Amendments, Election of 11-6-34:

1933 SJR 113 (Article VIII, Section 9) {Adopted}

1933 SJR 296 (Article III, Section 24) {Adopted}

1933 SJR 582 (Article V, Section 45) {Adopted}

1933 HJR 20 (Article X, Section 7) {Adopted}

1933 HJR 83 (Article XIX, Sections 1,2,3,4) {Adopted}

1933 HJR 152 (Declaration of Rights, Section 10) {Adopted}

1933 HJR 1441 (Article IX, Section 14) {Adopted}

Related Materials:

Supreme Court Opinion (115 Fla. 701)

{Retaining HJR 20 on Ballot}

Supreme Court Opinion (115 Fla. 721)

{Retaining HJR 20 on Ballot}

Supreme Court Opinion (116 Fla. 845)

{Retaining SJR 582 on Ballot}

Supreme Court Opinion (120 Fla. 860)

{Upholding Validity of SJR 582}

__________

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 113

A Joint Resolution Proposing an Amendment to Article VIII of the Constitution of the State of Florida Relative to Cities and Counties.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That the following Amendment to Article VIII of the Constitution of the State of Florida relative to cities and counties, to be numbered Section 9 of said Article VIII, be and same is hereby agreed to and shall be submitted to the electors of the State at the General Election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, A. D. 1934, for ratification or rejection, to-wit:

Section 9. The Legislature shall have power to establish, alter or abolish, a Municipal corporation to be known as the City of Jacksonville, extending territorially throughout the present limits of Duval County, in the place of any or all county, district, municipal and local governments, boards, bodies and officers, constitutional or statutory, legislative, executive, judicial, or administrative, and shall prescribe the jurisdiction, powers, duties and functions of such municipal corporation, its legislative, executive, judicial and administrative departments and its boards, bodies and officers; to divide the territory included in such municipality into subordinate districts, and to prescribe a just and reasonable system of taxation for such municipality and districts; and to fix the liability of such municipality and districts. Bonded and other indebtedness, existing at the time of the establishment of such municipality, shall be enforceable only against property theretofore taxable therefor. The Legislature shall, from time to time, determine what portion of said municipality is a rural area, and a homestead in such rural area shall not be limited as if in a city or town. Such municipality may exercise all the powers of a municipal corporation and shall also be recognized as one of the legal political divisions of the State with the duties and obligations of a county and shall be entitled to all the powers, rights and privileges, including representation in the State Legislature, which would accrue to it if it were a county. All property of Duval County and of the municipalities in said county shall vest in such municipal corporation when established as herein provided. The offices of Clerk of the Circuit Court and Sheriff shall not be abolished but the Legislature may prescribe the time when, and the method by which, such offices shall be filled and the compensation to be paid to such officers and may vest in them additional powers and duties. No county office shall be abolished or consolidated with another office without making provision for the performance of all State duties now or hereafter prescribed by law to be performed by such county officer. Nothing contained herein shall affect Section 20 of Article III of the Constitution of the State of Florida, except as to such provisions therein as relate to regulating the jurisdiction and duties of any class of officers, to summoning and impanelling grand and petit juries, to assessing and collecting taxes for county purposes and to regulating the fees and compensation of county officers. No law authorizing the establishing or abolishing of such Municipal corporation pursuant to this section, shall become operative or effective until approved by a majority of the qualified electors participating in an election held in said County, but so long as such Municipal corporation exists under this Section the Legislature may amend or extend the law authorizing the same without referendum to the qualified voters unless the Legislative act providing for such amendment or extension shall provide for such referendum.

Approved May 25, 1933.

__________

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 296

A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing to Amend Section 24 of Article III of the Constitution of the State of Florida, Relating to County and Municipal Governments.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That Section 24 of Article III of the Constitution of the State of Florida relating to county and municipal governments be and the same is hereby amended, and as amended is agreed to and shall be submitted to the electors of the State of Florida at the General Election of Representatives to be held in 1934 for approval or rejection. Said Section 24 of Article III, as amended, shall read as follows:

Section 24. The Legislature shall establish an* uniform system of county and municipal government, which shall be applicable, except in cases where local or special laws for counties are provided by the Legislature that may be inconsistent therewith. The Legislature shall by general law classify cities and towns according to population, and shall by general law provide for their incorporation, government, jurisdiction, powers, duties and privileges under such classifications, and no special or local laws incorporating cities or towns, providing for their government, jurisdiction, powers, duties and privileges shall be passed by the Legislature.

