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House Bill 1235




    Florida House of Representatives - 1997                HB 1235

        By Representative Bradley






  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to election of county

  3         commissioners; requiring county commissioners

  4         to be elected from single-member districts in

  5         certain counties; authorizing certain boards of

  6         county commissioners to increase their

  7         membership; providing for election of county

  8         commissioners in such counties; providing

  9         applicability; providing for transition to such

10         method of election; providing an effective

11         date.

12

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

14

15         Section 1.  (1)  In any county having a population of

16  600,000 or more persons, each county commissioner must be

17  elected in the following manner, notwithstanding any provision

18  of section 124.01 or section 124.011, Florida Statutes, to the

19  contrary:

20         (a)  If the county has five commissioners on the date

21  this act takes effect, each county commissioner must be

22  elected from a single-member district only by the electors

23  residing in that district.  The districts of such a county

24  together must cover the entire county, and each district must

25  be of contiguous territory as nearly equal in population as

26  practicable.  A commissioner of such a county must be a

27  resident of the district from which elected, and no

28  commissioner of a county with a five-member commission may be

29  elected at large.

30         (b)  If the board of county commissioners of such a

31  county adopts an ordinance increasing the membership of the

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    Florida House of Representatives - 1997                HB 1235

    547-121A-97






  1  board from five to seven, each of five county commissioners

  2  must be elected from a single-member district only by the

  3  electors residing in that district.  The districts of such a

  4  county together must cover the entire county, and each

  5  district must be of contiguous territory as nearly equal in

  6  population as practicable.  A commissioner elected from a

  7  district must be a resident of the district from which

  8  elected.  The remaining two commissioners will be elected at

  9  large.

10         (2)  In each county having a population of 600,000 or

11  more persons, the board of county commissioners shall provide

12  for the orderly transition to election of commissioners from

13  single-member districts as the terms of incumbent

14  commissioners expire.

15         (3)  This section does not apply to any county that, as

16  of the effective date of this act, elected some members of its

17  board of county commissioners from single-member districts and

18  some members at large.

19         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

20  law.

21

22            *****************************************

23                          SENATE SUMMARY

24    Provides that county commissioners in a county having a
      population of 600,000 or more will be elected from
25    single-member districts by the electors residing in those
      districts unless the board of county commissioners
26    determines to increase the membership to seven, in which
      case five members will be elected from single-member
27    districts and two members will be elected at large.
      However, this does not apply to a county currently
28    electing some members from single-member districts and
      some at large. Requires the board of county commissioners
29    to provide for the orderly transition to election of
      members from districts as the terms of incumbent
30    commissioners expire.

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