House Bill hb0559er

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    ENROLLED

    2001 Legislature                                        HB 559



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  2         An act relating to the Pinellas County School

  3         District; providing for a seven-member district

  4         school board, with four members elected from

  5         single-member districts and three members

  6         elected from the county at large,

  7         notwithstanding the provisions of s. 230.061,

  8         s. 230.10, or s. 230.105, F.S.; providing for

  9         implementation at specified elections;

10         providing that school board members shall

11         continue to be elected on a nonpartisan basis

12         and shall be elected in conjunction with the

13         first primary and general election; providing

14         qualifying and other applicable election

15         procedures; providing for future

16         reapportionment of the single-member districts;

17         providing for a referendum; providing effective

18         dates.

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20  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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22         Section 1.  Notwithstanding section 230.061, section

23  230.10, or section 230.105, Florida Statutes, the supervisor

24  of elections of Pinellas County shall place a referendum on

25  the ballot at the general election to be held on November 5,

26  2002, which poses the question of whether the district school

27  board of Pinellas County shall consist of seven nonpartisan

28  members, four of whom are to be elected each from a

29  single-member district by electors residing in the

30  single-member district only and three of whom are to be

31  elected from the county at large.


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    2001 Legislature                                        HB 559



  1         Section 2.  (1)  If the electors approve the referendum

  2  required by section 1 of this act, the first election to begin

  3  implementing the transition to single-member representation on

  4  the district school board shall be the election of district

  5  school board members held in conjunction with the first

  6  primary election in the year 2004 and with the runoff, if any,

  7  held during the general election of that year. The change to

  8  single-member representation shall be fully implemented with

  9  the elections for district school board members held in

10  conjunction with the first primary and general elections in

11  the year 2006. In the year 2004, school board members from

12  districts 1 and 3 and the at-large seat for which the election

13  is to be held in 2004, designated as district 7, shall be

14  elected; in the year 2006, school board members from districts

15  2 and 4, and the at-large seats for which election was held in

16  2002, designated as districts 5 and 6, shall be elected.

17  Thereafter, the governing body of the district school board

18  shall consist of seven members, with four members from

19  single-member districts and three members from the county at

20  large, as provided in this act. All elections for district

21  school board members shall be nonpartisan and held at the same

22  time as the first primary and general elections as provided by

23  law, and all school board members shall be elected to

24  appropriately staggered terms of 4 years each. Each candidate

25  for election to the district school board must be a qualified

26  elector of the county and, if seeking election to a

27  single-member district, a registered voter of that district at

28  the time of qualifying. Each person elected to the district

29  school board from a single-member district shall be elected

30  only by the electors residing in the single-member district

31  for which he or she qualified. Each person elected to the


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    2001 Legislature                                        HB 559



  1  district school board shall take office 2 weeks after the

  2  general election at which he or she was elected.

  3         (2)  The three seats to be filled from the county at

  4  large shall be designated district 5, district 6, and district

  5  7, respectively. The four seats to be filled from

  6  single-member districts shall be designated district 1,

  7  district 2, district 3, and district 4, respectively, and

  8  shall be the same as the school board districts in effect at

  9  the time the first primary election in the year 2004 is held.

10  Thereafter, the single-member districts shall be reapportioned

11  by the school board, in consultation with the supervisor of

12  elections, as soon after each decennial census as practicable.

13         (3)  Candidates for election to the district school

14  board shall qualify in accordance with general law in the same

15  manner as candidates for the nonpartisan office of county

16  court judge qualify under chapter 105, Florida Statutes.

17  Accordingly, the amount of the qualifying fee for candidates

18  for school board members shall be calculated using the

19  percentages set forth in section 105.031, Florida Statutes,

20  based upon the annual salary for the office of school board

21  member. Candidates may qualify without paying the qualifying

22  fee using the procedures for the alternative method of

23  qualifying set forth in section 105.035, Florida Statutes, for

24  the nonpartisan office of county court judge. A candidate

25  qualifying by the alternative method for a single-member

26  district shall obtain the signatures of a number of qualified

27  voters equal to at least 3 percent of the total number of

28  registered voters within the geographical boundaries of the

29  district for which he or she intends to qualify, and a

30  candidate qualifying by the alternative method for an at-large

31  seat shall obtain the signatures of a number of qualified


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    2001 Legislature                                        HB 559



  1  voters equal to at least 1 percent of the total number of

  2  registered voters in Pinellas County. Any person who is

  3  seeking election as a write-in candidate shall file his or her

  4  qualifying papers during the qualifying period, and space

  5  shall be made available on the general election ballot to

  6  write in the name of the write-in candidate who has so

  7  qualified.

  8         (4)  The appearance of the name of a candidate for the

  9  office of district school board member on a ballot and the

10  determination of election to such office shall be in

11  accordance with the provisions applicable to candidates for

12  the nonpartisan office of county court judge.

13         Section 3.  The school board shall conduct its

14  elections through the office of the supervisor of elections of

15  Pinellas County consistent with the Florida Election Code and

16  this act.

17         Section 4.  In accordance with the requirements of

18  section 101.161, Florida Statutes, and section 1 of this act,

19  the supervisor of elections of Pinellas County shall place the

20  title and substance of the referendum on the ballot as

21  follows:

22                   ELECTION OF PINELLAS COUNTY

23                  DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS

24           TO PROVIDE FOR SINGLE-MEMBER REPRESENTATION

25  Shall the membership of the Pinellas County School Board be

26  changed to consist of seven members, with four members elected

27  from single-member districts rather than countywide, and three

28  members elected from the county at large, all elected in

29  nonpartisan elections held in conjunction with the first

30  primary and general elections beginning with those elections

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    2001 Legislature                                        HB 559



  1  held in the year 2004 and being fully implemented with those

  2  elections held in the year 2006?

  3      Yes

  4      No

  5         Section 5.  This act shall take effect only upon its

  6  approval by a majority vote of those qualified electors of

  7  Pinellas County voting in a referendum to be held in

  8  conjunction with the general election on November 5, 2002, in

  9  accordance with the provisions of law relating to elections

10  currently in force, except that this section and section 1 of

11  this act shall take effect upon becoming a law.

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