The Florida Supreme Court has approved ballot language for a proposed constitutional amendment that would help solar power expand in the state, a proposal dubbed Floridians for Solar Choice.

Despite its sunny nickname, Florida lags behind many other states when it comes to cheap, ubiquitous solar energy, a fact the group that's pushing the amendment is hoping to change by making it legal for businesses and homes to generate solar and sell it to neighbors without any dealings with power companies (you know — those guys who charge you for power plants they never build).

“We are thrilled with the high court’s ruling so that voters may have the opportunity to vote on removing a barrier that currently blocks Florida’s families and businesses from greater energy choices through the power of the free market,” said Tory Perfetti, head of Floridians for Solar Choice. “People power is what will get us on the ballot, and we continue to gather thousands of signatures each week from Floridians eager for Solar Choice.”

The court approved the ballot language solely on its clarity and the fact that it only does one thing, and not on whether it's a good amendment.

In order to get on the 2016 ballot, the effort now needs a gazillion more petition signatures (683,149, actually; an oddly specific number).

Right now, they have more than 183,000 that are legitimate and say they have 100,000 more awaiting confirmation.

Complicating things, as we've written about in the past, is the fact that the effort has an evil twin. That evil twin's name is Consumers for Smart Solar, and it would basically encode what's already in state statute into the state constitution (i.e., power companies have complete control over how solar energy is doled out, including rates).

It's funded largely by the state's major utilities and other non-champions of the environment, and was launched specifically to take down Floridians for Solar Choice. Ostensibly, that amendment's backers are doing so out of concern that the solar industry is going to come in and be a bunch of scurvy shysters, scamming consumers and (gasp!) impacting utilities' bottom lines.

That effort also went to the Supreme Court recently, and we should be hearing about it shortly.

"We caution Florida voters about this disingenuous solar ballot measure that favors big out-of-state solar companies instead of Florida consumers,'' said former Democratic state lawmaker Dick Batchelor in a prepared statement, according to News Service of Florida. "We simply cannot allow this seriously flawed amendment to pass. This special interest amendment puts Florida consumers, and especially our seniors, at great risk of fraud and abuse."

Solar Choice backers say Batchelor, et al are trying to confuse voters who might not be paying as close attention as you or I (nerds!) and may think they already signed an amendment that's pro-expanded solar when indeed they did not. (Why don't they just let the good one pass? The legislature will just ignore it, anyway.)

Here's an easy way to tell which is which: Consumers for Smart Solar puts the word "solar" last, much like utilities in Florida put actual solar last. You're welcome.

Leaders of Solar Choice (which you can remember by associating it with this awesome Rush song) acknowledge that with all the monied opposition, they've got an uphill climb ahead of them.

“In this David and Goliath battle, we fully expected that the petition would upset the status-quo and generate opposition from utilities that hold Florida’s energy consumers captive, so we are pleased the court has cleared the way for this initiative to go before the people” said Pamela Goodman, President of League of Women Voters of Florida. “We are encouraged that an issue like solar choice has strong bipartisan support and is bringing people together for the chance to give Floridians a voice and a choice on solar power.”

This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2015.