Senate Bill sb2170

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                 SJR 2170

    By Senator Baker





    20-1677-07                                          See HJR 79

  1                     Senate Joint Resolution

  2         A joint resolution proposing an amendment to

  3         Section 11 of Article III, Sections 4 and 9 of

  4         Article IV, and Section 23 of Article XII and

  5         the creation of Section 27 of Article XII of

  6         the State Constitution to create the Cabinet

  7         office of Commissioner of the Interior, create

  8         a Department of the Interior, and remove the

  9         constitutional mandate for a Fish and Wildlife

10         Conservation Commission.

11  

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

13  

14         That the following amendments to Section 11 of Article

15  III, Sections 4 and 9 of Article IV, and Section 23 of Article

16  XII and the creation of Section 27 of Article XII of the State

17  Constitution are agreed to and shall be submitted to the

18  electors of this state for approval or rejection at the next

19  general election or at an earlier special election

20  specifically authorized by law for that purpose:

21                           ARTICLE III

22                           LEGISLATURE

23         SECTION 11.  Prohibited special laws.--

24         (a)  There shall be no special law or general law of

25  local application pertaining to:

26         (1)  election, jurisdiction or duties of officers,

27  except officers of municipalities, chartered counties, special

28  districts or local governmental agencies;

29         (2)  assessment or collection of taxes for state or

30  county purposes, including extension of time therefor, relief

31  

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                 SJR 2170
    20-1677-07                                          See HJR 79




 1  of tax officers from due performance of their duties, and

 2  relief of their sureties from liability;

 3         (3)  rules of evidence in any court;

 4         (4)  punishment for crime;

 5         (5)  petit juries, including compensation of jurors,

 6  except establishment of jury commissions;

 7         (6)  change of civil or criminal venue;

 8         (7)  conditions precedent to bringing any civil or

 9  criminal proceedings, or limitations of time therefor;

10         (8)  refund of money legally paid or remission of

11  fines, penalties or forfeitures;

12         (9)  creation, enforcement, extension or impairment of

13  liens based on private contracts, or fixing of interest rates

14  on private contracts;

15         (10)  disposal of public property, including any

16  interest therein, for private purposes;

17         (11)  vacation of roads;

18         (12)  private incorporation or grant of privilege to a

19  private corporation;

20         (13)  effectuation of invalid deeds, wills or other

21  instruments, or change in the law of descent;

22         (14)  change of name of any person;

23         (15)  divorce;

24         (16)  legitimation or adoption of persons;

25         (17)  relief of minors from legal disabilities;

26         (18)  transfer of any property interest of persons

27  under legal disabilities or of estates of decedents;

28         (19)  hunting or fresh water fishing;

29         (20)  regulation of occupations which are regulated by

30  a state agency; or

31  

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                 SJR 2170
    20-1677-07                                          See HJR 79




 1         (21)  any subject when prohibited by general law passed

 2  by a three-fifths vote of the membership of each house. Such

 3  law may be amended or repealed by like vote.

 4         (b)  In the enactment of general laws on other

 5  subjects, political subdivisions or other governmental

 6  entities may be classified only on a basis reasonably related

 7  to the subject of the law.

 8                            ARTICLE IV

 9                            EXECUTIVE

10         SECTION 4.  Cabinet.--

11         (a)  There shall be a cabinet composed of an attorney

12  general, a chief financial officer, a commissioner of the

13  interior, and a commissioner of agriculture. In addition to

14  the powers and duties specified herein, they shall exercise

15  such powers and perform such duties as may be prescribed by

16  law. In the event of a tie vote of the governor and cabinet,

17  the side on which the governor voted shall be deemed to

18  prevail.

19         (b)  The attorney general shall be the chief state

20  legal officer. There is created in the office of the attorney

21  general the position of statewide prosecutor. The statewide

22  prosecutor shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the state

23  attorneys to prosecute violations of criminal laws occurring

24  or having occurred, in two or more judicial circuits as part

25  of a related transaction, or when any such offense is

26  affecting or has affected two or more judicial circuits as

27  provided by general law. The statewide prosecutor shall be

28  appointed by the attorney general from not less than three

29  persons nominated by the judicial nominating commission for

30  the supreme court, or as otherwise provided by general law.

31  

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                 SJR 2170
    20-1677-07                                          See HJR 79




 1         (c)  The chief financial officer shall serve as the

 2  chief fiscal officer of the state, and shall settle and

 3  approve accounts against the state, and shall keep all state

 4  funds and securities.

 5         (d)  The commissioner of agriculture shall have

 6  supervision of matters pertaining to agriculture except as

 7  otherwise provided by law.

 8         (e)  The commissioner of the interior shall have

 9  supervision of matters pertaining to the state's natural

10  resources and scenic beauty, including fish and wildlife,

11  except as otherwise provided by law.

12         (f)(e)  The governor as chair, the chief financial

13  officer, and the attorney general shall constitute the state

14  board of administration, which shall succeed to all the power,

15  control, and authority of the state board of administration

16  established pursuant to Article IX, Section 16 of the

17  Constitution of 1885, and which shall continue as a body at

18  least for the life of Article XII, Section 9(c).

19         (g)(f)  The governor as chair, the chief financial

20  officer, the attorney general, the commissioner of the

21  interior, and the commissioner of agriculture shall constitute

22  the trustees of the internal improvement trust fund and the

23  land acquisition trust fund as provided by law.

