The Florida Cabinet is a body of the

government of Florida The government of Florida is established and operated according to the Constitution of Florida and is composed of three branches of government: the executive branch consisting of the governor of Florida and the other elected and appointed con ...

comprising the attorney general, the

commissioner of agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

, and the chief financial officer that engages in the collective governance of the state.

History

Created following

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

, when there had been a widespread distrust of the governors appointed by the federal government, the cabinet was originally designed to decentralize authority from the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

. Thus, until January 7, 2003, Florida was unique among states in that its cabinet consisted of six independently elected members who each held an equal vote with the state governor in executive decisions. The original Cabinet positions were: * Attorney General *

Commissioner of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

* Commissioner of Education * Comptroller * Secretary of State * Treasurer/Insurance Commissioner/Fire Marshal In 1998, Florida voters voted to amend the

Florida Constitution The Constitution of the State of Florida is the document that establishes and describes the powers, duties, structure, and function of the government of the U.S. state of Florida, and establishes the basic law of the state. The current Constitu ...

to shrink the Cabinet to its current three members. This amendment took effect in 2003, following the 2002 election. Under the reforms adopted, the secretary of state and education commissioner became appointed officials under the governor who would oversee their respective agencies, while the positions of the comptroller and the treasurer/insurance commissioner/fire marshal were combined into the new position of the

chief financial officer of Florida The chief financial officer of Florida is an elected statewide constitutional officer of Florida. The office was created in 2002 following the 1998 reforms of the Florida Cabinet. The CFO is a combination of the former offices of comptroller and ...

. The Cabinet also lost its control over the Florida Department of Education: management of K–12 education and community college education which was shifted to the new

Florida Board of Education The Florida Board of Education, also known as the State Board of Education (SBE), is a committee composed of members appointed by the Florida governor to guide and direct the public K-12, community college and state college education in the U.S. ...

and management of the State University System of Florida to the new

Florida Board of Governors The Florida Board of Governors is a 17-member governing board that serves as the governing body for the State University System of Florida, which includes all public universities in the state of Florida. After its predecessor, the Florida Board of ...

. Some environmental policy powers of the Cabinet were shifted to other officials as well. The reforms were seen as ways to strengthen the power of the governor.

Composition

The meetings of the Cabinet are chaired by the

, currently

Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 46th governor of Florida since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, DeSantis represented Florida's 6th district in the U.S. House of Repres ...

, and include these officers: *Chief Financial Officer

Jimmy Patronis Jimmy Theo Patronis Jr. (born April 13, 1972) is an American politician serving as the chief financial officer of the state of Florida. He was previously a member of the Florida House of Representatives representing the 6th district, which includ ...

*Attorney General

Ashley Moody Ashley Brooke Moody (born March 28, 1975) is an American attorney and politician serving as the Florida attorney general since January 2019. During her tenure as Florida attorney general, Moody has supported lawsuits to invalidate the Affordable ...

*Commissioner of Agriculture

Nikki Fried Nicole Heather Fried ( ; born December 13, 1977) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 12th Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, Florida commissioner of agriculture from 2019 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United Sta ...

Each member is popularly elected statewide and carries one vote in executive decisions. In the case of a tie, the vote cast by the governor decides the outcome.Article IV, Section 4(a), Florida Constitution.

Agencies

The governor and Cabinet serves as the board of directors of several state agencies and during their bi-weekly meetings discuss agency business and make policy decisions for the agencies. The governor and Cabinet, all statewide officials, also oversee the separate offices and agencies under their departments. The governor and Cabinet oversees the following agencies: *State Board of Executive Clemency *State Board of Administration (excluding the commissioner of agriculture) *Division of Bond Finance *

Department of Veterans' Affairs Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...

*Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles * Department of Law Enforcement *Department of Revenue *Administration Commission *Florida Land and Water Adjudicatory Commission *Electrical Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Board *The Board of Trustees Internal Improvement Trust Fund *Financial Services Commission

Aides

The governor and each member of the Cabinet has an office dedicated to Cabinet affairs. These offices are headed by a chief Cabinet aide, who is assisted by other aides. The week prior to a Cabinet meeting, the Cabinet aides meet to discuss the agenda and to conduct preliminary discussions on a variety of issues slated to come before the full Cabinet. Cabinet aides' meetings are considered an important part of the Cabinet process.

Notes

External links