CRC - 2017                                                  P 58
       
       
        
       By Commissioner Kruppenbacher
       
       kruppenbf-00068-17                                      201758__
    1                         A proposal to amend                       
    2         Sections 8, 10, and 11 of Article V of the State
    3         Constitution to remove authority for the election of
    4         circuit judges and county court judges and to make
    5         such judicial offices subject to merit retention.
    6          
    7  Be It Proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission of
    8  Florida:
    9  
   10         Sections 8, 10, and 11 of Article V of the State
   11  Constitution are amended to read:
   12                              ARTICLE V                            
   13                              JUDICIARY                            
   14         SECTION 8. Eligibility.—No person shall be eligible for
   15  office of justice or judge of any court unless the person is an
   16  elector of the state and resides in the territorial jurisdiction
   17  of the court. No justice or judge shall serve after attaining
   18  the age of seventy years except upon temporary assignment or to
   19  complete a term, one-half of which has been served. No person is
   20  eligible for the office of justice of the supreme court or judge
   21  of a district court of appeal unless the person is, and has been
   22  for the preceding ten years, a member of the bar of Florida. No
   23  person is eligible for the office of circuit judge unless the
   24  person is, and has been for the preceding five years, a member
   25  of the bar of Florida. Unless otherwise provided by general law,
   26  no person is eligible for the office of county court judge
   27  unless the person is, and has been for the preceding five years,
   28  a member of the bar of Florida. Unless otherwise provided by
   29  general law, a person is shall be eligible for election or
   30  appointment to the office of county court judge in a county
   31  having a population of 40,000 or less if the person is a member
   32  in good standing of the bar of Florida.
   33         SECTION 10. Retention; election and terms of office.—
   34         (a)All justices and judges shall Any justice or judge may
   35  qualify for retention by a vote of the electors in the general
   36  election next preceding the expiration of the justice’s or
   37  judge’s term in the manner prescribed by law. If a justice or
   38  judge is ineligible or fails to qualify for retention, a vacancy
   39  shall exist in that office upon the expiration of the term being
   40  served by the justice or judge. When a justice or judge so
   41  qualifies, the ballot shall read substantially as follows:
   42  “Shall Justice (or Judge) ...(name of justice or judge)... of
   43  the ...(name of the court)... be retained in office?” If a
   44  majority of the qualified electors voting within the territorial
   45  jurisdiction of the court vote to retain, the justice or judge
   46  shall be retained for a term of six years. The term of the
   47  justice or judge retained shall commence on the first Tuesday
   48  after the first Monday in January following the general
   49  election. If a majority of the qualified electors voting within
   50  the territorial jurisdiction of the court vote to not retain, a
   51  vacancy shall exist in that office upon the expiration of the
   52  term being served by the justice or judge.
   53         (b)
   54         (1) The election of circuit judges shall be preserved
   55  notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) unless a
   56  majority of those voting in the jurisdiction of that circuit
   57  approves a local option to select circuit judges by merit
   58  selection and retention rather than by election. The election of
   59  circuit judges shall be by a vote of the qualified electors
   60  within the territorial jurisdiction of the court.
   61         (2) The election of county court judges shall be preserved
   62  notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) unless a
   63  majority of those voting in the jurisdiction of that county
   64  approves a local option to select county judges by merit
   65  selection and retention rather than by election. The election of
   66  county court judges shall be by a vote of the qualified electors
   67  within the territorial jurisdiction of the court.
   68         (3)
   69         a. A vote to exercise a local option to select circuit
   70  court judges and county court judges by merit selection and
   71  retention rather than by election shall be held in each circuit
   72  and county at the general election in the year 2000. If a vote
   73  to exercise this local option fails in a vote of the electors,
   74  such option shall not again be put to a vote of the electors of
   75  that jurisdiction until the expiration of at least two years.
   76         b. After the year 2000, a circuit may initiate the local
   77  option for merit selection and retention or the election of
   78  circuit judges, whichever is applicable, by filing with the
   79  custodian of state records a petition signed by the number of
   80  electors equal to at least ten percent of the votes cast in the
   81  circuit in the last preceding election in which presidential
   82  electors were chosen.
   83         c. After the year 2000, a county may initiate the local
   84  option for merit selection and retention or the election of
   85  county court judges, whichever is applicable, by filing with the
   86  supervisor of elections a petition signed by the number of
   87  electors equal to at least ten percent of the votes cast in the
   88  county in the last preceding election in which presidential
   89  electors were chosen. The terms of circuit judges and judges of
   90  county courts shall be for six years.
   91         SECTION 11. Vacancies.—
   92         (a) Whenever a vacancy occurs in a judicial office to which
   93  election for retention applies, the governor shall fill the
   94  vacancy by appointing for a term ending on the first Tuesday
   95  after the first Monday in January of the year following the next
   96  general election occurring at least one year after the date of
   97  appointment, one of not fewer than three persons nor more than
   98  six persons nominated by the appropriate judicial nominating
   99  commission.
  100         (b) The governor shall fill each vacancy on a circuit court
  101  or on a county court, wherein the judges are elected by a
  102  majority vote of the electors, by appointing for a term ending
  103  on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January of the
  104  year following the next primary and general election occurring
  105  at least one year after the date of appointment, one of not
  106  fewer than three persons nor more than six persons nominated by
  107  the appropriate judicial nominating commission. An election
  108  shall be held to fill that judicial office for the term of the
  109  office beginning at the end of the appointed term.
  110         (b)(c) The nominations shall be made within thirty days
  111  from the occurrence of a vacancy unless the period is extended
  112  by the governor for a time not to exceed thirty days. The
  113  governor shall make the appointment within sixty days after the
  114  nominations have been certified to the governor.
  115         (c)(d) There shall be a separate judicial nominating
  116  commission as provided by general law for the supreme court,
  117  each district court of appeal, and each judicial circuit for all
  118  trial courts within the circuit. Uniform rules of procedure
  119  shall be established by the judicial nominating commissions at
  120  each level of the court system. Such rules, or any part thereof,
  121  may be repealed by general law enacted by a majority vote of the
  122  membership of each house of the legislature, or by the supreme
  123  court, five justices concurring. Except for deliberations of the
  124  judicial nominating commissions, the proceedings of the
  125  commissions and their records shall be open to the public.