CopyCited 15 times | Published | Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit | 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 23897, 1998 WL 654389
...The parties consented to proceeding before the magistrate judge. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(c).
First, Green could pay a statutory qualifying fee equal to seven and a half percent of the
annual salary for the office he sought, amounting to a $10,020 fee in 1996. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 99.092
(West Supp.1998).3 This seven and a half percent qualifying fee represented the aggregate of three
separate fees-a four and a half percent filing fee, a two percent election or trust fund assessment, and
a one percent party assessment....
...ent of the registered
Democratic voters in Florida's Tenth Congressional District. Fla. Stat. Ann. §
99.095 (West
Supp.1998).5 This petitioning alternative required 4,077 signatures. After swearing an intent to
3
Although amended in 1997, §
99.092 in 1996 provided:
Each person seeking to qualify for nomination or election to any office, except a
person seeking to qualify pursuant to §
99.095 and except a person seeking to
qualify as a wr...
...The amount of the filing fee is 4.5 percent of the annual salary of the
office.... The amount of the election assessment is 1 percent of the annual salary
of the office sought.... The amount of the party assessment is 2 percent of the
annual salary.
Fla. Stat. Ann. § 99.092 (West Supp.1998).
4
The filing fee component was divided between Florida's election campaign financing trust
fund, the state's general revenue fund, and the candidate's political party....
...While the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment were pending, the Florida legislature
reduced the statutory qualifying fee from seven and a half percent to six percent of an elective
office's salary. See 1997 Fla. Laws, ch. 97-13, § 11; Fla. Stat. Ann. § 99.092 (West Supp.1998).
This reduced the fee from $10,020 in the 1996 Congressional primary to $8016 for the 1998
primary.7 Green's amended complaint challenged this statute as applied to him in 1996 and as would
be applicable to him in the 1998 primary....
CopyCited 13 times | Published | District Court, M.D. Florida | 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10798
...om this statutory three-judge court, [1] holding unconstitutional in form and in application portions of Chapter 99, "Candidates, Campaign Expenses and Contesting Elections", Florida Statutes, F.S.A. The statutes under attack are Sections
99.021 and
99.092, Florida Statutes, F.S.A....
...es, supra. Plaintiff originally refused to sign the oath as set forth in F.S.A., Section
99.021, requiring among other things a sworn declaration of party loyalty and affiliation and payment of a 5% filing fee pursuant to F.S.A., Sections
99.021 and
99.092....
...f the 5% filing fee. Proof of an attempt to qualify was critical to the plaintiff's establishment of standing. The 5% requirement applied to the annual congressional salary of $42,500 would require that plaintiff pay a filing fee of $2,125.00. Under Section 99.092, 3% or $1,275.00 would be qualification fee, and 2% or $850.00 would be the party assessment, payable to the political party in whose primary the candidate qualifies....
...inancial ability to pay the statutory filing fees. The equal protection argument fails. See further Bodner v. Gray, supra; Gray v. Kenny, supra; Annot. 89 A.L.R.2d 864, 869 (1963). We specifically hold that the 5% of annual salary fee requirement of Section 99.092(1), Florida Stat., F.S.A., is reasonable, not arbitrary and not unconstitutional. As was pointed out by District Judge Choate in an unreported case raising a similar claim, Diffenderfer v. Porter Homer (No. 68-455-Civ-EC, S.D. Fla. 1968): "The court further notes that the fee prescribed in § 99.092 (1), supra, is reasonable....
CopyCited 3 times | Published | District Court, M.D. Florida | 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7814, 1998 WL 12666
...[2] Under the Florida election laws in place at the time, Green could have qualified for inclusion on the 1996 Congressional primary ballot in two ways. First, he could have paid a statutorily set filing fee equal to a percentage of the annual salary for the office he sought. Fla.Stat. ch. 99.092(1) (1995)....
...y restraining order but maintained his claims challenging the constitutionality of the relevant laws. During the pendency of this action, and after the parties had filed their initial cross motions for summary judgment, the state legislature amended section 99.092(1), Florida Statutes, reducing the qualifying fee from 7.5% to 6% of Congressional salary....
