Senate Bill 0418c1

    Florida Senate - 1998                            CS for SB 418

    By the Committee on Judiciary and Senator Bronson





    308-1886-98

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to judicial nominating

  3         commissions; amending s. 43.29, F.S.; deleting

  4         requirement for appointment based upon race or

  5         gender and requiring consideration of those

  6         factors in making appointments; providing for

  7         the judicial nominating commission of a

  8         judicial circuit to include among its members

  9         and electors at least one resident from each

10         county within the judicial circuit; providing

11         an effective date.

12

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

14

15         Section 1.  Subsection (1) of section 43.29, Florida

16  Statutes, is amended and subsection (4) is added to that

17  section to read:

18         43.29  Judicial nominating commissions.--

19         (1)  Each judicial nominating commission shall be

20  composed of the following:

21         (a)  Three members, at least one of whom must be a

22  member of a racial or ethnic minority group or a woman,

23  appointed by the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar from

24  among The Florida Bar members who are actively engaged in the

25  practice of law with offices within the territorial

26  jurisdiction of the affected court, or in the district or

27  circuit;

28         (b)  Three electors, at least one of whom must be a

29  member of a racial or ethnic minority group or a woman, who

30  reside in the territorial jurisdiction of the court or in the

31  circuit appointed by the Governor; and

                                  1

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 1998                            CS for SB 418
    308-1886-98




  1         (c)  Three electors, at least one of whom must be a

  2  member of a racial or ethnic minority group or a woman, who

  3  reside in the territorial jurisdiction of the court or in the

  4  circuit and who are not members of the bar of Florida,

  5  selected and appointed by a majority vote of the other six

  6  members of the commission.

  7

  8  The appointing authorities shall consider whether the existing

  9  commission members, together with potential appointees,

10  reflect the racial, ethnic, and gender diversity, as well as

11  the geographic distribution, of the population within the

12  territorial jurisdiction of the court for which they are

13  making nominations.

14         (4)  The judicial nominating commission for each of the

15  twenty judicial circuits must include among its members and

16  electors at least one resident from each county within the

17  judicial circuit. This subsection shall apply only to members

18  or electors appointed on or after July 1, 1998.

19         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 1998.

20

21          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
22                         Senate Bill 418

23

24  The Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 418 deletes
    provisions of the existing statute, s. 43.29, F.S., that a
25  federal court has ruled unconstitutional. Advisory language is
    added which expresses the State of Florida's concern that its
26  judicial nominating commissions reflect the racial, ethnic,
    gender, and geographic diversity of the populations affected
27  by judicial nominating commissions. A clarification is added
    to show that the bill's requirement that each county within a
28  particular judicial circuit be represented on that circuit's
    judicial nominating commission is not intended to apply to the
29  judicial nominating commissions which appoint electors to the
    Supreme Court's judicial nominating commission or the
30  nominating commissions of the various district courts of
    appeal.
31

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