Florida 2022 2022 Regular Session

Florida House Bill H1493 Introduced / Bill

Filed 01/10/2022

                        
    
HB 1493  	2022 
 
 
 
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. 
hb1493-00 
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P	R E S E N T A T I V E	S 
 
A bill to be entitled 1 
An act relating to Alachua County; amending the 2 
Alachua County Home Rule Charter to expand the board 3 
of county commissioners to seven members; requiring 4 
the election of five county commissioners in single -5 
member districts and two county commissioners at 6 
large; providing for a referendum; providing an 7 
effective date. 8 
 9 
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 10 
 11 
 Section 1.  Section 2.2(D) o f Article II of the Alachua 12 
County Home Rule Charter is amended to read: 13 
 Sec. 2.2. - Legislative branch. 14 
 A.D. The county commission. The governing body of the 15 
county shall be a board of county commissioners composed of 16 
seven (7) five (5) members serving staggered terms of four (4) 17 
years. There shall be one (1) commissioner for each of the five 18 
(5) county commission districts established pursuant to general 19 
law and they shall be elected by the qualified electors of that 20 
district. There shall be two (2) at -large commissioners elected 21 
on a countywide basis by the electors of the county. Each 22 
candidate for the office of county commissioner shall reside 23 
within the district from which such candidate seeks election at 24 
the time of qualifying to run for that offic e, and during the 25      
    
HB 1493  	2022 
 
 
 
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. 
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P	R E S E N T A T I V E	S 
 
term of office each commissioner shall reside in the district 26 
from which such commissioner ran for office, provided that any 27 
commissioner who is removed from a district by redistricting may 28 
continue to serve during the balance of the term of office. 29 
 Section 2.  Referendum election. — 30 
 (1)  The referendum election called for by this act shall 31 
be held on November 8, 2022, the 2022 General Election. 32 
 (2)  The ballot title for the referendum question shall be 33 
in substantially the following f orm: 34 
AMENDING THE COUNTY CHARTER TO EXPAND COUNTY 35 
COMMISSION TO SEVEN MEMBERS AND PROVIDE FOR ELECTIONS 36 
 (3)  The referendum question shall be placed on the ballot 37 
in substantially the following form: 38 
Shall the board of county commissioners of Alachua 39 
County, Florida, be increased from five to seven 40 
members, with five of the seven members to be elected 41 
to office from single -member districts by qualified 42 
electors residing in each of those districts only, and 43 
with the two remaining members to be elected by al l 44 
electors of the county at large? 45 
 (_____) YES. 46 
 (_____) NO. 47 
 (4)  In the event this question is answered affirmatively 48 
by a majority of the qualified electors voting in the 49 
referendum, the charter amendment will take effect. The 50      
    
HB 1493  	2022 
 
 
 
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. 
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P	R E S E N T A T I V E	S 
 
referendum election shall be conducted by the Supervisor of 51 
Elections of Alachua County in accordance with the Florida 52 
Election Code. 53 
 Section 3.  This act shall take effect upon its approval by 54 
a majority vote of the qualified electors of Alachua County 55 
voting in a referendum c onducted in accordance with the 56 
provisions of law relating to elections currently in force , 57 
except this section and section 2 shall take effect upon 58 
becoming a law. 59