CEO and Founder of the Single Subject Amendment, Wayne Sutton “Spider” Webb, died Saturday, September 7, 2019 following a protracted battle with cancer. He was 71.
Mr. Webb grew up in Jacksonville, Florida graduating from Landon High School on the Southside. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management from Georgia Tech University before serving in the United States Army at the close of the Vietnam War.
He caught the political bug while studying law at Florida State University. He conducted research in the Florida Senate working on projects with incoming Senate President Mallory Horne, the Rules and Calendar Committee and Bill Drafting. After graduation, Mr. Webb became the Staff Director for the Florida House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture and General Legislation.
He later served as in-house counsel for Tampa Electric Company where he lobbied the Florida Legislature in Tallahassee and the United States Congress in Washington D.C. Mr. Webb was struck by the stark difference in the way the two legislative bodies operated. Florida’s Legislature conducts business in the sunshine and bills may only deal with one subject to pass muster under Florida’s constitution. Congress, on the other hand, has no such restrictions. Monstrous bills are routinely passed containing unrelated provisions and appropriations which could not pass on their own merits.
This unfettered legislative process is one of the reasons behind runaway Congressional spending and the ever-increasing national debt.
Mr. Webb was aware that the addition of a single subject provision to the United States Constitution could profoundly improve the federal legislative process and overall economic health of America.
He founded the Single Subject Amendment PAC to amend the United States Constitution to provide that a law cannot be enacted by Congress unless it pertains to only one subject and that subject must be clearly expressed in its title. The vast majority of states – 41 to be exact – has single subject provisions in their respective constitutions.
Mr. Webb was making great strides in promoting the Single Subject Amendment project throughout the country when he was diagnosed with cancer several years ago. It was his fervent wish that the effort continue. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Gayle Green Webb, sons Wayne Sutton Webb III (Holly) and Thomas Collins Webb, five grandchildren and a sister, Linda Webb Knox. To find out more about the Single Subject Amendment and how you make history visit singlesubjectamendment.com.
