CRC - 2017                                                   P 8
       
       
        
       By Commissioner Gaetz
       
       gaetzd-00020-17                                          20178__
    1                         A proposal to amend                       
    2         Sections 8 and 11 of Article V of the State
    3         Constitution to increase the age after which a justice
    4         or judge may no longer serve in a judicial office and
    5         to require Senate confirmation of appointments to the
    6         offices of justice of the Supreme Court and judge of a
    7         district court of appeal.
    8          
    9  Be It Proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission of
   10  Florida:
   11  
   12         Sections 8 and 11 of Article V of the State Constitution
   13  are amended to read:
   14                              ARTICLE V                            
   15                              JUDICIARY                            
   16         SECTION 8. Eligibility.—No person shall be eligible for
   17  office of justice or judge of any court unless the person is an
   18  elector of the state and resides in the territorial jurisdiction
   19  of the court. No justice or judge shall serve after attaining
   20  the age of seventy-five seventy years except upon temporary
   21  assignment or to complete a term, one-half of which has been
   22  served. No person is eligible for the office of justice of the
   23  supreme court or judge of a district court of appeal unless the
   24  person is, and has been for the preceding ten years, a member of
   25  the bar of Florida. No person is eligible for the office of
   26  circuit judge unless the person is, and has been for the
   27  preceding five years, a member of the bar of Florida. Unless
   28  otherwise provided by general law, no person is eligible for the
   29  office of county court judge unless the person is, and has been
   30  for the preceding five years, a member of the bar of Florida.
   31  Unless otherwise provided by general law, a person shall be
   32  eligible for election or appointment to the office of county
   33  court judge in a county having a population of 40,000 or less if
   34  the person is a member in good standing of the bar of Florida.
   35         SECTION 11. Vacancies.—
   36         (a) Whenever a vacancy occurs in a judicial office to which
   37  election for retention applies, the governor shall fill the
   38  vacancy by appointing for a term ending on the first Tuesday
   39  after the first Monday in January of the year following the next
   40  general election occurring at least one year after the date of
   41  appointment, one of not fewer than three persons nor more than
   42  six persons nominated by the appropriate judicial nominating
   43  commission.
   44         (b) The governor shall fill each vacancy on a circuit court
   45  or on a county court, wherein the judges are elected by a
   46  majority vote of the electors, by appointing for a term ending
   47  on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January of the
   48  year following the next primary and general election occurring
   49  at least one year after the date of appointment, one of not
   50  fewer than three persons nor more than six persons nominated by
   51  the appropriate judicial nominating commission. An election
   52  shall be held to fill that judicial office for the term of the
   53  office beginning at the end of the appointed term.
   54         (c) The nominations shall be made within thirty days from
   55  the occurrence of a vacancy unless the period is extended by the
   56  governor for a time not to exceed thirty days. The governor
   57  shall make the appointment within sixty days after the
   58  nominations have been certified to the governor.
   59         (d) Each appointment of a justice of the supreme court or a
   60  judge of a district court of appeal is subject to confirmation
   61  by the senate. If the senate votes to not confirm the
   62  appointment, the appropriate judicial nominating commission
   63  shall reconvene as though a new vacancy had occurred. The
   64  commission may not renominate any person whose prior appointment
   65  to fill the same vacancy was not confirmed by the senate. The
   66  appointment of a justice or judge is effective on the date of
   67  confirmation by the senate.
   68         (e)(d) There shall be a separate judicial nominating
   69  commission as provided by general law for the supreme court,
   70  each district court of appeal, and each judicial circuit for all
   71  trial courts within the circuit. Uniform rules of procedure
   72  shall be established by the judicial nominating commissions at
   73  each level of the court system. Such rules, or any part thereof,
   74  may be repealed by general law enacted by a majority vote of the
   75  membership of each house of the legislature, or by the supreme
   76  court, five justices concurring. Except for deliberations of the
   77  judicial nominating commissions, the proceedings of the
   78  commissions and their records shall be open to the public.