House Bill hb0559er
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2001 Legislature HB 559
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2 An act relating to the Pinellas County School
3 District; providing for a seven-member district
4 school board, with four members elected from
5 single-member districts and three members
6 elected from the county at large,
7 notwithstanding the provisions of s. 230.061,
8 s. 230.10, or s. 230.105, F.S.; providing for
9 implementation at specified elections;
10 providing that school board members shall
11 continue to be elected on a nonpartisan basis
12 and shall be elected in conjunction with the
13 first primary and general election; providing
14 qualifying and other applicable election
15 procedures; providing for future
16 reapportionment of the single-member districts;
17 providing for a referendum; providing effective
18 dates.
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20 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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22 Section 1. Notwithstanding section 230.061, section
23 230.10, or section 230.105, Florida Statutes, the supervisor
24 of elections of Pinellas County shall place a referendum on
25 the ballot at the general election to be held on November 5,
26 2002, which poses the question of whether the district school
27 board of Pinellas County shall consist of seven nonpartisan
28 members, four of whom are to be elected each from a
29 single-member district by electors residing in the
30 single-member district only and three of whom are to be
31 elected from the county at large.
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2001 Legislature HB 559
1 Section 2. (1) 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 2004 and with the runoff, if any,
7 held during the general election of that year. 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 2006. In the year 2004, school board members from
12 districts 1 and 3 and the at-large seat for which the election
13 is to be held in 2004, designated as district 7, shall be
14 elected; in the year 2006, school board members from districts
15 2 and 4, and the at-large seats for which election was held in
16 2002, designated as districts 5 and 6, shall be elected.
17 Thereafter, the governing body of the district school board
18 shall consist of seven members, with four members from
19 single-member districts and three members from the county at
20 large, as provided in this act. All elections for district
21 school board members shall be nonpartisan and held at the same
22 time as the first primary and general elections as provided by
23 law, and all school board members shall be elected to
24 appropriately staggered terms of 4 years each. Each candidate
25 for election to the district school board must be a qualified
26 elector of the county and, if seeking election to a
27 single-member district, a registered voter of that district at
28 the time of qualifying. Each person elected to the district
29 school board from a single-member district shall be elected
30 only by the electors residing in the single-member district
31 for which he or she qualified. Each person elected to the
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2001 Legislature HB 559
1 district school board shall take office 2 weeks after the
2 general election at which he or she was elected.
3 (2) The three seats to be filled from the county at
4 large shall be designated district 5, district 6, and district
5 7, respectively. The four seats to be filled from
6 single-member districts shall be designated district 1,
7 district 2, district 3, and district 4, respectively, and
8 shall be the same as the school board districts in effect at
9 the time the first primary election in the year 2004 is held.
10 Thereafter, the single-member districts shall be reapportioned
11 by the school board, in consultation with the supervisor of
12 elections, as soon after each decennial census as practicable.
13 (3) Candidates for election to the district school
14 board shall qualify in accordance with general law in the same
15 manner as candidates for the nonpartisan office of county
16 court judge qualify under chapter 105, Florida Statutes.
17 Accordingly, the amount of the qualifying fee for candidates
18 for school board members shall be calculated using the
19 percentages set forth in section 105.031, Florida Statutes,
20 based upon the annual salary for the office of school board
21 member. Candidates may qualify without paying the qualifying
22 fee using the procedures for the alternative method of
23 qualifying set forth in section 105.035, Florida Statutes, for
24 the nonpartisan office of county court judge. A candidate
25 qualifying by the alternative method for a single-member
26 district shall obtain the signatures of a number of qualified
27 voters equal to at least 3 percent of the total number of
28 registered voters within the geographical boundaries of the
29 district for which he or she intends to qualify, and a
30 candidate qualifying by the alternative method for an at-large
31 seat shall obtain the signatures of a number of qualified
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2001 Legislature HB 559
1 voters equal to at least 1 percent of the total number of
2 registered voters in Pinellas County. Any person who is
3 seeking election as a write-in candidate shall file his or her
4 qualifying papers during the qualifying period, and space
5 shall be made available on the general election ballot to
6 write in the name of the write-in candidate who has so
7 qualified.
8 (4) The appearance of the name of a candidate for the
9 office of district school board member on a ballot and the
10 determination of election to such office shall be in
11 accordance with the provisions applicable to candidates for
12 the nonpartisan office of county court judge.
13 Section 3. The school board shall conduct its
14 elections through the office of the supervisor of elections of
15 Pinellas County consistent with the Florida Election Code and
16 this act.
17 Section 4. In accordance with the requirements of
18 section 101.161, Florida Statutes, and section 1 of this act,
19 the supervisor of elections of Pinellas County shall place the
20 title and substance of the referendum on the ballot as
21 follows:
22 ELECTION OF PINELLAS COUNTY
23 DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS
24 TO PROVIDE FOR SINGLE-MEMBER REPRESENTATION
25 Shall the membership of the Pinellas County School Board be
26 changed to consist of seven members, with four members elected
27 from single-member districts rather than countywide, and three
28 members elected from the county at large, all elected in
29 nonpartisan elections held in conjunction with the first
30 primary and general elections beginning with those elections
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2001 Legislature HB 559
1 held in the year 2004 and being fully implemented with those
2 elections held in the year 2006?
3 Yes
4 No
5 Section 5. This act shall take effect only upon its
6 approval by a majority vote of those qualified electors of
7 Pinellas County voting in a referendum to be held in
8 conjunction with the general election on November 5, 2002, in
9 accordance with the provisions of law relating to elections
10 currently in force, except that this section and section 1 of
11 this act shall take effect upon becoming a law.
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