Florida Senate - 2022 SB 1938 By Senator Gruters 23-00848A-22 20221938__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to the recall of county officials; 3 amending s. 100.361, F.S.; providing that members of 4 the governing body of a noncharter county may be 5 removed from office by the electors of the county; 6 making technical changes; providing a contingent 7 effective date. 8 9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 10 11 Section 1.Subsection (1) and paragraphs (d), (f), and (g) 12 of subsection (2) of section 100.361, Florida Statutes, are 13 amended to read: 14 100.361Municipal and county official recall. 15 (1)APPLICATION; DEFINITION.Any member of the governing 16 body of a municipality, or charter county, or noncharter county, 17 hereinafter referred to in this section as municipality, may 18 be removed from office by the electors of the municipality. When 19 the official represents a district and is elected only by 20 electors residing in that district, only electors from that 21 district are eligible to sign the petition to recall that 22 official and are entitled to vote in the recall election. When 23 the official represents a district and is elected at-large by 24 the electors of the municipality, all electors of the 25 municipality are eligible to sign the petition to recall that 26 official and are entitled to vote in the recall election. As 27 Where used in this section, the term district means shall be 28 construed to mean the area or region of a municipality from 29 which a member of the governing body is elected by the electors 30 from such area or region. Members may be removed from office 31 pursuant to the procedures provided in this section. This method 32 of removing members of the governing body of a municipality is 33 in addition to any other method provided by state law. 34 (2)RECALL PETITION. 35 (d)Grounds for recall.The grounds for removal of elected 36 municipal officials shall, for the purposes of this act, be 37 limited to the following and must be contained in the petition: 38 1.Malfeasance.; 39 2.Misfeasance.; 40 3.Neglect of duty.; 41 4.Drunkenness.; 42 5.Incompetence.; 43 6.Permanent inability to perform official duties.; and 44 7.Conviction of a felony involving moral turpitude. 45 (f)Filing of signed petitions.All signed petition forms 46 shall be filed at the same time, no later than 30 days after the 47 date on which the first signature is obtained on the petition. 48 The person designated as chair of the committee shall file the 49 signed petition forms with the auditor or clerk of the 50 municipality or charter county, or his or her equivalent, 51 hereinafter referred to as clerk. The petition may not be 52 amended after it is filed with the clerk. 53 (g)Verification of signatures. 54 1.Immediately after the filing of the petition forms, the 55 clerk shall submit such forms to the county supervisor of 56 elections. No more than 30 days after the date on which all 57 petition forms are submitted to the supervisor by the clerk, the 58 supervisor shall promptly verify the signatures in accordance 59 with s. 99.097, and determine whether the requisite number of 60 valid signatures has been obtained for the petition. The 61 committee seeking verification of the signatures shall pay in 62 advance to the supervisor the sum of 10 cents for each signature 63 checked or the actual cost of checking such signatures, 64 whichever is less. 65 2.Upon filing with the clerk, the petition and all 66 subsequent papers or forms required or permitted to be filed 67 with the clerk in connection with this section must, upon 68 request, be made available in alternative formats by the clerk. 69 3.If the supervisor determines that the petition does not 70 contain the requisite number of verified and valid signatures, 71 the clerk shall, upon receipt of such written determination, so 72 certify to the governing body of the municipality or charter 73 county and file the petition without taking further action, and 74 the matter shall be at an end. No additional names may be added 75 to the petition, and the petition shall not be used in any other 76 proceeding. 77 4.If the supervisor determines that the petition has the 78 requisite number of verified and valid signatures, then the 79 procedures outlined in subsection (3) must be followed. 80 Section 2.This act shall take effect on the effective date 81 of the amendment to the State Constitution proposed by SJR 1004 82 or a similar joint resolution having substantially the same 83 specific intent and purpose, if such amendment to the State 84 Constitution is approved at the next general election or at an 85 earlier special election specifically authorized by law for that 86 purpose.