Florida homeowners just watched their property tax bills nearly double in seven years.
DeSantis passed the biggest homestead tax cut in state history – and lawyers filed suit before the ink dried.
A Leon County judge just fast-tracked a July 29 hearing that could rewrite the ballot measure before voters ever see it.
The Lawsuit Targeting Your Tax Cut
The group suing is called Save Our Voters From Misleading Ballot Language.
They're not trying to kill the amendment outright.
They want to rewrite how it's described – and in Florida ballot fights, that can be the whole ballgame.
https://twitter.com/FLVoiceNews/status/2070236560155627761?s=20
The amendment, passed during a June special session, raises Florida's homestead exemption from $50,000 to $150,000 starting January 1, 2027, then up to $250,000 in 2028.
If 60% of voters approve in November, most Florida homeowners would see their property tax bills slashed dramatically.
The plaintiffs' core complaint: the ballot title "Save Our Homes From Excessive Property Taxes" is a campaign slogan, not a neutral description.
They argue the summary oversells the amendment by claiming it "ensures funding for core services" – when in reality, cutting almost $5 billion from local government revenues in year one doesn't guarantee anything.
This Playbook Has Worked Before
The attorney behind this lawsuit – Jamie Cole of Broward County – already killed a Florida property tax amendment once.
In 2007, a Republican governor pushed a similar "Super Exemption" plan through a special session.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2069934935931019692?s=20
Cole sued over the ballot language.
Courts agreed the wording misled voters and stripped the measure from the ballot entirely.
Cole is running the exact same play in 2026 – and he has a winning record doing it.
The lawsuit's legal brief cites a 1994 Florida Supreme Court ruling that struck a ballot title for using emotional framing designed to push voters toward yes before they'd read a word of the actual amendment.
Cole is arguing this ballot does the same thing.
This is not a frivolous lawsuit from people who couldn't get elected.
This is a precision strike from a lawyer who knows exactly which legal tripwires to pull.
What DeSantis Is Saying
DeSantis is not running from this fight.
He argues the ballot language is accurate – and he pushed lawmakers to expand beyond the usual 75-word limit precisely so voters would have more context, not less.
"We need to get a resolution on this pretty quickly because they are going to have to print ballots probably sometime in August for the General Election," DeSantis said.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2069843099183202448?s=20
He's right about the timeline.
Absentee ballots move toward production after the August 18 Primary – meaning Judge Dempsey's July 29 hearing is not the start of a long legal process.
It's essentially the decision.
If the plaintiffs win, Uthmeier has to rewrite the ballot language under court supervision.
If DeSantis wins, it goes to voters exactly as written.
The Stakes Are $10 Billion Per Year
Florida homeowners have watched their tax bills climb even with existing protections like the Save Our Homes assessment cap, because home values exploded.
The amendment would reduce local government property tax collections by almost $5 billion in the 2027-28 fiscal year alone – rising to over $10.7 billion per year by 2030-31.
That's $10.7 billion annually staying in homeowners' pockets instead of going to local government budgets.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2069813613540569096?s=20
City and county officials hate this amendment for exactly that reason.
The lawsuit wasn't filed by random voters – it was filed by former mayors Campenni and Davey, representing the class of local officials who stand to lose the most if Florida homeowners vote for their own tax relief.
This is organized resistance from the local government establishment – using the courts to accomplish what they couldn't accomplish in the legislature.
What Happens July 29
Judge Dempsey is the only thing standing between DeSantis' tax cut and Florida voters.
She can rule the ballot language is fine – the amendment goes to voters as written.
She can order Uthmeier to rewrite it – which hands Cole's side a major victory even if the amendment stays on the ballot, because neutral wording polls differently than "Save Our Homes."
Or she can do what the courts did in 2007 and strip the measure entirely.
Understand what you're actually looking at here.
Cole isn't some random plaintiff who woke up offended by ballot language.
He simultaneously represents more than a dozen Florida local governments fighting Tallahassee in separate legal battles – and those same local governments stand to lose $10.7 billion a year if this amendment passes.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2069869438006894930?s=20
The mayors who filed this lawsuit aren't protecting voters from confusion.
They're protecting their own budgets from the voters.
Local governments in Florida have grown fat on property tax revenue that nearly doubled in seven years – from $32 billion to $55 billion – while homeowners on fixed incomes watched their bills climb with no relief in sight.
DeSantis gave those homeowners a way out in November.
Cole's job is to make sure the question on the ballot sounds boring enough that they don't take it.
Sources:
- Staff Reports, "Judge fast-tracks challenge to Florida property tax ballot language," Florida Politics, June 25, 2026.
- Colby Dix, "Lawsuit challenges Florida property tax ballot language as 'biased' & 'misleading'," WPTV, June 11, 2026.
- Kate Payne, "Lawsuit challenges 'unconstitutional' ballot measure to slash Florida property taxes," Florida Trib, June 11, 2026.
- "Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Special Session on Property Tax Relief," Executive Office of the Governor, May 27, 2026.
- "Senate Passes Historic Property Tax Cut for Florida Homeowners," Florida Senate, June 2, 2026.
- "Florida Property Tax Elimination: DeSantis Plan 2026," PropertyExemption.com, June 2026.
