CRC - 2017                                   COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Proposal No. P 47
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì896148IÎ896148                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: FAV            .                                
                  01/19/2018           .                                
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       The Committee on Executive (Diaz) recommended the following:
       
    1         CRC Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the proposing clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 8 of Article V of the State Constitution is amended
    6  to read:
    7                              ARTICLE V                            
    8                              JUDICIARY                            
    9         SECTION 8. Eligibility.—
   10         No person shall be eligible for office of justice or judge
   11  of any court unless the person is an elector of the state and
   12  resides in the territorial jurisdiction of the court. No justice
   13  or judge shall serve after attaining the age of seventy years
   14  except upon temporary assignment or to complete a term, one-half
   15  of which has been served. No person is eligible for the office
   16  of justice of the supreme court or judge of a district court of
   17  appeal unless the person is, and has been for the preceding ten
   18  years, a member of the bar of Florida. No person is eligible for
   19  the office of circuit judge unless the person is, and has been
   20  for the preceding five years, a member of the bar of Florida. No
   21  person is eligible for the office of circuit judge unless the
   22  person is, and has been for the preceding ten years, a member of
   23  a bar of one of the states or territories of the United States
   24  of America. No Unless otherwise provided by general law, no
   25  person is eligible for the office of county court judge unless
   26  the person is, and has been for the preceding five years, a
   27  member of the bar of Florida. No person is eligible for the
   28  office of county court judge unless the person is, and has been
   29  for the preceding ten years, a member of a bar of one of the
   30  states or territories of the United States of America.
   31  Notwithstanding the foregoing, unless Unless otherwise provided
   32  by general law, a person shall be eligible for election or
   33  appointment to the office of county court judge in a county
   34  having a population of 40,000 or less if the person is a member
   35  in good standing of the bar of Florida.
   36  
   37         A new section is added to Article XII of the State
   38  Constitution to read:
   39                             ARTICLE XII                           
   40                              SCHEDULE                             
   41         Qualifications of circuit judges and county court judges.—
   42  The amendment to Section 8 of Article V, which revises the
   43  qualifications for a person to be eligible for the office of
   44  circuit judge and county court judge, shall only apply
   45  prospectively from January 8, 2019. The amendment may not be
   46  construed to affect a person who has assumed the office of
   47  circuit judge or county court judge on or before January 8,
   48  2019, or any person who has been nominated for a vacancy in the
   49  office of circuit judge or county court judge by a judicial
   50  nominating commission, but has not yet assumed office, as of
   51  January 8, 2019.
   52  
   53  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   54  And the title is amended as follows:
   55         Delete everything before the proposing clause
   56  and insert:
   57                         A proposal to amend                       
   58         Section 8 of Article V and to create a new section in
   59         Article XII of the State Constitution to require a
   60         person to have at least ten years membership in a bar
   61         in the United States of America, the preceding five of
   62         which must be in The Florida Bar, in order to be
   63         eligible to serve in the office of circuit or county
   64         judge.