House Bill 3637
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HB 3637
By Representatives Miller, Crist, Littlefield, Bradley,
Tamargo, Byrd, Wallace and Murman
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the Hillsborough County
3 School District; providing for a seven-member
4 district school board, with five members
5 elected from single-member residence areas and
6 two members elected from the county at large;
7 providing for implementation at specified
8 elections; providing that school board members
9 shall continue to be elected on a nonpartisan
10 basis and shall be elected in conjunction with
11 the first primary and general elections;
12 providing qualifying and other applicable
13 election procedures; providing for future
14 reapportionment of the single-member residence
15 areas; repealing ss. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of
16 chapter 65-945, Laws of Florida, as amended,
17 relating to the district school board;
18 providing for a referendum; providing an
19 effective date.
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21 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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23 Section 1. The supervisor of elections for
24 Hillsborough County shall place a referendum on the ballot at
25 the general election to be held on November 3, 1998, which
26 poses the question of whether the District School Board of
27 Hillsborough County shall consist of seven nonpartisan
28 members, five of whom are to be elected each from a
29 single-member residence area by electors residing in the
30 single-member residence area only and two of whom are to be
31 elected from the county at large.
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HB 3637
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1 Section 2. (a) If the electors approve the referendum
2 required by section 1 of this act, the first election to begin
3 implementing the transition to single-member representation on
4 the district school board shall be the election of district
5 school board members held in conjunction with the first
6 primary election in the year 2000 and with the runoff, if any,
7 during the general election of that year, and the change to
8 single-member representation shall be fully implemented with
9 the elections for district school board members held in
10 conjunction with the first primary and general elections in
11 the year 2002. In the year 2000, school board members from
12 Districts 1, 3, 5, and 7 shall be elected; and, in the year
13 2002, school board members from Districts 2, 4, and 6 shall be
14 elected. Thereafter, the governing body of the district school
15 board shall consist of seven members, with five members from
16 single-member districts and two members from the county at
17 large as provided in this act. All elections for district
18 school board members shall be nonpartisan and held at the same
19 time as the first primary and general elections as provided by
20 law, and all school board members shall be elected to
21 appropriately staggered terms of 4 years. Each candidate for
22 election to the district school board must be a qualified
23 elector of the county and, if seeking election to a
24 single-member district, a registered voter of that district at
25 the time of qualifying. Each person elected to the district
26 school board from a single-member residence area shall be
27 elected only by the electors residing in the single-member
28 district for which he or she qualified. Each person elected to
29 the district school board shall take office 2 weeks after the
30 general election at which he or she was elected.
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HB 3637
516-192A-98
1 (b) The two seats to be filled from the county at
2 large shall be designated District 6 and District 7,
3 respectively. The five seats to be filled from single-member
4 residence areas shall be designated District 1, District 2,
5 District 3, District 4, and District 5, respectively, and
6 shall be the same as the school board districts in effect at
7 the time the first primary election in the year 2000 is held.
8 Thereafter, the single-member districts shall be reapportioned
9 by the school board, in consultation with the supervisor of
10 elections, as soon after each decennial census as practicable.
11 (c) Candidates for election to the district school
12 board shall qualify in accordance with general law in the same
13 manner as candidates for the nonpartisan office of county
14 court judge qualify under chapter 105, Florida Statutes.
15 Accordingly, the amount of the qualifying fee for candidates
16 for school board member shall be calculated using the
17 percentages set forth in s. 105.031(3), Florida Statutes,
18 based upon the annual salary for the office of school board
19 member. Candidates may qualify without paying the qualifying
20 fee using the procedures for the alternative method of
21 qualifying set forth in s. 105.035, Florida Statutes, for the
22 nonpartisan office of county court judge. A candidate
23 qualifying by the alternative method for a single-member seat
24 shall obtain the signatures of a number of qualified voters
25 equal to at least 3 percent of the total number of registered
26 voters within the geographical boundaries of the district for
27 which he or she intends to qualify, and a candidate qualifying
28 by the alternative method for an at-large seat shall obtain
29 the signatures of a number of qualified voters equal to at
30 least 3 percent of the total number of registered voters in
31 Hillsborough County. Any person who is seeking election as a
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HB 3637
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1 write-in candidate shall file his or her qualifying papers
2 during the qualifying period, and space shall be made
3 available on the general election ballot to write in the name
4 of the write-in candidate who has so qualified.
5 (d) The appearance of the name of a candidate for the
6 office of district school board member on a ballot and the
7 determination of election to such office shall be in
8 accordance with the provisions applicable to candidates for
9 the nonpartisan office of county court judge.
10 Section 3. The school board shall conduct its
11 elections through the office of the supervisor of elections of
12 Hillsborough County, consistent with the Florida Election Code
13 and this act.
14 Section 4. In accordance with the requirements of s.
15 101.161, Florida Statutes, and of section 1 of this act, the
16 supervisor of elections of Hillsborough County shall place the
17 title and substance of the referendum on the ballot as
18 follows:
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20 ELECTION OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY
21 DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS
22 TO PROVIDE FOR SINGLE-MEMBER REPRESENTATION
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24 Shall the membership of the Hillsborough County
25 School Board be changed to consist of seven
26 members, with five members elected from
27 single-member residence areas, rather than
28 countywide, and two members elected from the
29 county at large, all elected in nonpartisan
30 elections held in conjunction with the first
31 primary and general elections, beginning with
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HB 3637
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1 those elections held in the year 2000 and being
2 fully implemented with those elections held in
3 the year 2002?
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5 Yes
6 No
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8 Section 5. Sections 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of chapter
9 67-945, Laws of Florida, and section 3 of said chapter and any
10 amendments to that section, are repealed on November 17, 1998.
11 Section 6. This act shall take effect only upon its
12 approval by a majority vote of those qualified electors of
13 Hillsborough County voting in a referendum to be held in
14 conjunction with the general election on November 3, 1998, in
15 accordance with the provisions of law relating to elections
16 currently in force, except that this section shall take effect
17 upon becoming a law.
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