Court rules on county judge terms.

County judges elected when voters approved a constitutional amendment extending judicial terms should keep their jobs six years, while those elected before the amendment will not have their four-year terms extended, the Supreme Court said in an advisory opinion to the Governor.

The 6-1 court said while voters were put on notice of the possibility that Amendment 7 might apply to judges appearing on the November 1998 ballot, there was no indication that the amendment would apply retroactively to judges already in office. Case no. 94,791.

"Applying Amendment 7 to those judges who began their terms on January 7, 1997, would undermine the settled expectations of both the officeholders and the people of this state, who believed that the term of office was four years," the court said in responding to a request from Gov. Jeb Bush.

In November 1998, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment to Article V, section 10, providing, in part: "The terms of circuit judges and judges of county courts shall be for six years."

The court said since the amendment did not specify an effective date, it became effective pursuant to Article XI, section 5(c), on January 5, 1999.

Four other states have considered similar cases, the court noted, and concluded that constitutional amendments comparable to Amendment 7 should be applied to the candidates who appeared on the ballots at the same time as the amendments.

"[W]e find that a candidate's right to a specified term of office accrues on the date of assuming office," the court said, adding that those county court judges whose terms began on January 5, 1999, should be commissioned for a term of office of six years to expire on January 4, 2005.

The court, however, said Amendment 7 should not be applied retroactively to those county court...