Florida Judicial Retention Amendment (2012)

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

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

The proposed measure would have increased the percentage of votes required to retain justices or judges in office. At the time of the propsal, justices required a majority vote for retention. If the proposed measure was approved, retention would have required at least 60%. Specifically, the proposal applied to all state court appellate justices and judges. Unless a circuit or county had approved merit selection, trial court judges in judicial circuits or counties would not have been subject to the proposed changes.

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

External links

• HJR 7039 (status and full text)
• SJR 1672 (status and full text)

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