CopyCited 18 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 1998 WL 233507
...less than the maximum for the office (five million dollars for governor and two million for a cabinet member) is entitled to receive matching funds from the state, on a one-to-one basis, for each contribution less than two hundred and fifty dollars. Section 106.32, Florida Statutes, created the Election Campaign Financing Trust Fund which served as a repository for public funds received from various sources to be used for public campaign financing....
...The circuit court upheld the Florida Election Campaign Financing Act by severing the Election Campaign Financing Trust Fund from the remainder of the Act. The court reasoned that the termination of the trust fund did not render the Act inoperative, because section 106.32, Florida Statutes, contains its own authorization for the financing of election campaigns through the state's general revenue fund....
...ted from the general revenue fund, the 1997 amendment to section
215.3206(2) has no effect on Commissioner Brogan's entitlement to public campaign financing. As the supreme court held in Republican Party of Florida v. Smith,
638 So.2d 26 (Fla.1994), section
106.32(1) of the Florida Campaign Finance Law contains its own appropriation of funds for public campaign financing....
CopyCited 4 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida | 19 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 224, 1994 Fla. LEXIS 624, 1994 WL 149669
...Julian Clarkson and Scott D. Makar, Jacksonville, amici curiae for Chesterfield Smith and Raymond Ehrlich. Timothy J. Warfel, Tallahassee, amicus curiae for Kenneth L. Connor. HARDING, Justice. We have for review a trial court order upholding the constitutionality of section 106.32(1), Florida Statutes (1991)....
...ng immediate resolution by this court. Republican Party of Fla., et al. v. Jim Smith, etc., et al., No. 94-403 (Fla. 1st DCA Feb. 23, 1994). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(5), Fla. Const. We affirm the trial court's order because we find that section 106.32(1) provides a valid appropriation....
...The Act was designed to encourage people who are not independently wealthy to run for statewide office and to make candidates less beholden to special interest groups. §
106.31, Fla. Stat. (1991). The Legislature created the Election Campaign Financing Trust Fund (Trust Fund) to finance the Act. See §
106.32, Fla. Stat. (1991). In 1986 the Legislature appropriated $3 million to the Trust Fund. Before the Legislature amended section
106.32 in 1991, the Trust Fund was to be financed by legislative appropriation....
...the election of the Governor and Cabinet, additional funds shall be transferred to the Election Campaign Financing Trust Fund from general revenue in an amount sufficient to fund qualifying candidates pursuant to the provisions of ss.
106.30-106.36. §
106.32(1), Fla. Stat. (1991). (Emphasis added.) The Republican Party of Florida filed suit in August 1993, asking the circuit court to find that section
106.32(1) is (1) not a lawful appropriation and (2) unconstitutional. The Party also asked the trial court to enjoin the appellees from enforcing or using section
106.32(1) as a financing source for the Trust Fund....
...After hearing arguments on cross-motions for summary judgment, the circuit judge granted the appellees' motion for summary judgment and denied the appellants' motion. In the final judgment rendered on February 1, 1994, the trial judge's conclusions included: 3. The use or meaning of the word "transferred" in §
106.32, Fla. Stat., is ambiguous. 4. That the Legislature intended to provide funds to the Election Campaign Financing Trust Fund in an amount sufficient to fund qualifying candidates pursuant to the provisions of §§
106.30-106.36, Fla. Stat. 5. That §§
106.32(1) and
106.35, Fla....
...Stat., constitute the consent of the public to expend public funds and consequently constitute a valid appropriation made by law. 6. That the use of a formula in an appropriation rather than the use of a specific dollar amount or a specific funding source is a valid appropriation. 7. Sections
106.32 and
106.35, Fla....
...deciding how, when, and for what purpose the public funds shall be applied in carrying on the government." State ex rel. Kurz v. Lee,
121 Fla. 360, 384,
163 So. 859, 868 (1935). The Republican Party makes much of the fact that the 1991 amendment to section
106.32(1) replaced the word "appropriate" with "transferred." The Party argues that a "transfer" is not an "appropriation," so money cannot be released from the general revenue fund....
...The words "appropriate" and "transfer" have similar meanings. When viewed in the context of this statutory scheme, the Legislature's use of the word "transferred" does not render this funding mechanism invalid. The Republican Party also argues that "transferred" as used in section 106.32(1) does not meet the statutory definition of appropriation....
...An appropriation bill is one the primary and specific aim of which is to make appropriations of money from the public treasury.