24         (h)(g)  The governor as chair, the chief financial

25  officer, the attorney general, the commissioner of the

26  interior, and the commissioner of agriculture shall constitute

27  the agency head of the Department of Law Enforcement.

28         SECTION 9.  Department of the Interior Fish and

29  wildlife conservation commission.--There shall be a Department

30  of the Interior to be responsible for conserving and

31  protecting the state's natural resources and scenic beauty,

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                 SJR 2170
    20-1677-07                                          See HJR 79




 1  including fish and wildlife, except as otherwise provided by

 2  law fish and wildlife conservation commission, composed of

 3  seven members appointed by the governor, subject to

 4  confirmation by the senate for staggered terms of five years.

 5  The commission shall exercise the regulatory and executive

 6  powers of the state with respect to wild animal life and fresh

 7  water aquatic life, and shall also exercise regulatory and

 8  executive powers of the state with respect to marine life,

 9  except that all license fees for taking wild animal life,

10  fresh water aquatic life, and marine life and penalties for

11  violating regulations of the commission shall be prescribed by

12  general law. The commission shall establish procedures to

13  ensure adequate due process in the exercise of its regulatory

14  and executive functions. The legislature may enact laws in aid

15  of the commission, not inconsistent with this section, except

16  that there shall be no special law or general law of local

17  application pertaining to hunting or fishing. The commission's

18  exercise of executive powers in the area of planning,

19  budgeting, personnel management, and purchasing shall be as

20  provided by law. Revenue derived from license fees for the

21  taking of wild animal life and fresh water aquatic life shall

22  be appropriated to the commission by the legislature for the

23  purposes of management, protection, and conservation of wild

24  animal life and fresh water aquatic life. Revenue derived from

25  license fees relating to marine life shall be appropriated by

26  the legislature for the purposes of management, protection,

27  and conservation of marine life as provided by law. The

28  commission shall not be a unit of any other state agency and

29  shall have its own staff, which includes management, research,

30  and enforcement. Unless provided by general law, the

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                 SJR 2170
    20-1677-07                                          See HJR 79




 1  commission shall have no authority to regulate matters

 2  relating to air and water pollution.

 3                           ARTICLE XII

 4                             SCHEDULE

 5         SECTION 23.  Department of the Interior Fish and

 6  wildlife conservation commission.--

 7         (a)  The initial members of the commission shall be the

 8  members of the game and fresh water fish commission and the

 9  marine fisheries commission who are serving on those

10  commissions on the effective date of this amendment, who may

11  serve the remainder of their respective terms. New

12  appointments to the commission shall not be made until the

13  retirement, resignation, removal, or expiration of the terms

14  of the initial members results in fewer than seven members

15  remaining.

16         (b)  The jurisdiction of the marine fisheries

17  commission as set forth in statutes in effect on March 1,

18  1998, shall be transferred to the fish and wildlife

19  conservation commission. The jurisdiction of the marine

20  fisheries commission transferred to the commission shall not

21  be expanded except as provided by general law. All rules of

22  the marine fisheries commission and game and fresh water fish

23  commission in effect on the effective date of this amendment

24  shall become rules of the fish and wildlife conservation

25  commission until superseded or amended by the commission.

26         (c)  The creation of the Department of the Interior

27  pursuant to the amendment to Section 9 of Article IV shall

28  take effect July 1, 2011, and on that the effective date of

29  this amendment, the constitutional mandate for a fish and

30  wildlife conservation marine fisheries commission and game and

31  fresh water fish commission shall be removed abolished.

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                 SJR 2170
    20-1677-07                                          See HJR 79




 1         (d)  This amendment shall take effect July 1, 1999.

 2         SECTION 27.  Commissioner of the Interior.--The

 3  amendment to Section 4 of Article IV to create the Cabinet

 4  office of commissioner of the interior shall take effect

 5  January 4, 2011, with the office to be initially filled for a

 6  2-year term at the 2010 general election.

 7         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the following statement be

 8  placed on the ballot:

 9                     CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

10                     ARTICLE III, SECTION 11

11                   ARTICLE IV, SECTIONS 4 AND 9

12                 ARTICLE XII, SECTIONS 23 AND 27

13         CONSERVATION AND PROTECTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND

14  SCENIC BEAUTY, INCLUDING FISH AND WILDLIFE.--Proposing

15  amendment of the State Constitution to create a Department of

16  the Interior to be responsible for conserving and protecting

17  the state's natural resources and scenic beauty, including

18  fish and wildlife, except as otherwise provided by law; to

19  create the office of Commissioner of the Interior, a Cabinet

20  office filled by statewide election, to have supervision of

21  matters pertaining to the state's natural resources and scenic

22  beauty, including fish and wildlife, except as otherwise

23  provided by law, and to serve with the Governor and other

24  Cabinet officers as Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust

25  Fund and the Land Acquisition Trust Fund and as the agency

26  head of the Department of Law Enforcement; to remove the

27  constitutional mandate for a Fish and Wildlife Conservation

28  Commission charged with overseeing matters relating to fish

29  and wildlife; to preserve the prohibition against any special

30  law or general law of local application relating to hunting or

31  fishing; and to provide an effective date of July 1, 2011, for

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                 SJR 2170
    20-1677-07                                          See HJR 79




 1  the creation of the Department of the Interior and an

 2  effective date of January 4, 2011, for the creation of the

 3  Cabinet office of Commissioner of the Interior, with the

 4  office to be filled at the 2010 general election to an initial

 5  term of 2 years, with subsequent 4-year terms.

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