Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/256534
"home-rule charters." The other counties are considered arms of state government. Charters establish forms of government and delineate the various powers, duties and responsibilities. However, charters are not eternal. Charters can be revoked or replaced by the Legislature. Revocation is very rare, but replacement is not. Sarasota's charter was replaced by the legislature in 1945, and then the new document was ratified by city voters. It created the current city-manager form of government Caragiulo, Holland and It's Time Sarasota want to abolish. The Legislature in 1973 revoked the 1945 charter and granted a new one, subsequently approved by city voters. And in 1996, yet another charter was approved. All retained the city-manager form of government. In between, the voters have approved and dis- approved several proposals to amend the charter. For example, they have set more stringent rules on campaign donations in city races. The difference between "amended" and "new" can have important consequences. Amendments can be put on the ballot either by the City Commission or by a petition drive that gathers the signatures of 10 percent of the city's registered voters (today that num- ber is about 3,500). But a new charter — and that is what seems to appear on the It's Time Sarasota website — must first be approved by a special act of the Legislature, if history is any guide. At what point a host of amendments create a "new" charter may be an issue for the courts, if, indeed, prior legislative approval is required. In other words, does a proposal voted down three times in the past now need legislative approval before local voters can see it again? What does the ballot language look like for an entirely new charter? The questions are more than academic because once people start signing petitions, the proposal is frozen in time. Any changes would require a new petition drive. That means the "proposal" needs to be right the first time. It's Time Sarasota certainly has the horse- power to answer these questions. Instead of registering its political action committee with the City Auditor and Clerk's Office in City Hall, it has retained the Ramba Consulting Group in Tallahassee as its registered agent. Thus, its financial disclosure forms will be filed in Tallahassee. None has been filed yet. David Ramba, a principal in the group, opened his consultancy in 2009. The Florida Bar Association at that time reported, "A substan- tial portion of Ramba's practice is devoted towards legislative representation and mat- ters before state agencies." In an interview last year with The Florida Current, he identified his current clients as Internet sweepstakes cafés and special tax- ing districts. Co-located at his 120 S. Monroe St. address in Tallahassee is the Ramba Law Group. Among the law firm's clients are the Nature Coast Conservative Coalition and Veterans for Conservative Principles. Former clients include Benderson Development and Neal Communities. If local legislation is needed to replace the current city charter with a new one, It's Time Sarasota needs to move fast because the leg- islative session begins next month. % Sarasota News Leader February 7, 2014 Page 19