Senate Bill 2000e1

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    CS for SB 2000                                 First Engrossed



  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to judicial nominating

  3         commissions; creating s. 43.291, F.S.;

  4         providing for the appointment of members to

  5         each judicial nominating commission;

  6         prohibiting judges from serving; restricting

  7         the appointment of members and former members

  8         to judicial offices for a certain time period;

  9         providing for terms; prohibiting reappointment

10         with certain exceptions; abolishing prior

11         offices; providing for suspension or removal;

12         requiring appointing authorities to seek to

13         ensure racial, ethnic, gender, and geographical

14         diversity of membership; requiring

15         consideration of county representation on

16         circuit judicial nominating commissions;

17         requiring concurrence of a majority for

18         commission actions; providing an appropriation;

19         repealing s. 43.29, F.S., relating to judicial

20         nominating commissions; providing for report of

21         diversity of judicial nominating commissions;

22         providing a severability clause; providing an

23         effective date.

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

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27         Section 1.  Section 43.291, Florida Statutes, is

28  created to read:

29         43.291  Judicial nominating commissions.--

30         (1)  On and after July 1, 1999, each judicial

31  nominating commission shall be composed of the following:


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    CS for SB 2000                                 First Engrossed



  1         (a)  Three members appointed by the Board of Governors

  2  of The Florida Bar from among The Florida Bar members who are

  3  actively engaged in the practice of law with offices within

  4  the territorial jurisdiction of the affected court, the terms

  5  of which shall be for 4 years and shall begin following the

  6  expiration of terms of members appointed pursuant to s.

  7  43.29(1)(a) or pursuant to this paragraph.

  8         (b)  Three electors who reside in the territorial

  9  jurisdiction of the affected court, appointed by the Governor,

10  for terms beginning July 1 next following the election of

11  Governor and ending June 30 following the end of the term of

12  office of the appointing Governor.

13         (c)  Three electors who reside in the territorial

14  jurisdiction of the affected court and who are not members of

15  The Florida Bar, selected and appointed after June 30 of the

16  year in which the term begins by a majority vote of the six

17  other members of the commission appointed pursuant to s.

18  43.29(1)(a) and paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection the

19  terms of which shall be for 4 years and shall begin following

20  the expiration of terms of members appointed pursuant to s.

21  43.29(1)(c) or pursuant to this paragraph.

22         (d)  In addition to the appointments provided in this

23  subsection, the Governor may also appoint an alternate member

24  to a Circuit Court Judicial Nominating Commission who is a

25  resident of a county in which no other member of the

26  commission resides.  An alternate member shall be appointed by

27  August 1 of the year following the election of Governor and

28  serve a term ending June 30 following the end of the term of

29  office of the appointing Governor.  An alternate member

30  appointed pursuant to this paragraph shall serve in place of

31  one member appointed by the Governor, as the Governor may


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    CS for SB 2000                                 First Engrossed



  1  designate, in any case where the commission is filling a

  2  vacancy on the County Court for the county of which such

  3  alternate member is a resident.  An alternate member shall

  4  participate, without voting, in any meeting concerning a

  5  vacancy on the Circuit Court.

  6         (2)  No justice or judge may be a member of a judicial

  7  nominating commission. A member of a judicial nominating

  8  commission may hold public office other than judicial office.

  9  A member of a judicial nominating commission is not eligible

10  for appointment to any state judicial office either during

11  such term of membership or for a period of 2 years thereafter.

12         (3)  Except as otherwise provided in this section, a

13  member of a judicial nominating commission shall serve a term

14  of 4 years and is not eligible for consecutive reappointment.

15  The office of any member of a judicial nominating commission

16  appointed pursuant to s. 43.29(1)(b) prior to the effective

17  date of this act is abolished upon the effective date of this

18  act and is replaced by those offices created by and appointed

19  pursuant to paragraphs (1)(b) of this section. Any member of a

20  judicial nominating commission who does not complete a 4-year

21  term because of the enactment of this section may be

22  reappointed to serve a new term. For cause, a member of a

23  judicial nominating commission may be suspended by the

24  Governor pursuant to uniform rules of procedure established by

25  the Executive Office of the Governor consistent with s. 7,

26  Art. IV of the State Constitution and thereafter removed by

27  the Senate.

28         (4)  Each appointing authority shall seek to ensure

29  that the existing commission members, together with potential

30  appointees, reflect the racial, ethnic, and gender diversity,

31  as well as the geographic distribution, of the population


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    CS for SB 2000                                 First Engrossed



  1  within the territorial jurisdiction of the court for which the

  2  appointing authority is making nominations. The appointing

  3  authorities for the judicial nominating commission for each of

  4  the judicial circuits shall seek to ensure the adequacy of

  5  representation of each county within the judicial circuit.

  6         (5)  All acts of a judicial nominating commission shall

  7  be made with a concurrence of a majority of its voting

  8  members.

  9         Section 2.  There is hereby appropriated $25,000 to the

10  Executive Office of the Governor to provide travel costs for

11  training to members of the judicial nominating commission.

12         Section 3.  Each appointing authority described in s.

13  43.291 shall submit a report to the Governor, the Speaker of

14  the House of Representatives, and the President of the Senate

15  annually by December 1 which discloses the number of

16  appointments made during the preceding year from each minority

17  group and the number of nonminority appointments made,

18  expressed both in numerical terms and as a percentage of the

19  total membership of the judicial nominating commission.  In

20  addition, information shall be included in the report

21  detailing the number of physically disabled persons appointed

22  to the judicial nominating commission in the previous calendar

23  year. In addition, each appointing authority shall designate a

24  person responsible for retaining all applications for

25  appointment, who shall ensure that information describing each

26  applicant's race, ethnicity, gender, physical disability, if

27  applicable, and qualifications is available for public

28  inspection during reasonable hours. Nothing in this section

29  requires disclosure of an applicant's identity or of any other

30  information made confidential by law.

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    CS for SB 2000                                 First Engrossed



  1         Section 4.  If any provision of this act or the

  2  application thereof to any person or circumstance is held

  3  invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or

  4  applications of the act which can be given effect without the

  5  invalid provision or application, and to this end the

  6  provisions of this act are declared severable.

  7         Section 5.  Effective July 1, 1999, section 43.29,

  8  Florida Statutes, is repealed.

  9         Section 6.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

10  law.

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