Resolution 086-2009
Commissioner Wigington
RESOLUTION NO. 086 - 2009
A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS OF MONROE COUNTY,
FLORIDA, OPPOSING HOUSE BILL 1121 AND
SENATE BILL 2108.
WHEREAS, House Bill 1121 and its companion Senate Bill 2108 have been
filed for the 2009 legislative session in Tallahassee; and
WHEREAS, those bills would eliminate a vital part of a system of checks and
balance:s on the court system by eli minating the position of the elected clerk and
transferring its duties and responsibilities to appointed bureaucrats in the Office of the
State C~ourts Administrator in Tallahassee; and
WHEREAS, the office of the elected Clerk of the Court and Clerk to the Board
of COUllty Commissioners was created in the 1885 Constitution as a vital part of a system
of chec]k:s and balances on both the court system and county government
WHEREAS, the Florida Legislature adopted Revision 7, Article V, to the state
ConstiuJtion, making the clerks a self-sustaining entity, funded by the fees they collect,
not by ~my state tax dollars, thereby creating an independent, sustainable funding source;
and
'WHEREAS, in FY 07-08, Clerks of Court statewide collected more that $885.5
million in filing fees, fines, court costs and other statutory fees; and
'WHEREAS, $406.5 million of the collections went to support state and local
governrnents; and
'WHEREAS, the proposed legislation would transfer the court-related services
from th.e responsibility of clerks of court to a state courts system for up to five judicial
circuits each year until all circuits have been assimilated into one state cowts system; and
~WHEREAS, the proposed state courts system would take over responsibility for
case maintenance, records management, court preparation and attendance, processing
assignmlents of cases, processing appeals, collecting the fines, fees, service charges and
court O()sts, processing bond forfeiture payments, payment of jurors and witnesses,
payment of expenses for meals & lodging of jurors, processing jurors, determining
indigent status, disposal of evidence, keeping progress dockets, and pro se assistance; and
"WHEREAS, the proposed legislation would create a new state-wide bureaucracy
to supplant the existing operations of the existing 20 judicial circuits; and
Res. OpposeHB 1121 &8B2108
Commissioner Wigington
'WHEREAS, the proposed legislation would result in new levels of bureaucracy
in which system failures are likely to occur and be much more difficult to resolve than
when some part of the existing system has a set-back, for example the failure of the state-
wide system to produce a jury pool for scheduled jury trials would be more difficult to
resolve when several levels of bureaucracy have to address it as opposed the current local
clerk's ~)ffice; and
~WHEREAS, the proposed legislation will eliminate the role of the elected Clerk
of the (~ourts and transfer hundreds of millions of dollars directly to the State Courts
Trust F1Jnd; and
~WHEREAS, the proposed legislation will result in the judges who preside over
cases atid courtrooms being in charge of the court files where their actions in cases are
documented and through which they are held accountable to the public, instead of the
current process which provides for the preservation of case files and court records by an
imparti~ll independent custodian who answers to the citizens of Florida; and
~WHEREAS, the proposed legislation would essentially amend the constitution by
legislative act by making the establishment of an elected Clerk of the Circuit Court as it
appears in the constitution meaningless; and
'WHEREAS, in expectation of the passage of the proposed legislation, a group of
state ju(lges have reportedly decided that the 16th Judicial Circuit (Monroe County) will
be among the first five circuits and a letter has been sent to the cou~ administrators of the
selected circuits advising them to begin planning the transfer; and
~WHEREAS, the threat that Monroe County will lose its elected Clerk of the
Circuit C:;ourt in favor of appointed Tallahassee bureaucrats is real and imminent; and
'WBEREAS, our court system is not just about judges, lawyers and
administrators, but were created to serve the people, and the people are best served by
officials that they elect; now, therefore
))E IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
OF MO'NROE COUNTY, FLORIDA THAT:
Section 1.
The Florida legislature is encouraged to vote against House Bill 1121 and
its companion Senate Bill 2108, and to retain the current system which
allows the voters to determine locally the person in charge of the court-
related functionS4
Section :2.
The State Constitution having established in Article V, Section 14 that the
Clerk of Courts perfonn court-related functions, any shift of those duties
away from the clerk is an issue for constitutional revision, not the Florida
Legislature.
Res. Oppose lIB 1121 & SB 2108
2
Commissioner Wigington
Section 3.
A dedicated, stable, adequate funding source for the judicial branch of
govemmen~ including Florida's state attorneys and public defenders,
needs to be finnly established through collaborative measures of the
existing Clerks of Court, Legislature, Judiciary and members of tbe
Florida Bar, and approved through constitutional amendment ifrequired to
reconcile the resulting mechanism with the existing constitution.
Section 4.
The Clerk is directed to send a copy of this Resolution to Beth Allman,
Director of Communications with The Florida Association of Court Clerks
(FACe) for further handling via allman@flclerks.com.
Pj~SSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe
County" Florid~ at a regular meeting of the Board held on the 18th day of March, 2009.
Mayor George Neugent Yes
Mayor Pro Tem Sylvia Murphy Yes
Commisioner Heatber Carruthers Yes
Commissioner Mario Di Gennaro Yes
Commissioner Kim Wigiogton Yes
A~~: DANNY L. K~LHAGE, CLERK
By:{7~~
Deputy Clerk
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
OF ~E COUNTY, FLORIDA
By: ~~.. >n~,~
Mayor
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Res. Oppose HB 1121 & SB 2108
3