Do back-to-back board terms with a break in between count toward a Florida term limit?

Plain-English summary

Bay Medical Center is run as an independent special district, governed by a nine-member board of trustees who serve four-year terms. The district's charter (Chapter 2005-343, Laws of Florida) has a term-limit clause: "A person who has served two full, consecutive terms as a member of the board of trustees shall not be eligible for reconfirmation until the next regular appointment process occurring approximately 2 years after that person's termination of service." The Bay County attorney asked Attorney General Pam Bondi whether a nominee who had served one four-year term, then sat out for a year, then served a second four-year term was barred from another term.

The AG said no. The key word was "consecutive." Webster's defines consecutive as "having no interval or break: continuous." Because the nominee's two terms were separated by a one-year gap, they were not consecutive, so the term-limit clause did not apply and the person remained eligible. The AG also leaned on a long-standing principle that the right to hold office is valuable and should not be cut off without plain statutory language, and that any ambiguity in a restriction on holding office is resolved in favor of eligibility. The county commission chairman had worried that this reading lets a member dodge term limits by stepping off the board between terms, but the AG limited the opinion to the plain meaning of the charter under the specific facts presented and did not address that policy concern.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2012. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

The Bay Medical Center charter is a special act the Legislature can amend, and the district's governance structure may have changed since 2012 (the hospital was later leased to a private operator). Confirm the current charter and any amendments before relying on this analysis.

Common questions

Q: What did "consecutive" mean for this term limit?
A: The AG used the dictionary definition: "having no interval or break: continuous." Two terms separated by a one-year absence were not consecutive, so they did not trigger the charter's two-term bar.

Q: Does a break between terms reset the term-limit clock?
A: Under this opinion's reading of the Bay Medical Center charter, yes. The clause only barred someone who had served two "full, consecutive" terms, and a gap broke the consecutiveness. The AG did not opine on charters that use different wording.

Q: Why did the AG read the restriction narrowly?
A: The opinion cited the settled rule that the right to hold office should not be curtailed absent plain provisions of law, and that ambiguity in eligibility restrictions is construed in favor of letting voters and appointing bodies choose freely (Ervin v. Collins, Treiman v. Malmquist).

Q: Did the AG address whether this weakens the term limit?
A: No. The county commission chairman raised that concern, but the AG expressly limited the opinion to applying the charter's plain language to the facts presented and did not weigh in on the policy question.

Background and statutory framework

Bay Medical Center's charter is codified in Chapter 2005-343, Laws of Florida, which consolidated earlier special acts into a single charter for the independent special district. Section 3(3) sets a nine-member board with four-year terms and contains the two-consecutive-term bar at issue.

The AG applied two interpretive principles. First, restrictions on the right to hold office receive a liberal construction in favor of eligibility, citing Ervin v. Collins, 85 So. 2d 852 (Fla. 1956), Treiman v. Malmquist, 342 So. 2d 972 (Fla. 1977), and Vieira v. Slaughter, 318 So. 2d 490 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975). Second, where a statute does not define a term, its plain and ordinary meaning controls and may be found in a dictionary, citing Green v. State, 604 So. 2d 471 (Fla. 1992), and State v. Cohen, 696 So. 2d 435 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997). Applying the dictionary meaning of "consecutive," the one-year gap meant the nominee had not served two consecutive terms.

Citations and references

Session law:

• Ch. 2005-343, Laws of Fla., s. 3(3) (Bay Medical Center charter and term-limit clause)

Cases:

• Ervin v. Collins, 85 So. 2d 852 (Fla. 1956), restrictions on holding office construed in favor of eligibility
• Treiman v. Malmquist, 342 So. 2d 972 (Fla. 1977), right to hold office is valuable and not lightly curtailed
• Green v. State, 604 So. 2d 471 (Fla. 1992), undefined statutory terms take their plain dictionary meaning
• State v. Cohen, 696 So. 2d 435 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997), same

Source

• Landing page: https://www.myfloridalegal.com/ag-opinions/public-officers-terms-of-office-special-districts
• Original PDF: https://www.myfloridalegal.com/print/pdf/node/1610

Original opinion text

Mr. Terrell K. Arline

Bay County Attorney

840 West 11th Street

Panama City, Florida 32401

RE: PUBLIC OFFICERS – TERMS OF OFFICE – SPECIAL DISTRICTS – TERM LIMITS – BAY MEDICAL CENTER – reappointment eligibility of individual who has served two four year terms with a break of service of one year between terms. Ch. 2005-343, Laws of Fla.

