Case Name: James SIMMONS, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2000-07-06
Citations: 762 So. 2d 913
Docket Number: No. SC96465
Parties: James SIMMONS, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.
Judges: WELLS, C.J., and SHAW, HARDING, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE and LEWIS, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 762
Pages: 913–913

Head Matter:
James SIMMONS, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.
No. SC96465.
Supreme Court of Florida.
July 6, 2000.
Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Ian Seldin, Assistant Public Defender, Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, West Palm Beach, Florida, for Petitioner.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Celia Terenzio, West Palm Beach Bureau Chief, Criminal Appeals, and Marrett W. Hanna, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, Florida, for Respondent.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
We have for review the decision in Simmons v. State, 755 So.2d 682 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999), in which the Fourth District certified the same question which was certified in Woods v. State, 740 So.2d 20 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999):
DOES THE PRISON RELEASEE REOFFENDER PUNISHMENT ACT, CODIFIED AS SECTION 775.082(8), FLORIDA STATUTES (1997), VIOLATE THE SEPARATION OF POWERS CLAUSE OF THE FLORIDA CONSTITUTION?
We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const.
We recently approved the First District's decision in Woods, holding that the Prisoner Releasee Reoffender Act, as properly interpreted by the First District, does not violate separation of powers, and rejecting other constitutional challenges to the Act. See State v. Cotton, Nos. SC94996 & SC95281, — So.2d -, 2000 WL 766521 (Fla. June 15, 2000). Accordingly, for the reasons expressed in Cotton, we answer the certified question in the negative, and approve the decision of the Fourth District in this case.
It is so ordered.
WELLS, C.J., and SHAW, HARDING, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE and LEWIS, JJ., concur.
QUINCE, J., dissents with an opinion.