HB 1645 2023
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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 the City of Gainesville, Alachua 2
County; amending chapter 12760, Laws of Florida 3
(1927), as amended by chapter 2017 -200, Laws of 4
Florida; providing that members of the Gainesville 5
Regional Utilities Authority be appointed by the 6
Governor, rather than the City Commission of the City 7
of Gainesville; providing for initial appointments; 8
conforming provisions; providing an effective date. 9
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Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 11
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Section 1. Subsections (1) and (3) of section 7.04 and 13
sections 7.05 and 7.08 of Article VII of chapter 12760, Laws of 14
Florida (1927), as amended by chapter 2017 -200, Laws of Florida, 15
are amended to read: 16
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ARTICLE VII 18
GAINESVILLE REGIONAL UTILITIES AUTHORITY 19
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7.04 Authority members. — 21
(1) There shall be five members of the authority appointed 22
by the Governor a majority vote of the city commission . The 23
members shall be diverse and representativ e of the community. 24
Each member shall be a person of recognized ability and good 25
HB 1645 2023
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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
business judgment, as identified by the Governor city 26
commission, who is expected to perform his or her official 27
duties in the best interests of GRU and its customers. 28
Appointments shall be made as follows: 29
(a) One member shall be a residential customer with 30
substantial knowledge of GRU, its operations, and its history. 31
(b) At least one member shall be a private, nongovernment 32
customer consuming at least 10,000 kilowatt hou rs per month of 33
electric usage during each of the previous 12 months. If the 34
customer is an entity, this member may be the owner or 35
representative of such customer. 36
(c) Three members shall be competent and knowledgeable in 37
one or more specific fields sub stantially related to the duties 38
and functions of the authority, including, but not limited to, 39
law, economics, accounting, engineering, finance, or energy. 40
(3) The composition of the authority shall be adjusted 41
upon expiration of any member's term, or u pon any authority 42
vacancy, to reflect the ratio of total electric meters serving 43
GRU electric customers outside the city's jurisdictional 44
boundaries to total electric meters serving all GRU electric 45
customers. For example, upon expiration of a member's ter m or 46
upon an authority vacancy, if the ratio of total electric meters 47
serving customers outside the city boundaries to total electric 48
meters serving all electric customers reaches 40 percent, the 49
Governor city commission must appoint a second member from 50
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outside the city boundaries to serve the next term that would 51
otherwise be served by a qualified elector of the city. 52
Conversely, upon expiration of any member's term or upon any 53
authority vacancy, if the ratio subsequently falls below 40 54
percent, the Governor city commission must appoint a qualified 55
elector of the city to serve the next term that otherwise would 56
have been served by a resident from outside the city boundaries. 57
7.05 Member nominations and terms. — 58
(1) The Governor city commission shall issue a public 59
notice soliciting citizen nominations for authority members 60
within 120 days after the approval at referendum of the creation 61
of this article. The nomination solicitation period shall remain 62
open for at least 30 days after the date of the public notice. 63
(2) The Governor city commission shall appoint initial 64
members to the authority from among the nominees within 60 days 65
after the close of the nomination solicitation period. The 66
initial terms of office for the five members shall commen ce at 67
12 a.m. on October 1, 2023 2019. The terms of the initial 68
appointments shall be as follows: one member shall be designated 69
to serve until 12 a.m. October 1, 2024 2020; one member shall be 70
designated to serve until 12 a.m. October 1, 2025 2021; one 71
member shall be designated to serve until 12 a.m. October 1, 72
2026 2022; and two members shall be designated to serve until 12 73
a.m. October 1, 2027 2023. 74
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(3) The Governor city commission shall have a citizen 75
nomination solicitation period for at least 30 da ys and appoint 76
members for subsequent terms from among the nominees. Members 77
appointed for subsequent terms shall be appointed for 4 -year 78
terms commencing at 12 a.m. on October 1 of the year in which 79
they are appointed. If a member is appointed to complete an 80
unexpired term, the member's term shall commence at the time of 81
appointment and shall continue through the remainder of the 82
unexpired term. 83
(4) The Governor city commission shall fill any vacancy 84
for the unexpired portion of a term within 60 days aft er the 85
vacancy occurs if the remainder of the term exceeds 90 days. 86
7.08 Removal and suspension of members. — 87
(1) A member may be removed or suspended from office by 88
the Governor city commission in accordance with s. 112.501, 89
Florida Statutes. In additi on to the grounds for removal set 90
forth therein, a member may be removed by the Governor city 91
commission for failure to maintain the qualifications specified 92
in section 7.04. 93
(2) The authority may recommend to the Governor city 94
commission that a member be removed or suspended from office if 95
it finds, by vote of at least three members, a reasonable basis 96
for removal or suspension on one or more of the grounds set 97
forth in s. 112.501, Florida Statutes, or for failure to 98
maintain the qualifications specified in section 7.04. The 99
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authority shall give reasonable notice of any proceeding in 100
which such action is proposed and must provide the member 101
against whom such action is proposed a written statement of the 102
basis for the proposed action and an opportunity to be heard. 103
The member against whom such action is proposed may not 104
participate in the authority's debate or vote on the matter. 105
Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law. 106