Title: Advisory Opinion to the Governor Re: Sheriff and Judicial Vacancies due to Resignations

State: florida

Issuer: Florida Supreme Court

Document:

aqml’w court ofgr[otwt
No. SC06-668
ADVISORY
OPINION
TO THE GOVERNOR
RE:
SHERIFF
AND
JUDICIAL
VACANCIES
DUE TO RESIGNATIONS
[May 4, 2006]
CORRECTED
OPINION
The Honorable
Jeb Bush
Governor,
State of Florida
The Capitol
Tallahassee,
Florida 32399
Dear Governor Bush:
By letter dated April 19, 2006, you requested
our opinion on two questions
of constitutional
interpretation
involving your executive powers and duties.
This
request and our response are pursuant to article IV, section (1)(c) of the Florida
Constitution.l
One question involves a judicial vacancy created by the resignation
1. Article IV, section (1)(c) provides in fill:
The governor may request in writing the opinion of the justices
of the
supreme court as to the interpretation
of any portion of this
constitution
upon any question affecting the governor’s
executive
powers and duties. The justices
shall, subject to their rules of
procedure,
permit interested persons to be heard on the questions
presented
and shall render their written opinion not earlier than ten
of a circuit court judge.
The other question pertains to a vacancy created by the
intended resignation
of a county sheriff.
Upon receipt of your letter, we issued an
order allowing interested parties to file briefs on an expedited basis.2 We address
your questions regarding the judicial vacancy and sheriff vacancy separately
below.
JUDICIAL
VACANCY
You state in your letter that Judge Gene R. Stephenson,
who is serving a
term that expires on January 2,2007,
tendered his resignation
on April 5,2006,
with a future effective date of May 31, 2006.
You accepted his resignation
on
April 14,2006.
Because Judge Stephenson’s
seat would have been up for election this year
had he not tendered his resignation,
the Department
of State sent out the statutory
notice of general election for this vacancy on April 12, 2006.
The qualifying
period for this seat is from May 8,2006,
through May 12,2006.
&
Q 105.03 l(l),
Fla. Stat. (2005) (“Candidates
for judicial
office shall qualify no earlier than noon
of the 120th day, and no later than noon of the 116th day, before the primary
election.”).
Your question is whether Judge Stephenson’s
seat should be filled by
days from the filing and docketing of the request, unless in their
judgment
the delay would cause public injury.
2. We received a brief from the Florida Democratic
Party on the issue of the
sheriff’s vacancy.
We received briefs from Vickie Levy Eskin and Jack E. Holt,
III, attorneys and candidates
for judge, on the issue of the judicial vacancy.
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appointment
prelection.
Weareofthe
opinion that this vacancy should be filled
by appointment.
Under article V, section 11(b) of the Florida Constitution
the Governor is
required to
fill each vacancy on a circuit court or on a county court, wherein the
judges are elected by a majority vote of the electors, by appointing
for
a term ending on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January of
the year following the next primary and general election occurring at
least one year after the date of appointment
. . . .
Article X, section 3 of the Florida Constitution
addresses when a vacancy occurs
and provides:
Vacancy in office shall occur upon the creation of an office, upon the
death, removal from office, or resignation
of the incumbent
or the
incumbent’s
succession
to another office, unexplained
absence for
sixty consecutive
days, or failure to maintain the residence required
when elected or appointed,
and upon failure of one elected or
appointed to office to qualify within thirty days from the
commencement
of the term.
(Emphasis
supplied.)
Under our precedent,
a judicial
vacancy occurs when a
of resignation
is received and accepted by the Governor.
~
In re AdvisoW
letter
Opinion to the Governor (Judicial Vacancies),
600 So. 2d 460,462
(Fla, 1992)
(“When a letter of resignation
to be effective at a later date is received and
accepted by you, a vacancy in that office occurs and actuates the process to fill
it.”).
In our most recent advisory opinion to you, we opined that a judicial
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vacancy created by an immediate
involuntary
retirement
after candidates
had
qualified for the judgeship
should be filled by the election process,
&
AdvisoW
Opinion to the Governor re Appointment
or Election of Judges, 824 So. 2d 132,
136 (Fla. 2002).
In that case, we framed the issue as “whether your constitutional
authority and obligation
to fill a vacancy pursuant to section 11(b) continues
after
the election process begins for the specific election of a circuit or county judge for
the term which will begin in January after the impending
election.”
