Florida Senate - 2018 SB 1262
By Senator Hutson
7-01204-18 20181262__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to election dates for municipal
3 office; amending s. 100.3605, F.S.; requiring the
4 governing body of a municipality to determine the
5 dates on which initial and runoff elections for
6 municipal office are held and providing options
7 therefor; preempting to the state the authority to
8 establish election dates for municipal elections;
9 providing construction; amending s. 100.361, F.S.;
10 requiring municipal recall elections to be held
11 concurrently with municipal elections under certain
12 conditions; repealing s. 101.75, F.S., relating to
13 change of dates for cause in municipal elections;
14 extending the terms of incumbent elected municipal
15 officers until the next municipal election; providing
16 an effective date.
17
18 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
19
20 Section 1. Section 100.3605, Florida Statutes, is amended
21 to read:
22 100.3605 Conduct of municipal elections.—
23 (1) The Florida Election Code, chapters 97-106, shall
24 govern the conduct of a municipality’s election in the absence
25 of an applicable special act, charter, or ordinance provision.
26 No charter or ordinance provision shall be adopted which
27 conflicts with or exempts a municipality from any provision in
28 the Florida Election Code that expressly applies to
29 municipalities.
30 (2)(a) The governing body of a municipality shall determine
31 if an election for municipal office is held on the same date as
32 the general election, the first Tuesday after the first Monday
33 in November in an odd-numbered year, or the third Tuesday in
34 March in an odd-numbered year or even-numbered year.
35 (b) If a municipal charter or ordinance requires a runoff
36 election for municipal office, the governing body of a
37 municipality shall conduct its elections in one of the following
38 formats:
39 1. The initial election shall be held at the primary
40 election on the Tuesday 10 weeks before the general election,
41 and the runoff election shall be held on the same date as the
42 general election.
43 2. The initial election shall be held at an election on the
44 Tuesday 10 weeks before the election held on the first Tuesday
45 after the first Monday in November in an odd-numbered year, and
46 the runoff election shall be held at an election on the first
47 Tuesday after the first Monday in November in an odd-numbered
48 year.
49 3. The initial election shall be held at an election on the
50 Tuesday 10 weeks before the third Tuesday in March, and the
51 runoff election shall be held at an election on the third
52 Tuesday in March.
53 (c) This subsection does not affect the manner in which
54 vacancies in municipal offices are filled or the manner in which
55 recall elections for municipal officers are conducted.
56 (d) Notwithstanding any general law, special law, local
57 law, municipal charter, or municipal ordinance, this subsection
58 provides the sole method for establishing the dates of elections
59 for municipal office in this state. Any general law, special
60 law, local law, municipal charter, or municipal ordinance that
61 conflicts with this subsection is superseded to the extent of
62 the conflict.
63 (3) The governing body of a municipality may, by ordinance,
64 change the dates for qualifying and for the election of members
65 of the governing body of the municipality and provide for the
66 orderly transition of office resulting from election such date
67 changes.
68 Section 2. Subsection (4) of section 100.361, Florida
69 Statutes, is amended to read:
70 100.361 Municipal recall.—
71 (4) RECALL ELECTION.—If the person designated in the
72 petition files with the clerk, within 5 days after the last
73 mentioned notice, his or her written resignation, the clerk
74 shall at once notify the governing body of that fact, and the
75 resignation shall be irrevocable. The governing body shall then
76 proceed to fill the vacancy according to the provisions of the
77 appropriate law. In the absence of a resignation, the chief
78 judge of the judicial circuit in which the municipality is
79 located shall fix a day for holding a recall election for the
80 removal of those not resigning. Any such election shall be held
81 not less than 30 days or more than 60 days after the expiration
82 of the 5-day period last-mentioned and at the same time as any
83 other general, municipal, or special election held within the
84 period; but if no such election is to be held within that
85 period, the judge shall call a special recall election to be
86 held within the period aforesaid.
87 Section 3. Section 101.75, Florida Statutes, is repealed.
88 Section 4. To provide for an orderly transition of office,
89 the term of each incumbent elected municipal officer is extended
90 until the next municipal election held in accordance with this
91 act.
92 Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.