Florida Senate - 2011                          SENATOR AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for SB 2170
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 633196                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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                 Floor: WD/2R          .                                
             05/04/2011 04:21 PM       .                                
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       Senator Margolis moved the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment to Amendment (649060) (with title
    2  amendment)
    3  
    4         Between lines 66 and 67
    5  insert:
    6         Section 4. Article V Accountability and Efficiency
    7  Workgroup.—
    8         (1) The Article V Accountability and Efficiency Workgroup
    9  is created to serve through January 15, 2012. The workgroup
   10  shall consist of 15 voting members and 2 ex officio members as
   11  follows:
   12         (a) The Governor or his or her designee.
   13         (b) The Attorney General or his or her designee.
   14         (c) Five representatives from the state courts system
   15  designated by the Chief Justice.
   16         (d) Three representatives appointed by the Speaker of the
   17  House of Representatives.
   18         (e) Three representatives appointed by the President of the
   19  Senate.
   20         (f) Two at-large representatives from the business
   21  community.
   22         (g) A representative of the Florida Public Defender’s
   23  Association as an ex officio member.
   24         (h) A representative of the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys
   25  Association as an ex officio member.
   26  
   27  The chair and vice chair shall be selected by members of the
   28  work group. Staff from the Senate and House Judiciary committees
   29  shall provide staff support for the workgroup.
   30         (2) The workgroup shall review and make recommendations in
   31  all of the following areas:
   32         (a) The workload of the Supreme Court.
   33         (b) The impact on case processing of splitting the Supreme
   34  Court into a Criminal Division and a Civil Division.
   35         (c) The structure and function of the Judicial Nominating
   36  Commission.
   37         (d) The structure and function of the Judicial
   38  Qualifications Commission.
   39         (e) The effectiveness of the merit retention system.
   40         (f) The impact of including Senate confirmation in the
   41  judicial selection process.
   42         (g) The structure and function of the Supreme Court’s
   43  rulemaking authority.
   44         (h) The adequacy and stability of the current funding for
   45  the state courts system.
   46         (3) The workgroup shall obtain data on all relevant areas
   47  of internal Supreme Court operations, evaluate the data, make
   48  selected audits of such data as necessary, and report to the
   49  Legislature regarding the accuracy of such data.
   50         (4) The workgroup shall be terminated upon the issuance of
   51  a report and final recommendations to the President of the
   52  Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief
   53  Justice of the Supreme Court, and the Governor not later than
   54  January 15, 2012.
   55  
   56  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   57         And the title is amended as follows:
   58         Delete line 87
   59  and insert:
   60         former office holders; creating the Article V
   61         Accountability and Efficiency Workgroup to review and
   62         make recommendations to the Legislature relating to
   63         the Supreme Court and the state court system;
   64         specifying the membership and duties of the workgroup;
   65         providing an effective date.