Approved June 6, 1933.

__________

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 582

Proposing an Amendment to Article V of the Constitution of Florida Relating to the Judiciary by Adding thereto an Additional Section to be Known as Section 45 Providing for the Reduction of the Number of Judicial Circuits of This State and Requiring the Reapportionment of Such Circuits and the Judges Thereof.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That the following amendment to Article V of the Constitution of this State relating to the Judiciary by adding thereto additional Section 45 as hereinafter set forth, be and the same is hereby agreed to and shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the State of Florida for ratification or rejection at the next ensuing general election, that is to say, that an additional Section to be designated as Section 45 of Article V of the Constitution of Florida be adopted to read as follows, to wit:

Section 45. (a) There shall be no more than fifteen judicial circuits of the State of Florida to be appropriately designated, numbered and defined by a suitable law enacted by the Legislature for that purpose in accordance with the amendment; Provided that no judicial circuit as defined by law hereunder shall embrace less than fifty thousand inhabitants according to the last preceding State or Federal census; and provided further, that no judicial circuit existing at the time of the ratification of this amendment shall be affected, altered, or abolished, except in the manner provided in this amendment for carrying the same into execution, nor shall any existing Circuit Judge or State Attorney be disturbed in the tenure of his office until the expiration of any commission held by him on the date this amendment is ratified.

(b) It shall be the duty of the Legislature at its next regular session after the amendment shall have been ratified to pass suitable laws to carry this amendment into effect, and to make effective the reapportionment and reduction of judicial circuits and Circuit Judges hereby contemplated.

(c) There shall be one Circuit Judge to each Judicial Circuit but additional Circuit Judges for judicial Circuit may be provided for by law as authorized by Section 43 of Amended Article V of this Constitution, but the total number of Circuit Judges apportioned to any one judicial circuit shall not exceed one Circuit Judge for every fifty thousand inhabitants, or major fraction thereof, after this amendment shall have been put into effect.

(d) In Circuits having more than one Judge the Legislature may designate the place of residence of any such additional Judge or Judges.

(e) The re-apportionment of Circuits and Judges thereof hereby provided for shall become effective sixty days after the act providing for same shall have become law.

Approved June 6, 1933.

__________

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 20

A JOINT RESOLUTION proposing an Amendment to Article X of the Constitution of the State of Florida by adding thereto an additional section to be known as Section 7 relating to Homestead and Exemptions.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That the following amendment to Article X of the Constitution of the State of Florida relating to homestead and exemptions, by adding thereto an additional Section to be known as Section 7 providing that no assessment for any State or County or Municipal taxation shall be levied upon the homestead, be and the same is hereby agreed to and shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the State of Florida for ratification or rejection in the general election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, A. D. 1934, that is to say, there shall be added to Article X of the Constitution of the State of Florida relating to homestead and exemptions, an additional Section to be known as Section 7 of said Article, which shall read as follows:

Section 7. There shall be exempted from all taxation, other than special assessments for benefits, to every head of a family who is a citizen of and resides in the State of Florida, the homestead as defined in Article X of the Constitution of the State of Florida up to the valuation of $5,000.00; provided, however, that the title to said homestead may be vested in such head of a family or in his lawful wife residing upon such homestead or in both.

Approved May 27, 1933.

__________

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 83

A JOINT RESOLUTION proposing the amendment of Article XIX of the Constitution of Florida, relating to Prohibition.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That Article XIX of the Constitution of the State of Florida be, and the same is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

ARTICLE XIX

Section 1. The Board of County Commissioners of each County in the State, not oftener than once in every two years, upon the application of one-fourth of the registered voters of any County, shall call and provide for an election in the County in which application is made, to decide whether the sale of intoxicating liquors, wines or beer shall be prohibited therein, the question to be determined by a majority of those voting at the election called under this Section, which election shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by law for holding general elections. Elections under this Section shall be held within sixty days from the time of presenting said application, but if any such election should thereby take place within sixty days of any State or National election, or primary, it shall be held within sixty days after such State or National election, or primary.

