A proposal that seeks to expand the ability of voters to recall county officials is headed to the full Florida House.
The State Affairs Committee on Friday unanimously approved a proposed constitutional amendment (HJR 131) that would ask voters in 2024 to allow residents of every county to have recall powers.
Currently, recall efforts can occur in 20 charter counties. But recalls are not allowed in the state’s 47 other counties. County commissioners and other elected officials can be suspended by the governor and removed by the state Senate.
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“Coming from a county where we have recalled a mayor, we have recalled county commissioners, I think it’s a complete injustice that there’s other counties that don’t have the same power to do that,” Rep. Juan Alfonso Fernandez-Barquin, R-Miami-Dade County, said.
Rep. Joel Rudman, a Navarre Republican who is sponsoring the proposal, said it is about “fairness” and “holding elected officials accountable.”
The Senate version (SJR 1066) has been approved by one committee.
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