Florida Senate - 2024                              CS for SB 438
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Community Affairs; and Senator Ingoglia
       
       
       
       
       
       578-03040-24                                           2024438c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to term limits; creating s. 124.012,
    3         F.S.; establishing term limits for county
    4         commissioners; prohibiting specified persons from
    5         seeking certain offices until after a specified
    6         timeframe; providing applicability; providing
    7         construction; requiring certain counties to hold a
    8         referendum election on a specified date; providing for
    9         the referendum election; providing the form for the
   10         ballot title and referendum question; providing an
   11         effective date.
   12          
   13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   14  
   15         Section 1. Section 124.012, Florida Statutes, is created to
   16  read:
   17         124.012 Term limits of county commissioners.—
   18         (1) Notwithstanding the terms of any county charter to the
   19  contrary, a person may not appear on the ballot for reelection
   20  to the office of county commissioner if, by the end of his or
   21  her current term of office, the person will have served, or but
   22  for resignation would have served, in that office for 8
   23  consecutive years. The person may not qualify for or appear on
   24  the ballot for a different district seat of the county
   25  commission or an at-large county commission seat of the county
   26  after his or her initial 8-year term of office until 2 years
   27  after the end date of his or her initial term.
   28         (2) The term limits imposed by this section apply to
   29  counties in which term limits are not imposed by a county
   30  charter as of July 1, 2024, and service of a term of office
   31  which commenced before November 5, 2024, may not be counted
   32  toward the limitation imposed by this section.
   33         (3)(a) This section does not supersede any term limit
   34  imposed by a county charter which is more restrictive than the
   35  term limit imposed by this section and does not authorize a
   36  person subject to such term limits to serve an additional 8
   37  consecutive years.
   38         (b) A county whose charter authorizes county commissioners
   39  to serve longer than the limits imposed by this section shall
   40  hold a referendum election that coincides with the 2024 general
   41  election to determine whether the limits imposed by this section
   42  shall apply to such county. In the event such county rejects the
   43  term limits imposed by this section, this section does not
   44  apply.
   45         Section 2. Referendum election.—
   46         (1) A charter county whose charter limits county
   47  commissioners from serving for a period longer than 8
   48  consecutive years shall hold a referendum election on November
   49  5, 2024.
   50         (2) The ballot title for the referendum must be in
   51  substantially the following form:
   52  
   53                   COUNTY COMMISSIONER TERM LIMITS                 
   54  
   55         (3) The referendum question must be in substantially the
   56  following form:
   57  
   58         Should the county prohibit county commissioners
   59         from serving longer than 8 consecutive years?
   60  
   61         (__) Yes.
   62         (__) No.
   63  
   64         (4) The referendum election must be conducted by the
   65  supervisor of elections for each applicable county in accordance
   66  with the Florida Election Code.
   67         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.