~
at 135. We
noted that there was a conflict between article V, section 11(b) and article V,
section 10(b)( 1), (2), and (3)(c), Florida Constitution,
which expressly preserves
the election process for circuit and county judges.
See id. at 134-35.
We then
concluded
that “the conflict must be resolved by a construction
which gives effect
to the clear will of the voters that circuit and county judges be selected by
election.”
~
at 136. However, we emphasized
that our opinion was “limited to
the circumstances
described
in your letter, i.e., where a candidate
or candidates
have already qualified during the statutory qualifications
period, one of whom will
fill the position by election,”
~
We also distinguished
Pincket v. Harris, 765 So.
2d 284,284-85
(Fla. 1st DCA 2000), in which the First District Court of Appeal
concluded that gubernatorial
appointment
was appropriate
when the sitting judge’s
resignation
letter was submitted
and the effective date of the resignation
occurred
prior to the qualifying
period.
~
Appointment
or Election of Judges, 824 So. 2d
-4-
at 136 n.9
The circumstances
in this case are more akin to those presented
in Pincket
than those presented
in Appointment
or Election of Judges.
Although Judge
Stephenson’s
resignation
is not effective until May31,
2006, under our prior case
law, a vacancy occurred when you received and accepted Judge Stephenson’s
resignation
on April 14, 2006.
Because the qualifying
period for Judge
Stephenson’s
seat has not commenced,
under this Court’s decision in Appointment
or Election of Judges the election process has not yet begun.
Thus, we conclude
that article V, section 11(b) controls over article V, section 10(b)(1), (2), and
(3)(c), and the vacancy should be filled by appointment.
We are aware from the briefs filed by attorneys Eskin and Holt that even
though the qualifying
period for Judge Stephenson’s
seat has not yet begun, several
candidates
have stated their intent to run, and at least one candidate has actively
pursued qualification
through the petition process under section 99.095, Florida
Statutes (2005).
The Constitution
does not provide a perfect answer.
However, we
conclude that establishing
the statutory qualifying
period as the start of the election
process is consistent with our precedent.
Although this position will now be filled
initially by appointment
rather than election, the Governor’s
appointment
is for a
limited term that concludes “on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January
of the year following the next primary and general election occurring at least one
-5-
year after the date of appointment.”
Art, V, $ 11(b), Fla. Const.
Accordingly,
there will bean
opportunity
to fill this seat by election in 2008.
SHERIFF
VACANCY
Your letter states that you were advised that the county sheriff, whose term
expires on January 6, 2009, will tender his resignation
in May of 2006, effective in
October 2006.
As noted above, article X, section 3 of the Florida Constitution
provides that a “[v]acancy
in office shall occur upon the . . . resignation
of the
incumbent .“
Article IV, section (1)(f) of the Florida Constitution
provides that
[w]hen not otherwise provided for in this constitution,
the governor
shall fill by appointment
any vacancy in state or county office for the
remainder
of the term of an appointive
office, and for the remainder
of
the term of an elective office if less than twenty-eight
months,
otherwise until the first Tuesday after the first Monday following the
next general election.
(Emphasis
supplied.)
Under this constitutional
provision,
you have the authority to
fill by appointment
the anticipated
vacancy in the sheriff’s office either for the
“remainder
of the term . . . if less than twenty-eight
months” or “until the first
Tuesday after the first Monday following the next general election.”
In other
words, when a vacancy occurs in the sheriff’s office your appointment
will be
effective either until January 6, 2009, or December
12, 2006,
You ask when the vacancy arises so that you may discern the appropriate
date from which to calculate the “remainder
of the term” under this provision—the
date the resignation
is tendered or the effective date of the resignation?
In posing
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this question, you refer to conflicting
statements
in our opinions addressing judicial
vacancies.
You note that we have stated both that “a vacancy does not occur until
the date upon which the office actually becomes vacant,” In re Advisory Opinion
of the Governor Request of September
6, 1974, 301 So. 2d 4, 6 (Fla. 1974), and
that a vacancy occurs “[w]hen a letter of resignation
to be effective at a later date is
received and accepted by you.”
Judicial Vacancies,
600 So. 2d at 462.
In Judicial Vacancies,
we acknowledged
our prior statement that “a vacancy
does not occur until the date upon which the office actually becomes vacant.”
~
at 463 n.4 (quoting In re Advisov
Opinion, 301 So. 2d at 6). However, we
explained that our decision in “Spector v. Glisson, 305 So. 2d 777 (Fla. 1974),
nullified this statement.”