...Mootness and Standing The Plaintiff has standing to advance the claims asserted in the Amended Complaint. In her memorandum of law, the Defendant has not argued that Green's attack on Florida's 1996 primary ballot access laws was mooted by his participation in the relevant primary or by the amendment of section 99.092(1), Florida Statutes, nor has Defendant asserted that Plaintiff lacks standing to bring a pre-enforcement challenge to the ballot access laws currently in place and applicable to the 1998 primaries....
...didate in a primary election. As outlined above, there are two alternative ways in which a person, otherwise qualified to run for office, may be included on a primary election ballot. One way is by paying a statutorily set qualifying fee. Currently, section 99.092, Florida Statutes provides, in pertinent part, that: Each person seeking to qualify for nomination or election to any office, except a person seeking to qualify pursuant to s....
...The election assessment shall be deposited into the Elections Commission Trust Fund. The amount of the party assessment is 2 percent of the annual salary.... 1997 Fla. Laws ch. 97-13, § 11. As applied to a person seeking access to the Congressional primary ballot in the upcoming 1998 *1455 primaries, section 99.092 requires the payment of a $8,016 qualifying fee....
...equal to at least 3 percent of the total number of registered voters of the party by which the candidate seeks nomination that are registered within the district ... as shown by the Department of State for the last preceding general election. By its express terms, section
99.095 provides an alternative qualifying method to section
99.092, in that it allows a potential candidate to qualify for a primary ballot without paying any portion of the fee....
...Threshold Considerations In his Amended Complaint, Green asserts that the provisions of the Florida Statutes set forth above violate his First Amendment right to associate freely with the political party of his choice. Green also claims that sections 99.092 and .095, Florida Statutes infringe upon his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection because they impermissibly grant preferential treatment to "affluent" candidates....
...isions at issue as they applied to him 1996 and as they currently exist (Counts I, III, V, and VII). Consistent with the organization of his amended complaint, in his motion for summary judgment, Plaintiff addresses the constitutionality of sections
99.092 and
99.095 separately, thus implicitly encouraging the court to do the same....
...t. Rather, Plaintiff correctly frames the issues when, in his memorandum, he asks: can an onerous filing fee requirement be saved by a petition/signature alternative? [7] D. Plaintiff's First Amendment Claims In this case, Green argues that sections 99.092 and .095 infringe upon his right to associate with the Democratic party by unduly hindering his ability to become a primary candidate....
...Accordingly, this court must first "consider the character and magnitude of the asserted injury to the rights protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendment that the plaintiff seeks to vindicate." Id. The court agrees with the Plaintiff that sections 99.092 and .095, Florida Statutes impose obstacles to obtaining a spot on a primary election ballot....
...for Congress. Under Florida law, Green cannot become a Congressional primary candidate simply by declaring himself to be one. On the other hand, the court finds that the magnitude of this injury is moderate at worst. Again, the operation of sections 99.092 and .095 do not completely prohibit Green from exercising his right to associate with the Democratic party by becoming a candidate in its primary....
...Nevertheless, Bullock's caveat is of limited application in this case because Florida's ballot access scheme serves state interests beyond simply paying for the primary and assuring that only serious candidates appear on the primary ballot. [12] As the preamble to section 99.092, Florida Statutes states, the law is also intended to strengthen the integrity of the election process by promoting campaign finance reform and through establishing the public funding of political campaigns....
...the direct costs associated with conducting primary elections is simply wrong, while the state's explanation that the qualifying fee constitutionally "defrays" primary election expenses is dramatically oversimplified. All things considered, sections 99.092 and .095 appear to advance the state's interest in funding the state administration and regulation of elections, actually leveling the playing field between "affluent" and "non-affluent" candidates by providing for the public funding of politi...
