Revision 8: restructuring the cabinet system.

• Author: Douglass, W. Dexter
• Position: Florida Constitution Revision Commission

Ballowt Title: Restructuring the State Cabinet

Ballot Summary: Merges cabinet offices of treasurer and comptroller into one chief financial officer; reduces cabinet membership to chief financial officer, attorney general, agriculture commissioner; secretary of state and education commissioner eliminated from elected cabinet; secretary of state duties defined by law; changes composition of state board of education from governor and cabinet to board appointed by governor; board appoints education commissioner; defines state board of administration, trustees of internal improvement trust fund, land acquisition trust fund.

If you really want to have a Governor lead, you need to give that Governor the authority of the office.... "These, the words of Governor Reubin O'D. Askew, were advice given to the Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) at its opening session.(1)

Every Governor agrees that government by committee not only is inefficient, but also renders the powers of the executive branch inferior to the legislative branch in particular, and the judicial branch to a lesser extent.

Claude Kirk, Governor of Florida (1967-1971), called our current executive system "Snow White and the six dwarfs." He was mistaken. The dwarfs are really political giants by definition. Although in most instances the individual cabinet officers are dedicated public servants, they exercise control of our lives far beyond what their constitutional titles suggest.

The 1997-98 Constitution Revision Commission took the task of streamlining the executive branch of government head-on with long and arduous study and debate. The bipartisan proposal it developed in Revision 8 could improve state government by pinpointing accountability while preserving power-sharing by elected officers in the critical areas of land use, state land sales and purchases, bonding, clemency, and state law enforcement.

With sound bites daily exhorting citizens to demand "less government" and "more efficient government," it would seem this somewhat modest reform of Florida's governing branch would be a sure thing for voter approval. Yet supporters understand that it will take a concerted effort for the public to understand the history and theories involved in order to overcome opposing forces and overcome the inherent problem in obtaining a "yes" vote for a complex proposal. Opposition to change and a possible threat to interest groups and the current antipathy of the public for "faceless" government favoring election makes any meaningful reduction of this gigantic bureaucratic maze a tenuous endeavor.

The most significant reforms proposed by Revision 8 are: 1) the creation of a Board of Education appointed by the Governor, confirmed by the Senate; the Board of Education appointing the Commissioner of Education, thereby assuring the people that education will receive the total attention of those administering the school system; and 2) combining the offices of Treasurer and Comptroller into one and leaving the duties of the Secretary of State to be performed in accordance with statute. The proposals net reduction of three of the members from the Cabinet as presently constituted leaves a manageable group of three Cabinet officers with the Governor having the tie-breaking vote in a 2-2 split on collegial votes.

What is the Present Cabinet System?

Today there are six Cabinet members elected in statewide elections every four years. They are elected simultaneously with the election of the Governor. Presently, these officers are subject to the two-term limit. They are independent autonomous officers who are not answerable to any other elected official, including the Governor.

These six officers exercise two collegial, constitutionally mandated functions in concert with the Governor; namely, they sit as the Board of Education(2)...