Senate Bill sb1978

    Florida Senate - 2002                                  SB 1978

    By Senator Silver





    38-861-02

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to qualifying for judicial

  3         office; amending s. 105.031, F.S.; providing an

  4         earlier qualifying period for candidates for

  5         judicial office; providing an effective date.

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

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  9         Section 1.  Subsection (1) of section 105.031, Florida

10  Statutes, is amended to read:

11         105.031  Qualification; filing fee; candidate's oath;

12  items required to be filed.--

13         (1)  TIME OF QUALIFYING.--Except for candidates for

14  judicial office, nonpartisan candidates for multicounty office

15  shall qualify with the Division of Elections of the Department

16  of State and nonpartisan candidates for countywide or less

17  than countywide office shall qualify with the supervisor of

18  elections. Candidates for judicial office other than the

19  office of county court judge shall qualify with the Division

20  of Elections of the Department of State, and candidates for

21  the office of county court judge shall qualify with the

22  supervisor of elections of the county.  Candidates for

23  judicial office shall qualify no earlier than noon of the

24  120th day, and no later than noon of the 116th day, before the

25  first primary election.  Candidates for the office of school

26  board member shall qualify no earlier than noon of the 50th

27  day, and no later than noon of the 46th day, before the first

28  primary election.  Filing shall be on forms provided for that

29  purpose by the Division of Elections and furnished by the

30  appropriate qualifying officer. Any person seeking to qualify

31  by the alternative method, as set forth in s. 105.035, if the

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    Florida Senate - 2002                                  SB 1978
    38-861-02




  1  person has submitted the necessary petitions by the required

  2  deadline and is notified after the fifth day prior to the last

  3  day for qualifying that the required number of signatures has

  4  been obtained, shall be entitled to subscribe to the

  5  candidate's oath and file the qualifying papers at any time

  6  within 5 days from the date he or she is notified that the

  7  necessary number of signatures has been obtained.  Any person

  8  other than a write-in candidate who qualifies within the time

  9  prescribed in this subsection shall be entitled to have his or

10  her name printed on the ballot.

11         Section 2.  This act shall take effect January 1, 2003.

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14                       LEGISLATIVE SUMMARY

15    Provides that candidates for judicial office shall
      qualify no earlier than noon of the 120th day, and no
16    later than noon of the 116th day, before the first
      primary election.
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.