Florida Legislature Pushes for County Commissioner Term Limits

Tallahassee, Fl- Florida Senator Blaise Ingoglia (R) filed a bill in the Florida Senate that would subject county commissioners to an 8-year term limit. 

Senator Ingoglia’s bill is paralleled by Florida Representative Michelle Salzman’s (R) previously filed HB 57. 

Representative Salzman had originally filed her term limits initiative as a legislative proposal. Thus, Salzman’s proposed term limits would’ve, if approved by the legislature, appeared on Floridians’ ballots during the next elections. Floridians would then have had the opportunity to directly decide whether to impose term limits on county commissioners. 

However, Rep. Salzman swapped her legislative proposal for a bill that would directly apply term limits upon passing both chambers.

Now, if passed, Ingoglia and Salzman’s bills would bar commissioners who have, or will by the end of their term have, served eight years from applying for re-election. 

“I’m looking forward to seeing this on the 2024 ballot,” Salzman said. “The people of Florida have been asking for this opportunity to choose for a while. I fully support term limits at all levels of government.”

Ingoglia’s bill modifies Salzman’s own, however. Under Ingoglia’s legislation, county commissioners who exhaust their 8-year terms would be eligible to run for commissioner “2 years after the end date of his or her initial term.”

Term limits have also  attracted media attention at the national level.

Last month, US Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Fl) openly called for Congressional term limits. 

Representative Gaetz stated he was willing to negotiate passing a bill that would provide a 12-year term limit for representatives.