Citizens for Term Limits & Accountability, Inc. v. Lyons

995 So. 2d 1051, 2008 WL 4901370
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 14, 2008
Docket1D08-4525
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 995 So. 2d 1051 (Citizens for Term Limits & Accountability, Inc. v. Lyons) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Citizens for Term Limits & Accountability, Inc. v. Lyons, 995 So. 2d 1051, 2008 WL 4901370 (Fla. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

995 So.2d 1051 (2008)

CITIZENS FOR TERM LIMITS & ACCOUNTABILITY, INC., a Florida nonprofit corporation, Appellant/Cross-Appellee,
v.
Roy LYONS, Appellee/Cross-Appellant, and
Honorable Barbara A. Kirkman, as Supervisor of Elections for Clay County, Florida, Clay County, Florida, a public body corporate, and Diane Hutchings, Appellees.

No. 1D08-4525.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

November 14, 2008.
Rehearing Denied November 21, 2008.

*1052 Joseph W. Little, Gainesville, for Appellant/Cross-Appellee Citizens for Term Limits & Accountability, Inc.

C. Allen Watts of Cobb & Cole, DeLand, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant Roy Lyons; Ronald A. Labasky of Young, Van Assenderp, P.A., Tallahassee, for Appellee Barbara A. Kirkman.

No appearance for Appellees Clay County, Florida, and Diane Hutchings.

BENTON, J.

We have for review an amended final summary judgment that would effectively invalidate two proposals to amend Clay County's home rule charter, and that rejected a legal challenge that sought to preclude a vote on a third proposed amendment. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I.

The County Commission of Clay County consists of five members, each elected from a single-member district. In the 2006 general election, however, the voters amended the Clay County charter to increase the number of commissioners to seven. The 2006 charter amendment provided that the two new commission seats were to be filled for the first time in 2008. By that time it turned out that a proposed amendment—one of the three at issue here—to undo the 2006 changes was itself on the ballot.[1] The 2006 charter amendment provided that both new commissioners were to be elected at large, one to a four-year term as Chair of the Commission, the other to an initial, two-year term (that was to be followed by four-year terms).

II.

The Citizens for Term Limits & Accountability Committee (Citizens Committee), appellant here, initiated the process which led to placing the proposed amendments at issue here on the November 4, 2008 general election ballot. Seeking to *1053 block three separate proposed amendments, Roy Lyons, a registered voter and taxpayer in Clay County, and an appellee here, filed for declaratory and injunctive relief in circuit court. That court granted declaratory judgment, and granted in part and denied in part the injunctive relief he sought. When the Citizens Committee appealed (after which Mr. Lyons cross-appealed), the circuit court entered a stay that kept the proposals on the November 4, 2008 ballot.

III.

One amendment before the voters of Clay County at the November 4, 2008 election was designed to undo the 2006 changes to the charter by restoring the Clay County Commission to five members, each from a single-member district. The ballot title and summary for this proposal read:

A. TITLE: Reduction of the number of Clay County Commissioners from seven (7) to five (5).
B. SUMMARY: Shall the Clay County Charter, Article II, Sections 2.2A(1) and (2), and Transitional Provisions (a), (b), (c) and (d), be amended to reduce the number of County Commissioners from seven (7) to five (5), there being one County Commissioner for each of the five County Commission Election Districts, with each County Commissioner to be elected only by vote of the electors in the County Commissioner's own District, and abolish the at-large elected positions.

The circuit court ruled that the ballot title and summary for this proposal were misleading, in part because they do not disclose when the measure would take effect, thus creating "considerable confusion" about the status of Commissioner-Elect Hutchings and the Commission Chair-Elect.

The second proposed amendment at issue was designed to reduce the salaries of county commissioners. The ballot title and summary read:

A. TITLE: Reduction of and changes to salaries of Clay County Commissioners.
B. SUMMARY: Shall the Clay County Charter, Article II, Section 2.2.C be amended to reduce the salaries of Clay County Commissioners to $37,000 per year and provide that any changes to such set salaries shall be approved by a majority of electors in a general election, for commissioners whose terms commence on or after the second Tuesday following the November 2008 general election.

The circuit court rejected the argument that this title and ballot summary were misleading, and ruled the proposed amendment should go to the voters.

The third proposed amendment at issue was designed to require a sixty per cent majority for approval of any future amendments to the Clay County charter. The ballot language and content of the measure read:

A. TITLE: Minimum requirement for voter approval of all charter amendments.
B. SUMMARY: Shall Article IV, Section 4.2(A)(4), Section 4.2.B(5), and Section 4.2.(C)(2) be amended to require at least sixty percent of electors in a general election to approve charter amendments or revisions proposed by citizens['] petition, the Charter Review Commission or the Board of County Commissioners.

The circuit court ruled that any such supermajority requirement contravened Article VIII, section 1(c) of the Florida Constitution, *1054 which provides that any county charter shall be "adopted, amended or repealed only upon a vote of the electors of the county."

IV.

The Citizens Committee appealed the circuit court rulings that, but for the stay, would have prevented voting on the proposal to shrink the size of the Clay County Commission and on the proposal to require at least sixty per cent of the voters to approve any amendment to the Clay County charter proposed at any future election. On cross-appeal, Mr. Lyons contends that the title and ballot summary for the amendment proposed to limit the county commissioners' salaries was misleading. We address the appeal, and then the cross-appeal.

A.

The Citizens Committee contends that the ballot title and summary pertaining to the "shrink the commission" proposal were not misleading, and that the trial court erred in ruling otherwise.[2] "The standard of review ... [on this question] is de novo." Fla. Dep't of State v. Slough, 992 So.2d 142, 147 (Fla.2008). Section 101.161(1), Florida Statutes (2008), requires a "ballot title" which "shall consist of a caption, not exceeding 15 words in length," along with a description of "the substance of the amendment ... [which] shall be an explanatory statement, not exceeding 75 words in length, of the chief purpose of the measure." These requirements are designed to

make certain that the "electorate is advised of the true meaning, and ramifications, of an amendment." The purpose of section 101.161(1) is "to provide fair notice of the content of the proposed amendment so that the voter will not be misled as to its purpose, and can cast an intelligent and informed ballot." Nevertheless, "the title and summary need not explain every detail or ramification of the proposed amendment."

In re Advisory Opinion to the Attorney Gen. re Local Trs., 819 So.2d 725, 731 (Fla.2002) (citations omitted). Section 101.161(1) also applies when amendments to the Florida Constitution are proposed. See, e.g., Advisory Opinion to the Attorney Gen. re Funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research, 959 So.2d 195, 197 (Fla.2007).

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Bluebook (online)
995 So. 2d 1051, 2008 WL 4901370, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/citizens-for-term-limits-accountability-inc-v-lyon-fladistctapp-2008.