Florida Senate - 2011                          SENATOR AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for SB 2170
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 241448                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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                 Floor: WD/2R          .                                
             04/29/2011 08:53 AM       .                                
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       Senator Margolis moved the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Between lines 33 and 34
    4  insert:
    5         Section 2. Article V Accountability and Efficiency
    6  Workgroup.—
    7         (1) The Article V Accountability and Efficiency Workgroup
    8  is created to serve through January 15, 2012. The workgroup
    9  shall consist of 15 voting members and 2 ex officio members as
   10  follows:
   11         (a) The Governor or his or her designee.
   12         (b) The Attorney General or his or her designee.
   13         (c) Five representatives from the state courts system
   14  designated by the Chief Justice.
   15         (d) Three representatives appointed by the Speaker of the
   16  House of Representatives.
   17         (e) Three representatives appointed by the President of the
   18  Senate.
   19         (f) Two at-large representatives from the business
   20  community.
   21         (g) A representative of the Florida Public Defender’s
   22  Association as an ex officio member.
   23         (h) A representative of the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys
   24  Association as an ex officio member.
   25  
   26  The chair and vice chair shall be selected by members of the
   27  work group. Staff from the Senate and House Judiciary committees
   28  shall provide staff support for the workgroup.
   29         (2) The workgroup shall review and make recommendations in
   30  all of the following areas:
   31         (a) The workload of the Supreme Court.
   32         (b) The impact on case processing of splitting the Supreme
   33  Court into a Criminal Division and a Civil Division.
   34         (c) The structure and function of the Judicial Nominating
   35  Commission.
   36         (d) The structure and function of the Judicial
   37  Qualifications Commission.
   38         (e) The effectiveness of the merit retention system.
   39         (f) The impact of including Senate confirmation in the
   40  judicial selection process.
   41         (g) The structure and function of the Supreme Court’s
   42  rulemaking authority.
   43         (h) The adequacy and stability of the current funding for
   44  the state courts system.
   45         (3) The workgroup shall obtain data on all relevant areas
   46  of internal Supreme Court operations, evaluate the data, make
   47  selected audits of such data as necessary, and report to the
   48  Legislature regarding the accuracy of such data.
   49         (4) The workgroup shall be terminated upon the issuance of
   50  a report and final recommendations to the President of the
   51  Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief
   52  Justice of the Supreme Court, and the Governor not later than
   53  January 15, 2012.
   54  
   55  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   56         And the title is amended as follows:
   57         Delete line 6
   58  and insert:
   59         of newly appointed members; creating the Article V
   60         Accountability and Efficiency Workgroup to review and
   61         make recommendations to the Legislature relating to
   62         the Supreme Court and the state court system;
   63         specifying the membership and duties of the workgroup;
   64         providing an effective