In Re Advisory Opinion to Atty. Gen.

819 So. 2d 725, 2002 WL 1025974
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedMay 23, 2002
DocketSC02-449
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 819 So. 2d 725 (In Re Advisory Opinion to Atty. Gen.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Advisory Opinion to Atty. Gen., 819 So. 2d 725, 2002 WL 1025974 (Fla. 2002).

Opinion

819 So.2d 725 (2002)

ADVISORY OPINION TO the ATTORNEY GENERAL Re LOCAL TRUSTEES and Statewide Governing Board to Manage Florida's University System.

No. SC02-449.

Supreme Court of Florida.

May 23, 2002.

*727 Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Louis F. Hubener, III, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, Presentor.

Robin Gibson and Kevin A. Ashley of Gibson, Valenti & Ashley, Lake Wales, FL; and Timothy McLendon, Co-Counsel, Gainesville, FL, for the Sponsor, Education Excellence for Florida.

M. Stephen Turner and Kelly A. O'Keefe of Broad & Cassel, Tallahassee, FL, for Floridians for Education Reform.

PER CURIAM.

The Attorney General has requested that this Court review a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution. Pursuant to section 15.21, Florida Statutes (2001), the Secretary of State submitted to the Attorney General an initiative petition which sought to amend the Florida Constitution to create a system of governance for the state university system. In turn, the Attorney General petitioned this Court for a written opinion as to the validity of the petition in accordance with article IV, section 10 of the Florida Constitution and section 16.061, Florida Statutes (2001). We have jurisdiction. See art. IV, § 10; art. V, § 3(b)(10), Fla. Const.

THE LANGUAGE OF THE TWOTIER STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM PETITION

The following are the ballot title and summary of the proposed amendment:

Ballot title: Local trustees and statewide governing board to manage Florida's university system *728 Ballot summary: A local board of trustees shall administer each state university. Each board shall have thirteen members dedicated to excellence in teaching, research, and service to community. A statewide governing board of seventeen members shall be responsible for the coordinated and accountable operation of the whole university system. Wasteful duplication of facilities or programs is to be avoided. Provides procedures for selection and confirmation of board members, including one student and one faculty representative per board.

The text of the proposed amendment provides:

Article IX of the Florida Constitution is hereby amended to add the following as Section 7:
TEXT: State University System.___
(a) Purposes. In order to achieve excellence through teaching students, advancing research and providing public service for the benefit of Florida's citizens, their communities and economies, the people hereby establish a system of governance for the state university system of Florida.
(b) State University System. There shall be a single state university system comprised of all public universities. A board of trustees shall administer each public university and a board of governors shall govern the state university system.
(c) Local Boards of Trustees. Each local constituent university shall be administered by a board of trustees consisting of thirteen members dedicated to the purposes of the state university system. The board of governors shall establish the powers and duties of the boards of trustees. Each board of trustees shall consist of six citizen members appointed by the governor and five citizen members appointed by the board of governors. The appointed members shall be confirmed by the senate and serve staggered terms of five years as provided by law. The chair of the faculty senate, or the equivalent, and the president of the student body of the university shall also be members.
(d) Statewide Board of Governors. The board of governors shall be a body corporate consisting of seventeen members. The board shall operate, regulate, control, and be fully responsible for the management of the whole university system. These responsibilities shall include, but not be limited to, defining the distinctive mission of each constituent university and its articulation with free public schools and community colleges, ensuring the well-planned coordination and operation of the system, and avoiding wasteful duplication of facilities or programs. The board's management shall be subject to the powers of the legislature to appropriate for the expenditure of funds, and the board shall account for such expenditures as provided by law. The governor shall appoint to the board fourteen citizens dedicated to the purposes of the state university system. The appointed members shall be confirmed by the senate and serve staggered terms of seven years as provided by law. The commissioner of education, the chair of the advisory council of faculty senates, or the equivalent, and the president of the Florida student association, or the equivalent, shall also be members of the board.

This Court issued an order permitting interested parties to file briefs on the proposed amendment, and two parties did so—Education Excellence for Florida (hereinafter "EEF") in favor of the proposed amendment and Floridians for Education *729 Reform (hereinafter "FER") in opposition to the proposed amendment.

SINGLE-SUBJECT REQUIREMENT

The first issue we address is whether the proposed amendment meets the single-subject requirement. Article XI, section 3 of the Florida Constitution provides in pertinent part that proposed amendments based on citizen initiative petitions "shall embrace but one subject and matter directly connected therewith." The single-subject requirement applies to the citizen initiative method of amending the constitution because

section 3 [citizen initiative] does not afford the same opportunity for public hearing and debate that accompanies the proposal and drafting processes of sections 1, 2, and 4. Accordingly, section three protects against multiple "precipitous" and "cataclysmic" changes in the constitution by limiting to a single subject what may be included in any one amendment proposal.

Advisory Op. to the Att'y Gen. re Fish & Wildlife Conservation Comm'n, 705 So.2d 1351, 1353 (Fla.1998).

A proposed amendment must manifest a "logical and natural oneness of purpose" in order to satisfy the single-subject requirement. Fine v. Firestone, 448 So.2d 984, 990 (Fla.1984). This determination requires this Court to consider whether the proposed amendment substantially affects separate functions of government, as well as how it affects other provisions of the constitution. See In re Advisory Op. to the Att'y Gen.—Restricts Laws Related to Discrimination, 632 So.2d 1018, 1020 (Fla.1994).

The Attorney General and FER assert that the proposed amendment substantially alters or performs the functions of multiple branches of government. Specifically, they contend that the proposed amendment substantially affects the executive and the legislative branches of government in two ways: (1) it creates a system of governance for the state university system located within the executive branch of government; and (2) it elevates the university board of trustees to a constitutional office and removes a significant portion of the Legislature's authority to enact legislation regulating the duties and responsibilities of the university boards of trustees and the statewide board of governors. We disagree.

We find the present case to be akin to Advisory Opinion to the Attorney General re Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, 705 So.2d 1351 (Fla.1998). In Fish & Wildlife,

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Bluebook (online)
819 So. 2d 725, 2002 WL 1025974, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-advisory-opinion-to-atty-gen-fla-2002.