The Florida Senate

There shall be five county commissioners’ districts in each county, which shall be numbered one to five, inclusive, and shall be as nearly equal in proportion to population as possible.

There shall be one county commissioner for each of such county commissioners’ districts, who shall be elected by the qualified electors of the county, as provided by s. 1(e), Art. VIII of the State Constitution.

The board of county commissioners shall from time to time, fix the boundaries of the above districts so as to keep them as nearly equal in proportion to population as possible; provided, that changes made in the boundaries of county commissioner districts pursuant to this section shall be made only in odd-numbered years.

County commissioners’ districts now existing shall remain as now constituted until changed by the board of county commissioners, as provided by the constitution and in this chapter.

This section shall not apply to Miami-Dade County.

County commissioners shall be nominated and elected to office in accordance with the provisions of s. 124.01, or as otherwise provided by law, unless a proposition calling for single-member representation within the county commission districts is submitted to and approved by a majority of the qualified electors voting on such proposition in the manner provided in this section. Such proposition shall provide that:

All commissioners shall be elected for 4-year terms which shall be staggered so that, alternately, one more or one less than half of the commissioners elected from residence areas and, if applicable, one of the commissioners elected at large from the entire county are elected every 2 years, except that any commissioner may be elected to an initial term of less than 4 years if necessary to achieve or maintain such system of staggered terms.

A proposition calling for single-member representation within the county commission districts of the county shall be submitted to the electors of the county at any primary, general, or otherwise-called special election, in either manner following:

The electors petitioning to have the proposition placed on the ballot shall register as a political committee pursuant to s. 106.03, and a specific person shall be designated therein as chair of the committee to act for the committee.

Each petition form circulated for single-member county commissioner representation within the county shall include space for the printed name, signature, and address of the elector and shall include the wording set forth in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b):

Upon the filing of the petitions with the board of county commissioners by the chair of the committee, the board of county commissioners shall submit the petitions to the supervisor of elections for verification of the signatures. Within a period of not more than 60 days, the supervisor of elections shall determine whether the petitions contain the required number of valid signatures. The supervisor of elections shall be paid by the committee seeking verification the sum of 10 cents for each name checked.

If it is determined that the petitions have the required signatures, the supervisor of elections shall certify the petitions to the board of county commissioners, which shall adopt a resolution requesting that an election date be set to conform to the earliest primary, general, or otherwise-called special election that occurs not less than 30 days after certification of the petitions. If it is determined that the petitions do not contain the required signatures, the supervisor of elections shall so notify the board of county commissioners, which shall file the petitions without taking further action; and the matter shall be at an end. No additional names may be added to the petitions, and the petitions may not be used in any other proceeding.

No special election may be called for the sole purpose of presenting the proposition to the vote of the electors.

Any county adopting one of the propositions set forth in this section may thereafter return to the procedures otherwise provided by law by following the same procedure outlined in subsection (3).

No county commissioner elected prior to or at the election which approves any revision as permitted in this section shall be affected in his or her term of office. The resolution adopted by the board of county commissioners under paragraph (3)(a) or subsection (7) which presents the proposed revision to the electorate for approval shall specify an orderly method and procedure for implementing the revision contemplated in the resolution.

Whenever the boundaries of existing county commissioners’ districts are, from time to time, changed by the board of county commissioners, it shall cause an accurate description of the boundaries of such districts, as changed, to be entered upon its minutes and a certified copy thereof to be published at least once each week for 2 consecutive weeks (two publications being sufficient) in a newspaper published in said county.

If there be no newspaper published in such county, then three copies of said minutes shall be posted for 4 consecutive weeks in three different and conspicuous places in such county, one of which shall be at the front door of the courthouse.

Proof of such publication or posting shall be entered on the minutes of the board. The publication or posting of such copy shall be for information only and shall not be jurisdictional.