20.052 Advisory bodies, commissions, boards; establishment. - Florida Statutes

20.052 Advisory bodies, commissions, boards; establishment.

Each advisory body, commission, board of trustees, or any other collegial body created by specific statutory enactment as an adjunct to an executive agency must be established, evaluated, or maintained in accordance with the following provisions:

   (1) It may be created only when it is found to be necessary and beneficial to the furtherance of a public purpose.

   (2) It must be terminated by the Legislature when it is no longer necessary and beneficial to the furtherance of a public purpose. The executive agency to which the advisory body, commission, board of trustees, or other collegial body is made an adjunct must advise the Legislature at the time the advisory body, commission, board of trustees, or other collegial body ceases to be essential to the furtherance of a public purpose.

   (3) The Legislature and the public must be kept informed of the numbers, purposes, memberships, activities, and expenses of advisory bodies, commissions, boards of trustees, and other collegial bodies established as adjuncts to executive agencies.

   (4) An advisory body, commission, board of trustees, and other collegial body may not be created or reestablished unless:

   (a) It meets a statutorily defined purpose;

   (b) Its powers and responsibilities conform with the definitions for governmental units in s. 20.03;

   (c) Its members, unless expressly provided otherwise in the State Constitution, are appointed for 4-year staggered terms; and

   (d) Its members, unless expressly provided otherwise by specific statutory enactment, serve without additional compensation or honorarium, and are authorized to receive only per diem and reimbursement for travel expenses as provided in s. 112.061.

   (5)(a) The private citizen members of an advisory body that is adjunct to an executive agency must be appointed by the Governor, the head of the department, the executive director of the department, or a Cabinet officer.

   (b) The private citizen members of a commission or board of trustees that is adjunct to an executive agency must be appointed by the Governor unless otherwise provided by law, must be confirmed by the Senate, and must be subject to the dual-office-holding prohibition of s. 5(a), Art. II of the State Constitution.

   (c) Unless an exemption is otherwise specifically provided by law, all meetings of an advisory body, commission, board of trustees, or other collegial body adjunct to an executive agency are public meetings under s. 286.011. Minutes, including a record of all votes cast, must be maintained for all meetings.

   (d) If an advisory body, commission, board of trustees, or other collegial body that is adjunct to an executive agency is abolished, its records must be appropriately stored, within 30 days after the effective date of its abolition, by the executive agency to which it was adjunct, and any property assigned to it must be reclaimed by the executive agency. The advisory body, commission, board of trustees, or other collegial body may not perform any activities after the effective date of its abolition.

   (6) This section does not affect the right to institute or prosecute any cause of action by or against an abolished advisory body, commission, board of trustees, or other collegial body that was adjunct to an executive agency if the cause of the action accrued before the date it was abolished. Any cause of action pending on the date the advisory body, commission, board of trustees, or other collegial body is abolished, or instituted thereafter, must be prosecuted or defended in the name of the state by the Department of Legal Affairs.

History. s. 6, ch. 94-235.