Dear Mr. Arline:

On behalf of The Honorable George B. Gainer, Chairman of the Bay County Board of County Commissioners, you ask the following question:

Under the provisions of Chapter 2005-343, Laws of Florida, may a person who has served two four-year terms on the Board of Trustees of Bay Medical Center, separated by a one-year absence, be reconfirmed to another four-year term?

In sum:

An individual who has served one four-year term, followed by a one-year absence, then served another four-year term has not served two consecutive, full four-year terms which would render him or her ineligible for reappointment to the board.

Chapter 2005-343, Laws of Florida, codifies all previously enacted special acts relating to the Board of Trustees of Bay Medical Center (board) and provides a single comprehensive charter for the independent special district which was previously created.[1] The charter provides that the board shall consist of nine persons, each appointed to serve four-year terms.[2]

Relative to your question, the act states:

"A person who has served two full, consecutive terms as a member of the board of trustees shall not be eligible for reconfirmation until the next regular appointment process occurring approximately 2 years after that person’s termination of service."[3] (e.s.)

You state that recently a nominee was presented for consideration who has served one four-year term as the county commission’s appointee, followed by a one-year absence, then reappointed by the medical staff as its appointee to serve another four-year term. The member has now been nominated to serve another four-year term. Counsel for the special district has opined that the nomination may go forward because the member has not served two full, consecutive terms. The chairman of the county commission, however, is concerned that such a construction of the special act weakens the term limit provisions, by allowing a member to serve numerous terms by leaving the board between terms. This opinion is expressly limited to a consideration of the application of Chapter 2005-343, Laws of Florida, under the specific facts presented in your inquiry.

It is a generally established principle that the right to hold office is a valuable one which should not be curtailed in the absence of plain provisions of law.[4] If ambiguity exists in construing provisions limiting the right to hold office, those provisions should be construed in favor of eligibility.[5]

The plain language of section 3(3) of Chapter 2005-343, Laws of Florida, however, states that a person must serve two, full consecutive terms before becoming ineligible for consideration to fill another term of office for a period of two years. It is a general rule of statutory construction that in the absence of a statutory definition, the plain and ordinary meaning of words can be ascertained if necessary by reference to a dictionary.[6] The term "consecutive" is defined as "having no interval or break: continuous."[7] In the instant inquiry, the individual has served one four-year term with a break of one year before serving a second term. Under such facts, it does not appear that the individual has served two "consecutive" terms.

Accordingly, it is my opinion that an individual who has served one four-year term, followed by a one-year absence, then served another four-year term has not served two consecutive, full four-year terms which would render the individual ineligible for reappointment to the board.

Sincerely,

Pam Bondi

Attorney General

PB/tals

[1] Section 1, Ch. 2005-343, Laws of Fla.

[2] Section 3(3), Ch. 2005-343, Laws of Fla.

[3] Id.

[4] See, e.g., Op. Att'y Gen. Fla. 71-324 (1971). And see Treiman v. Malmquist, 342 So. 2d 972 (Fla. 1977); Ervin v. Collins, 85 So. 2d 852 (Fla. 1956) (statutes and constitutions imposing restrictions upon the right of a person to hold office should receive a liberal construction in favor of the right of the people to exercise freedom of choice in the selection of officers); Vieira v. Slaughter, 318 So. 2d 490 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975), cert. denied, 341 So. 2d 293 (Fla. 1976).

[5] Ervin, supra at 856.

[6] See Green v. State, 604 So. 2d 471, 473 (Fla. 1992); Plante v. Department of Business and Professional Regulation, 685 So. 2d 886 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996); State v. Cohen, 696 So. 2d 435 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997).

[7] Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1981, unabridged), p. 482.