...The Plaintiff has not even suggested that the bulk of these particular state interests are constitutionally questionable, and the court agrees with the Defendant and the Florida legislature that they are, in fact, compelling. [13] Ultimately, sections
99.092 and .095, acting in tandem, do not significantly dampen Green's right to associate with the party of his choice by seeking its nomination for Congress. The minor burdens imposed on Green are necessary and well justified by the strong interests advanced by the state in enacting sections
99.092 and .095. Accordingly, sections
99.092 and
99.095, Florida Statutes, both as they read and were applied to Green in 1996 and as currently written and applicable to the 1998 Congressional primaries, are not violative of the First Amendment. E. Plaintiff's Equal Protection Claims Plaintiff also claims that sections
99.092 and .095, Florida Statutes violate his equal protection rights because they discriminate between "affluent" and "non-affluent" candidates....
...In fact, at the hearing of the parties' cross motions for summary judgment, Plaintiff's counsel specifically stated that none of Green's claims were based on an alleged injury to the rights of voters. Thus, in deciding the motions before it, the court will not consider the impact of sections 99.092 and .095 on Tenth District Democratic voters....
CopyCited 2 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 1997 WL 765659
...unlawfully exceed the expenditure limits and false report qualifying contributions. (Footnotes omitted). At the time the action for declaratory judgment was filed, the Act provided that proceeds from filing fees and assessments pursuant to sections
99.092,
99.093,
105.031, 106.04,
106.07, and
106.29 shall be deposited *154 into the Trust Fund as designated in those sections....
...Whether, after the termination of the Election Campaign Financing Trust Fund on November 4,1996, the Division of Elections and the Secretary of State may continue to collect filing fees or elections assessments designated to the trust fund under sections
99.092,
99.093,105.031, fines and penalties designated to the trust fund under sections 106.04(8)(a),
106.07(8)(a), and
106.265, Florida Statutes, or contributions made to the trust fund under sections 199.052(14),
320.02(13),
322.08(7)(a), 327.25(11), and
607.1622(1)(h), Florida Statutes....
...Finally, we reject the appellants' assertion that the 1997 Legislature, by amending the election laws to no longer require the collection of the portion of the candidate filing fees and elections assessments earmarked for the terminated Trust Fund, has now clearly spoken. The legislature amended sections
99.092,
99.093,
105.031, 106.04,
106.07, and
106.29 by deleting the provisions transferring amounts to the Trust Fund and by reducing the fee or assessment in some cases....
...1st DCA 1997). Nothing in the majority opinion or, indeed, in Kelly should be read to suggest that an administrative agency is unable to recognize, in an appropriate case, that a later statute has modified or repealed an earlier statute. NOTES [1] Section 99.092, Florida Statutes (1995), provided that each person seeking to qualify for nomination to any office, except a person seeking to qualify by petition or as a write-in candidate, shall pay a filing fee in the amount of 4.5 percent of the...
CopyCited 1 times | Published | Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
...Green had two ways to qualify for the Congressional primary ballot.
First, Green could pay a statutory qualifying fee equal to seven and a half
percent of the annual salary for the office he sought, amounting to a $10,020 fee in
1996. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 99.092 (West Supp....
...1998).3 This seven and a half percent
1
In this opinion, “Congressional” refers to only the United States House of
Representatives.
2
The parties consented to proceeding before the magistrate judge. See 28 U.S.C. §
636(c).
3
Although amended in 1997, §
99.092 in 1996 provided:
Each person seeking to qualify for nomination or election to any office, except a
person seeking to qualify pursuant to §
99.095 and except a person seeking to
qualify as a write-in candidat...
...The amount of the filing fee is 4.5 percent of the annual salary of the
office. . . . The amount of the election assessment is 1 percent of the annual
salary of the office sought. . . . The amount of the party assessment is 2 percent
of the annual salary.
Fla. Stat. Ann. § 99.092 (West Supp....
...While the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment were pending, the
Florida legislature reduced the statutory qualifying fee from seven and a half percent
to six percent of an elective office’s salary. See 1997 Fla. Laws, ch. 97-13, § 11; Fla.
Stat. Ann. § 99.092 (West Supp....
