Florida Judicial Qualification Amendment (2012)

Not on Ballot
This measure was not put on an election ballot

A Florida Judicial Qualification Amendment did not make the November 6, 2012 state ballot in Florida as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment.

The measure would have increased the period of time that a person must be a member of The Florida Bar from five to 10 years in order to be eligible for county and circuit court judgeships, much like the eligibility requirements for appellate judges.

A bill was filed in the Senate by Sen. Jeremy Ring and in the House by Rep. Ari Porth.

If the bill was referred to the ballot, it would have required 60 percent voter approval for adoption.

Background

Several judicial reform measures were proposed by the legislature in early 2011 for the 2012 statewide ballot. The proposals were developed following the removal of three legislatively referred measures in 2010 by state courts. Measures removed from the ballot included: Florida Redistricting, Amendment 7, Florida Property Tax Limit, Amendment 3 and Florida Healthcare Freedom, Amendment 9.

Judicial reform proposals filed legislators include amendments to judicial qualifications, appointee certification, judicial retention, court rules, release of court records and splitting the Florida Supreme Court into two courts. The list of proposals can be viewed here.

Path to the ballot

See also: Florida law for legislatively referred constitutional amendments

In order to qualify for the November 2012 ballot the proposed amendment required approval by a minimum of 60% in the both the House and the Senate. The proposal died in committee in May 2011.

See also

Suggest a link

• 2012 ballot measures
• Florida 2012 ballot measures

Articles

• Proposed Florida amendment would require 10 years of practice to qualify for judgeships

External links

• Senate Joint Resolution 140 (filed 11/23/10)
• House Joint Resolution 47 (filed 12/7/10)

Additional reading

• Associated Press, "House debate begins on Fla. courts overhaul plan," April 14, 2011 (dead link)
• The Miami Herald, "Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon wants to revamp state Supreme Court," April 5, 2011 (dead link)
• The Ledger, "Move to Reshape Florida's Courts Advances With Backing of House Speaker," March 18, 2011

Editorials

• FloridaToday.com, "Our views: Crushing the courts (April 3)," April 1, 2011