Florida Senate - 2023 CS for SB 666 By the Committee on Ethics and Elections; and Senator Collins 582-02345-23 2023666c1 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to the form of candidate oath; 3 amending s. 99.021, F.S.; revising the address that 4 certain candidates must provide on the form of 5 candidate oath; amending s. 105.031, F.S.; revising 6 the address that judicial candidates must provide on 7 the form of candidate oath; providing an effective 8 date. 9 10 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 11 12 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 13 99.021, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 14 99.021 Form of candidate oath.— 15 (1)(a)1. Each candidate, whether a party candidate, a 16 candidate with no party affiliation, or a write-in candidate, in 17 order to qualify for nomination or election to any office other 18 than a judicial office as defined in chapter 105 or a federal 19 office, shall take and subscribe to an oath or affirmation in 20 writing. A copy of the oath or affirmation shall be made 21 available to the candidate by the officer before whom such 22 candidate seeks to qualify and shall be substantially in the 23 following form: 24 State of Florida 25 County of.... 26 Before me, an officer authorized to administer oaths, 27 personally appeared ...(please print name as you wish it to 28 appear on the ballot)..., to me well known, who, being sworn, 29 says that he or she is a candidate for the office of ....; that 30 he or she is a qualified elector of .... County, Florida; that 31 he or she is qualified under the Constitution and the laws of 32 Florida to hold the office to which he or she desires to be 33 nominated or elected; that he or she has qualified for no other 34 public office in the state, the term of which office or any part 35 thereof runs concurrent with that of the office he or she seeks; 36 that he or she has resigned from any office from which he or she 37 is required to resign pursuant to s. 99.012, Florida Statutes; 38 and that he or she will support the Constitution of the United 39 States and the Constitution of the State of Florida. 40 ...(Signature of candidate)... 41 ...(Address of legal residence)... 42 Sworn to and subscribed before me this .... day of ...., 43 ...(year)..., at .... County, Florida. 44 ...(Signature and title of officer administering oath)... 45 2. Each candidate for federal office, whether a party 46 candidate, a candidate with no party affiliation, or a write-in 47 candidate, in order to qualify for nomination or election to 48 office shall take and subscribe to an oath or affirmation in 49 writing. A copy of the oath or affirmation shall be made 50 available to the candidate by the officer before whom such 51 candidate seeks to qualify and shall be substantially in the 52 following form: 53 State of Florida 54 County of .... 55 Before me, an officer authorized to administer oaths, 56 personally appeared ...(please print name as you wish it to 57 appear on the ballot)..., to me well known, who, being sworn, 58 says that he or she is a candidate for the office of ....; that 59 he or she is qualified under the Constitution and laws of the 60 United States to hold the office to which he or she desires to 61 be nominated or elected; that he or she has qualified for no 62 other public office in the state, the term of which office or 63 any part thereof runs concurrent with that of the office he or 64 she seeks; and that he or she will support the Constitution of 65 the United States. 66 ...(Signature of candidate)... 67 ...(Address)... 68 Sworn to and subscribed before me this .... day of ...., 69 ...(year)..., at .... County, Florida. 70 ...(Signature and title of officer administering oath)... 71 Section 2. Paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of section 72 105.031, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 73 105.031 Qualification; filing fee; candidate’s oath; items 74 required to be filed.— 75 (4) CANDIDATE’S OATH.— 76 (b) All candidates for judicial office shall subscribe to 77 an oath or affirmation in writing to be filed with the 78 appropriate qualifying officer upon qualifying. A printed copy 79 of the oath or affirmation shall be furnished to the candidate 80 by the qualifying officer and shall be in substantially the 81 following form: 82 83 State of Florida 84 County of .... 85 Before me, an officer authorized to administer oaths, 86 personally appeared ...(please print name as you wish it to 87 appear on the ballot)..., to me well known, who, being sworn, 88 says he or she: is a candidate for the judicial office of ....; 89 that his or her legal residence is .... County, Florida; that he 90 or she is a qualified elector of the state and of the 91 territorial jurisdiction of the court to which he or she seeks 92 election; that he or she is qualified under the constitution and 93 laws of Florida to hold the judicial office to which he or she 94 desires to be elected or in which he or she desires to be 95 retained; that he or she has qualified for no other public 96 office in the state, the term of which office or any part 97 thereof runs concurrent to the office he or she seeks; that he 98 or she has resigned from any office which he or she is required 99 to resign pursuant to s. 99.012, Florida Statutes; and that he 100 or she will support the Constitution of the United States and 101 the Constitution of the State of Florida. 102 103 ...(Signature of candidate)... 104 ...(Address of legal residence)... 105 106 Sworn to and subscribed before me this .... day of ...., 107 ...(year)..., at .... County, Florida. 108 109 ...(Signature and title of officer administering oath)... 110 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.