481 So.2d at 1214 (quoting Bengzon v. Secretary of Justice,
299 U.S. 410, 413,
57 S.Ct. 252, 254,
81 L.Ed. 312 (1937)). The Act at issue here is one of general legislation; section
106.32(1) is simply a section that makes an appropriation. Thus, section
106.32(1) is not an "appropriations act," but an act of substantive legislation that also contains an appropriation....
...These sections adequately specify, control, and limit the funds transferred. We also find without merit the Republican Party's argument that an itemization requirement in the Florida Constitution applies to this Act. Article III, section 19(b) does not take effect until July 1, 1994. Section *29
106.32(1) was enacted in 1991, so the Legislature was not bound by the itemization requirement. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's order and hold that section
106.32(1) is a valid appropriation from the general revenue fund if necessary to fund the Act. It is so ordered. OVERTON, McDONALD, SHAW and KOGAN, JJ., concur. GRIMES, C.J., concurs with an opinion. GRIMES, Chief Justice, concurring. Under section
106.32(1), Florida Statutes (1991), the amount of money which will have to be transferred from general revenue in any given election year cannot be determined until the expenditures of all qualified candidates have been tabulated. From a fiscal standpoint, this strikes me as a dubious method of underwriting the public financing of elections, but I cannot say that it is unconstitutional. NOTES [1] §§
106.30-.36, Fla. Stat. (1991). [2] Two provisions of section
106.32 provided for financing the Trust Fund through proceeds from candidates' filing fees and through assessments on contributions to political parties and political committees. §§
106.32(2), (3), Fla. Stat. (1991). In State v. Republican Party,
604 So.2d 477 (Fla. 1992), this Court struck down the assessments required by section
106.32(3) because they violated the First Amendment....
CopyCited 2 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 1997 WL 765659
...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. [1] §
106.32(2) & (3), Fla....
...of a violation of chapter 106, and that any civil penalty collected shall be deposited into the Trust Fund. The legislature also provided for voluntary contributions to the Trust Fund. [2] In addition to these sources of funding for the Trust Fund, section 106.32(1) provided: ......
...imply results in the Trust Fund's moneys being moved into General Revenue for accounting purposes.... The continued legislative purpose of providing public campaign financing can reasonably be accomplished by using the valid appropriation set out in section 106.32(1) to provide the amount of funds certified by the Secretary of State from General Revenue to eligible candidates, without the trust fund acting as a `middle-man.'" *157 The trial judge noted that resolution of whether the Secretary ha...
...We also reject the appellants' argument that the trial judge's holding violates the doctrine of separation of powers. The appellants argue that under the trial judge's holding, potentially millions of dollars in public funds will be paid directly from the general revenue fund pursuant to section 106.32(1) without legislative debate or approval. The appellants contend the appropriation contained in section 106.32(1) is to the Trust Fund, and that when the Trust Fund terminated the appropriation terminated with it....
...lars were paid directly from general revenue pursuant to the formula provided in chapter 106, without legislative debate or approval. [3] The trial judge's interpretation of the phrase "income of the trust fund" allows the appropriation contained in section 106.32(1) to continue to be operational....
...istration of the program. Section
106.22, Florida Statutes (1995) gives the Division authority to "[e]mploy such personnel or contract for such services as are necessary to adequately carry out the intent of this chapter." Additionally, interpreting section
106.32(1) as continuing to provide a valid appropriation, the Division has the same statutory authority it has always had to obtain budget authority to pay for expenses in administering the public campaign financing program....
...the Florida Election Campaign Financing Act, §§
106.30 et seq., Fla. Stat. (1995), or change the economics of the program established by the 1991 amendments to the Act. Ch. 91-107, § 19, at 892, Laws of Fla. Our supreme court's determination that section
106.32(1), Florida Statutes (1991), effects a valid appropriation "each year in which a general election is to be held for the election *160 of the Governor and Cabinet," §
106.32(1), Fla. Stat. (1991), dictates the result in the present case. Republican Party of Florida v. Smith,
638 So.2d 26,28 (Fla.1994) ("section
106.32(1) is simply a section that makes an appropriation"). "Section
106.32(1) was enacted in 1991, so the Legislature was not bound by the itemization requirement [adopted as article III, section 19(b) of the Florida Constitution, effective July 1, 1994.]" Smith,
638 So.2d at 28-29 (Fla.1994)....
...otor vehicle, applying for a driver's license, registering a boat, or filing an annual report for a corporation may make a voluntary contribution of $5. [3] In Republican Party v. Smith,
638 So.2d 26 (Fla.1994), the supreme court found that sections
106.32(1) and
106.35 constituted the consent of the public to expend public funds and consequently constituted a valid appropriation made by law....
