Florida Constitutional Law in a Nutshell by Robert M. Jarvis

Author:Robert M. Jarvis
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781628102161
Publisher: West Academic
Published: 2020-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

4.Types of Laws

The Florida Legislature is authorized to pass five different types of laws: general, local, special, general laws of local application (“population acts”), and appropriations laws. As will be seen, each type of law has its own distinct constitutional requirements (although there also is a good deal of overlap).

(a)General Laws

Most of the laws now passed by the Florida Legislature are general laws (for the reasons why this is so, see the next section). Indeed, in the 2018 session, 96% of the bills filed, and 85% of the bills passed, were general law bills. As a result, a party claiming that a law is not a general law bears a heavy burden. See License Acquisitions, LLC v. Debary Real Estate Holdings, LLC, 155 So. 3d 1137 (Fla. 2014). To be procedurally valid, a general law only needs to meet the requirements contained in Art. III, §§ 6–9 (discussed above).

A general law is a law that applies uniformly throughout the state. In McConihe v. State ex rel. McMurray, 17 Fla. 238 (1879), the court explained:

334

Every law is general which includes in its provisions all persons or things of the same genus, and it is of uniform operation throughout the State, if it operates upon these persons or things equally in every locality. It is not necessary that all persons and things included in a general law should be placed precisely upon the same footing, without regard to differences in their character or capacities, provided all of the same class or kind are treated alike.

Id. at 251 (emphasis in original). See also State ex rel. Landis v. Harris, 163 So. 237, 240 (Fla. 1934) (en banc) (“A general law operates universally throughout the state, or uniformly upon subjects as they may exist throughout the state, or uniformly within permissible classifications by population of counties or otherwise, or is a law relating to a state function or instrumentality.”).

A law that singles out a specific geographic area will be deemed a general law if it serves a statewide purpose. In Schrader v. Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority, 840 So. 2d 1050 (Fla. 2003), for example, the legislature passed a law permitting local governments in Monroe County to impose stricter waste water rules than those allowed in the rest of the state. In holding that this law was a general law, the court wrote:

In sum, if a law utilizes a classification that is geographical in its terms but the purpose of the statute is one of statewide importance and impact, and the classification is reasonably related to the law’s purpose, it is a valid general 335

law. . . . In this instance, the section of the statute being challenged is part of a general statutory scheme to environmentally protect areas which have been legislatively designated as being of “critical state concern.”

Id. at 1056.

(b)Special and Local Laws

Like a general law, a special or local law must comply with the requirements of Art. III, §§ 6–9. It also, however, must comply with Art. III, §§ 10–11.

Initially, the Florida Legislature devoted most of its time to special and local laws.

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