COUNTY EXECUTIVE; TERMS S.B. 525 (S-1):
SUMMARY OF SUBSTITUTE BILL
IN COMMITTEE
Senate Bill 525 (Substitute S-1) (Senate-passed version)
CONTENT
The bill would amend Public Act 293 of 1966 to do the following:
-- Specify that a county executive who was elected in a county with a population of less than a million at the 2022 general November election would serve for a two-year term beginning January 1, 2023, and ending December 31, 2024.
-- Specify that a county executive in a county with a population of less than a million that was elected at the 2024 general November election and every fourth year election after 2024, would serve for a four-year term beginning on Janurary 1 following the election.
-- Require a county executive in a county with a population of less than a million that was elected concurrently with the term of office of the governor to continue be elected as such for four-year terms, if adopted by resolution by April 1, 2022.
The Act requires a county charter to provide for the election of certain officers. In a county with a population of less than 1.5 million, the charter must provide for an elected county executive who must be elected at large on a partisan basis.
Under the bill, notwithstanding any charter provision to the contrary and except as otherwise provided, if a county with a population of less than 1.0 million elected a county executive under the Act, both of the following would apply:
-- At the general November election in 2022, a county executive who was a qualified elector in that county would have to be elected at large on a partisan basis for a two-year term that would begin on Janurary 1, 2023, and end on December 31, 2024.
-- At the general November election in 2024 and every fourth year after 2024, a county executive who was a qualified elector in that county would have to be elected at large on a partisan basis for a four-year term that would begin on January 1 following the election.
If, by April 1, 2022, a board of county commissioners in a county with a population of less than 1.0 million adopted a resolution to continue to elect the county executive with the term of office of the governor, then the county executive would have to continue to be elected at large on a partisan basis for a four-year term that was concurrent with the term of the office of the governor. (Under Public Act 139 of 1973, a county executive who is a qualified elector in the county must be elected for a four-year term concurrent with the term of the county prosecuting attorney, county clerk, county register of deeds, and county drain commissioner. If a county executive is elected at an election different than the election for county officers, his or her first time must extend only until the January following the election for county officers.)