Senate Bill sb1190c1

    Florida Senate - 2005                          CS for SJR 1190

    By the Committee on Ethics and Elections; and Senators Wilson,
    Lawson and Hill




    582-2157-05

  1                 Senate Joint Resolution No. ____

  2         A joint resolution proposing an amendment to

  3         Section 4 of Article VI of the State

  4         Constitution, relating to suffrage and

  5         elections, to provide for restoration of a

  6         felony offender's right to vote and hold office

  7         upon completion of incarceration and

  8         postconviction supervision and payment of all

  9         court-ordered restitution.

10  

11  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

12  

13         That the following amendment to Section 4 of Article VI

14  of the State Constitution is agreed to and shall be submitted

15  to the electors of this state for approval or rejection at the

16  next general election or an earlier special election

17  specifically authorized by law for that purpose:

18                            ARTICLE VI

19                      SUFFRAGE AND ELECTIONS

20         SECTION 4.  Disqualifications.--

21         (a)  No person convicted of a felony, or adjudicated in

22  this or any other state to be mentally incompetent, shall be

23  qualified to vote or hold office until he or she has been

24  released from incarceration and any postconviction supervision

25  and has paid all court-ordered restitution restoration of

26  civil rights or removal of disability. No person adjudicated

27  in this or any other state to be mentally incompetent shall be

28  qualified to vote or hold office until removal of disability.

29         (b)  No person may appear on the ballot for re-election

30  to any of the following offices:

31         (1)  Florida representative,

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






    Florida Senate - 2005                          CS for SJR 1190
    582-2157-05




 1         (2)  Florida senator,

 2         (3)  Florida Lieutenant governor, or

 3         (4)  any office of the Florida cabinet,

 4         (5)  U.S. Representative from Florida, or

 5         (6)  U.S. Senator from Florida

 6  

 7  if, by the end of the current term of office, the person will

 8  have served (or, but for resignation, would have served) in

 9  that office for eight consecutive years.

10         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the following statement be

11  placed on the ballot:

12                     CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

13                      ARTICLE VI, SECTION 4

14         RIGHT TO VOTE AND HOLD OFFICE.--Proposing an amendment

15  to the State Constitution to restore a felony offender's right

16  to vote and hold office upon his or her release from

17  incarceration and postconviction supervision and payment of

18  court-ordered restitution. The amendment also deletes

19  inoperative provisions relating to term limits for members of

20  Congress and U.S. Senators, which provisions have been

21  determined by the U.S. Supreme Court to violate the U.S.

22  Constitution.

23  

24          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
25                   Senate Joint Resolution 1190

26                                 

27  The Committee Substitute differs from the original in that it
    makes the payment of court-ordered restitution a prerequisite
28  to the automatic restoration of an ex-felon's right to vote
    and hold office.
29  

30  

31  

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