200 years, requires condemnation proceedings prior to taking your property and a determination of the value of such property by a judge or jury.

   If the state is permitted to arbitrarily "take" your healthy trees, there is no reason it could not take any property it wants for any reason, and pay you any compensation that it, in its sole discretion, chooses.

   Another interesting part of the new statute is its direction that the Sheriff shall provide assistance in obtaining access to your property to enforce this statute. You need not be home when the tree cutters arrive, gain access to your property and do their destruction; and, if they think you may have potted citrus inside your home, they can invade that as well under this statute, with the assistance of the Sheriff.

   This has been only the briefest summary explaining why I believe your County Commission was able to act unanimously in expressing its outrage against this statute and its wholesale attack on the rights of the citizens of Broward County. Rarely has one statute been so violative of so many provisions of the Bill of Rights.

   ¹ Procedurally, due process means that before you can be deprived of substantial rights, you must receive actual notice and a meaningful hearing, unless there is a compelling public interest that would preclude such notice and hearing. Substantively, due process means that when your basic constitutional rights are involved, the government must tailor its intrusions so that they create no more of a burden upon you than is absolutely necessary.