Judicial Vacancies,
600 So. 2d at 463 n.4.3 Accordingly,
we are of the opinion that if the sheriff were to tender his resignation
in May, a
vacancy would occur at that time.
Thus, the remainder
of the term should be
calculated
from the date of the resignation
letter, not its effective date.
This conclusion
is consistent
with the resign-to-run
law. Under section
99.0 12(3)(a), Florida Statutes (2005), an officer cannot quali~
as a candidate
for
3. Even if our prior statements
that a vacancy does not occur until the office
is actually vacated were still valid, we have recognized
that one exception to this
rule is “those circumstances
establishing
artificial vacancies
created by the resign-
to-run law.”
In re Advisory Opinion, 301 So. 2d at 6. Although your letter does
not identify the resigning
sheriff, there is an indication
that your request is in
response to Alachua County Sheriff Steve Oelrich’s
stated intent to run for the
State Senate this year.
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another elected office without resigning from the office he or she currently holds.
The resignation
must be irrevocable
and must be submitted
“at least 10 days prior
to the first day of qualifying
for the office he or she intends to seek.”
$
99.0 12(3)(b)-(c),
Fla. Stat. (2005).
The effective date of the resignation
can be ~
futuro but must be “no later than the earlier of following dates: 1. the date the
officer would take office, if elected, or 2. the date the officer’s successor is
required to take office.”
$ 99.012(3)(d),
Fla. Stat. (2005).
The qualifying
dates for federal, judicial,
state attorney, and public defender
positions
are generally in May of the election year,4 while the qualifying
dates for
statewide,
multicounty,
county, and district positions
are generally in July of the
election year.5 In either case, if the officer is seeking to qualify as a candidate for
another office in an election year other than the election year in which the officer’s
current position is up for election, the officer’s resignation
will necessarily
be
submitted prior to the qualifying
date, thereby creating a vacancy that is greater
4, &
$$ 99,061(l),
105.031(l),
Fla. Stat. (2005) (stating that candidates
for these offices may qualify after noon of the 120th day but no later than noon of
the 116th day prior to the date of the primary election);
see also Florida
Department
of State, Division of Elections, 2006 Dates to Remember
1, 3,
available at http: //election. dos.state.fl .us/publications/index
.shtml.
5. &
$ 99.061(2),
Fla. Stat. (2005) (stating that candidates
for these offices
may qualify after noon of the 50th day but no later than noon of the 46th day prior
to the date to the primary election);
see also Florida Department
of State, Division
of Elections,
2006 Dates to Remember
1, 4 available at
http: //election.dos.
state. fl.us/publications/index.
shtml.
-8-
than twenty-eight
months.b
Section 99.012(3)(f)(l),
Florida Statutes (2005),
recognizes
this by providing
that “[w]ith regard to an elective office, the
resignation
creates a vacancy in office to be filled by election.”
CONCLUSION
We answer your question about the resignation
of Judge Stephenson
by
stating that it is our opinion that this vacancy should be filled by appointment.
answer your question about the impending
resignation
of the county sheriff by
We
stating that it is our opinion that the “remainder
of the term” should be calculated
from the date the resignation
is tendered.
Respectfully,
Cl@~es T<Wells
Kenneth B. Bell
/
6. Assuming
that your letter is referring to Sheriff Oelrich, the sheriff must
tender an irrevocable
resignation
no later than July 7, 2006 (ten days prior to the
first day of qualifying
for a Senate seat).
Thus, even if Sheriff Oelrich were to
tender his resignation
on the last possible day (rather than in May), the remainder
of the term would still be greater than twenty-eight
months.
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Original Proceeding
– Advisory Opinion to the Governor
Raquel A. Rodriguez,
General Counsel, Office of the Governor, Tallahassee,
Florida,
for Petitioner,
The Honorable
Jeb Bush
Mark Herron and Robert J, Telfer of Messer, Caparello and Self, P.A., Tallahassee,
Florida,
for The Florida Democratic
Party
Vicki Levy Eskin, pro se, of Levy and Associates,
P.A., Lake Mary, Florida
for Interested
Party, as a Candidate
for Circuit Court Judge, Group 12,
Eighteenth
Judicial Circuit
Jack E. Holt, III, pro se, of Grower, Ketcham, Rutherford,
Bronson, Eide, and
Telan, P.A., Orlando, Florida
for Interested
Party or as an Amicus Curiae, as a Candidate
for Circuit Court
Judge, Group 12, Eighteenth
Judicial Circuit
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