CRC - 2017                                   COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Proposal No. P 36
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì978168VÎ978168                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                 Comm: UNFAV           .                                
                  01/25/2018           .                                
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       The Committee on Declaration of Rights (Joyner) recommended the
       following:
       
       
    1         CRC Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 17 of Article I of the State Constitution is
    6  amended to read:
    7                                ARTICLE I
    8                         DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
    9         SECTION 17. Excessive punishments.—
   10         (a) Excessive fines, cruel and unusual punishment,
   11  attainder, forfeiture of estate, indefinite imprisonment, and
   12  unreasonable detention of witnesses are forbidden. The death
   13  penalty is an authorized punishment for capital crimes
   14  designated by the legislature. The prohibition against cruel or
   15  unusual punishment, and the prohibition against cruel and
   16  unusual punishment, shall be construed in conformity with
   17  decisions of the United States Supreme Court which interpret the
   18  prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment provided in the
   19  Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Any method
   20  of execution shall be allowed, unless prohibited by the United
   21  States Constitution. Methods of execution may be designated by
   22  the legislature, and a change in any method of execution may be
   23  applied retroactively. A sentence of death shall not be reduced
   24  on the basis that a method of execution is invalid. In any case
   25  in which an execution method is declared invalid, the death
   26  sentence shall remain in force until the sentence can be
   27  lawfully executed by any valid method. This section shall apply
   28  retroactively.
   29         (b) Beginning on July 1, 2019, and each fifth year
   30  thereafter, there shall be established a death penalty process
   31  review commission. The commission shall undertake a
   32  comprehensive review and examination of the death penalty
   33  process and make findings and recommendations not later than one
   34  year after the commission is established.
   35         (1) The commission shall be composed of twelve total
   36  members, four members selected by the Governor, two members
   37  selected by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, two
   38  members selected by the President of the Senate, and four
   39  members selected by the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme
   40  Court with the advice and counsel of the other Supreme Court
   41  Justices. Vacancies in the membership of the commission shall be
   42  filled in the same manner as the original appointments.
   43         (2)  At its initial meeting, the members of the commission
   44  shall elect a member to serve as chair and the commission shall
   45  adopt its rules of procedure. Thereafter the commission shall
   46  convene at the call of the chair.
   47         (3) The commission shall issue a report of its findings and
   48  recommendations to the Governor, the Speaker of the House of
   49  Representatives, the President of the Senate, and the Chief
   50  Justice of the Supreme Court. The commission shall also file a
   51  copy of its report with the custodian of state records.
   52         (4) The commission shall not be established as scheduled on
   53  a five-year anniversary date if during the immediate preceding
   54  five years, the death penalty was not an authorized punishment
   55  for capital crimes in this state.
   56  
   57  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   58  And the title is amended as follows:
   59         Delete everything before the enacting clause
   60  and insert:
   61                         A proposal to amend                       
   62         Section 17 of Article I of the State Constitution to
   63         establish a death penalty process review commission.