Senate Bill sb1860
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Florida Senate - 2001 SJR 1860
By Senator Cowin
11-402A-01
1 Senate Joint Resolution No. ____
2 A joint resolution proposing an amendment to
3 Section 11 of Article V of the State
4 Constitution, relating to judicial vacancies,
5 to provide a method for filling such vacancies
6 and to require judicial nominating commission
7 proceedings to be public.
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9 Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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11 That the amendment to Section 11 of Article V of the
12 State Constitution set forth below is agreed to and shall be
13 submitted to the electors of Florida for approval or rejection
14 at the next general election or at an earlier special election
15 specifically authorized by law for that purpose:
16 ARTICLE V
17 JUDICIARY
18 SECTION 11. Vacancies.--
19 (a) Whenever a vacancy occurs in a judicial office to
20 which election for retention applies, the governor shall fill
21 the vacancy by nominating and appointing, by and with the
22 advice and consent of the senate, for a term ending on the
23 first Tuesday after the first Monday in January of the year
24 following the next general election occurring at least one
25 year after the date of appointment, a person approved as
26 eligible one of not fewer than three persons nor more than six
27 persons nominated by the appropriate judicial nominating
28 commission.
29 (b) The governor shall fill each vacancy on a circuit
30 court or on a county court, wherein the judges are elected by
31 a majority vote of the electors, by appointing for a term
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Florida Senate - 2001 SJR 1860
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1 ending on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January
2 of the year following the next primary and general election
3 occurring at least one year after the date of appointment a
4 person approved as eligible, one of not fewer than three
5 persons nor more than six persons nominated by the appropriate
6 judicial nominating commission. An election shall be held to
7 fill that judicial office for the term of the office beginning
8 at the end of the appointed term.
9 (c) The eligibility approvals nominations shall be
10 certified to the governor by the judicial nominating
11 commission made within thirty days from the occurrence of a
12 vacancy unless the period is extended by the governor for a
13 time not to exceed thirty days. The governor shall make the
14 nomination appointment within sixty days after the eligibility
15 approvals nominations have been certified to the governor. The
16 nomination shall be transmitted to the senate with the
17 governor's signature. If the senate is not in session at the
18 time the governor transmits the nomination, the senate may
19 call itself into session, by proclamation of the senate
20 president or as otherwise provided by its rules, to consider
21 the nomination. If the senate is not in session during the 30
22 days following the governor's transmission of a judicial
23 nomination and does not convene within that 30-day period, the
24 nomination shall be deemed confirmed. If the senate is in
25 session at any time during such 30 days and does not confirm
26 the nomination by majority vote of senators voting on the
27 question within such 30 days, the nomination is rejected,
28 unless the rules of the senate in effect immediately prior to
29 the nomination provide for confirmation in such circumstances.
30 A person nominated to judicial office and rejected by the
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Florida Senate - 2001 SJR 1860
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1 senate is not eligible for nomination to any judicial office
2 until the next following general election.
3 (d) There shall be a separate judicial nominating
4 commission as provided by general law for the supreme court,
5 each district court of appeal, and each judicial circuit for
6 all trial courts within the circuit. Uniform rules of
7 procedure shall be established by the executive office of the
8 governor the judicial nominating commissions at each level of
9 the court system. Such rules, or any part thereof, may be
10 repealed by joint resolution adopted general law enacted by a
11 majority vote of the membership of each house of the
12 legislature, or by the supreme court, five justices
13 concurring. Except for deliberations of the judicial
14 nominating commissions, The proceedings of the commissions and
15 their records shall be open to the public. Each commission
16 shall approve and certify to the governor a list of all
17 eligible applicants for a judicial vacancy and a report
18 containing any information required by the rules of procedure
19 or general law, in addition to any other information that the
20 commission deems useful to the governor in filling the
21 vacancy.
22 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
23 ARTICLE V, SECTION 11
24 FILLING VACANCIES IN JUDICIAL OFFICE; JUDICIAL
25 NOMINATING COMMISSION PROCEEDINGS PUBLIC.--Proposing an
26 amendment to the State Constitution under which vacancies in
27 judicial office are filled by gubernatorial nominees from the
28 list of all eligible applicants submitted by the respective
29 nominating commission, confirmed by the Senate. Nominations
30 made when the Senate is not in session would be deemed
31 confirmed; those made when it is in session but not confirmed
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Florida Senate - 2001 SJR 1860
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1 within a given time would be rejected. Additionally, all
2 commission proceedings, including deliberations, would be
3 public.
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