Section 2. The Legislature shall provide by general or special or local Legislation laws to carry out and enforce the provisions of this Article. All laws relating to intoxicating liquors, wines and beer which were in effect on December 31, 1918, unless changed by the Legislature by laws expressly made, effective concurrently with this amendment, shall as so changed become effective with this Article and shall so remain until thereafter changed by the Legislature. The power of the Legislature to provide necessary laws to carry out and enforce this article shall include the right to provide for manufacture or sale by private individuals, firms and corporations or by the State or by Counties, Cities or political sub-divisions, or by any governmental commission or agency to be created for that purpose.

Section 3. Until changed by elections called under this Article, the status of all territory in the State of Florida as to whether the sale is permitted or prohibited shall be the same as it was on December 31, 1918, provided that at the General Election in 1934 or at any time within two years after this Article becomes effective the Board of County Commissioners of any County shall, upon the application of five per cent. of the registered voters of the County, call and provide for an election to decide whether the sale shall be prohibited in such County, said election to be otherwise as provided in Article I hereof.

Section 4. This Article shall become effective immediately upon its adoption and the repeal of Article XVIII of the Amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America.

Approved May 8, 1933.

__________

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 152

A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an Amendment of Section 10 of the Declaration of Rights of the Constitution of the State of Florida, Relating to Grand Juries, Informations, Presentments and Indictments of Persons for Capital Crimes and Other Felonies, and Providing That Judgments and Sentences of the Court May Be Made and Entered in Term Time or in Vacation on Pleas of Guilty to Felonies, and Dispensing With the Necessity of Summoning the Grand Jury Except Upon Order of a Circuit Judge.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That the following amendment to Section 10 of the Declaration of Rights of the Constitution of the State of Florida, relating to Grand Juries, informations, presentments and indictments of persons for capital crimes and other felonies, be, and the same is hereby agreed to, and shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the State of Florida, for ratification or rejection, at the general election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, A. D. 1934:

Section 10. No person shall be tried for a capital crime unless on presentment or indictment by a grand jury, and no person shall be tried for other felony unless on presentment or indictment by a grand jury or upon information under oath filed by the prosecuting attorney of the court wherein the information is filed, except as is otherwise provided in this Constitution, and except in cases of impeachment, and in cases in the militia when in active service in time of war, or which the state, with the consent of Congress, may keep in time of peace. Any person under such information, presentment or indictment for any felony not capital may be arraigned and may enter a plea in term time or in vacation, and the judgment and sentence of the court on a plea of guilty may be made and entered either in term time or in vacation. The judge of any circuit court is authorized to dispense with the summoning, empaneling, and convening of the grand jury at any term of court by making, entering, and filing with the clerk of said court a written order directing that no grand jury be summoned at such term of court, which order of the Circuit Judge may be made in vacation or term time of said court. The Legislature shall have power by general legislation to regulate the number of grand jurors to serve upon, or constitute, a grand jury and to fix the number of grand jurors required to vote for and return an indictment or presentment.

This amendment, upon ratification as aforesaid, shall take effect at midnight on December 31, 1934, without the necessity of legislation.

Approved June 7, 1933.

__________

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 1441

A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing Amendment to Article IX of the Constitution of the State of Florida Relative to Taxation and Finance, to be Known as Section 14 of Article IX.

Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

That the following amendment to Article IX of the Constitution of the State of Florida, to be known as Section 14 of said Article IX, be and the same is hereby agreed to and shall be submitted to the electors of the State of Florida at the General Election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1934, for ratification or rejection:

Section 14. For a period of fifteen years from the beginning of operation, motion picture studios and plants which shall be established in this State on or after July 1, 1933, including all lands, buildings and chattels utilized in connection therewith, and all raw materials going into the finished products of such studios and plants, as well as the finished products or films, shall be exempt from all ad valorem taxation, except that no exemption which shall become effective by virtue of this amendment shall extend beyond the year 1943.

The exemption herein authorized shall not apply to real estate owned by such motion picture studios and plants except the real estate occupied as the location required to house such motion picture studios and plants and other buildings incidental to the operation of such studios and plants, together with such lands as may be required for housing officers and employees, and for warehouses, laboratories, cutting rooms, projection rooms, storage, trackage, shipping facilities, sets and locations.

Approved June 7, 1933.