In Re: Amendments to the Florida Rules of Traffic Court ( 2023 )

Supreme Court of Florida
____________
No. SC2022-1276
____________
IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO THE FLORIDA RULES OF TRAFFIC
COURT.
April 27, 2023
PER CURIAM.
The Florida Bar’s Traffic Court Rules Committee (Committee)
has filed a report proposing amendments to Florida Rules of Traffic
Court 6.040 (Definitions), 6.130 (Case Consolidation), 6.445
(Discovery: Infractions Only), 6.455 (Amendments), and 6.490
(Correction and Reduction of Penalty). 1
The Committee and the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar
approved the proposed amendments. The Committee published its
proposal for comment in The Florida Bar News prior to filing it with
the Court and received no comments. After the Committee filed its
report, the Court published the proposals for comment. No
1. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const.; Fla. R.
Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin. 2.140(b)(1).
comments were received. Having considered the Committee’s
remaining proposals, the Court hereby amends Florida Rules of
Traffic Court 6.040, 6.130, 6.455, and 6.490 as proposed. 2 The
more significant amendments are discussed below.
First, subdivision (p) of rule 6.040 is amended to clarify that
“open court” proceedings may be “virtual or physical.” Next, rule
6.130 is amended to require that multiple citations arising out of
the same incident be heard together unless there is a request to
have the citations heard separately. Rule 6.455 is amended to
address an issuing officer’s voluntary dismissal of a charging
document. Finally, rule 6.490 is amended to enlarge the timeframe
during which an official may reduce a legal penalty from 60 days to
180 days.
Accordingly, the Florida Rules of Traffic Court are amended as
set forth in the appendix to this opinion. New language is indicated
by underscoring; deletions are indicated by struck-through type.
The amendments shall become effective July 1, 2023, at 12:01 a.m.
2. On our own motion, the Court severs the Committee’s
proposed amendments to rule 6.445, which will be considered in a
separate case, In Re: Amendments to Florida Rule of Traffic Court
6.445, No. SC2023-0548.
-2-
It is so ordered.
MUÑIZ, C.J., and CANADY, LABARGA, COURIEL, GROSSHANS,
and FRANCIS, JJ., concur.
THE FILING OF A MOTION FOR REHEARING SHALL NOT ALTER
THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THESE AMENDMENTS.
Original Proceeding – Florida Rules of Traffic Court
Andrew Joseph Decker IV, Chair, Traffic Court Rules Committee,
Lake City, Florida, Joshua E. Doyle, Executive Director, The Florida
Bar, Tallahassee, Florida, and Michael Hodges, Bar Liaison, The
Florida Bar, Tallahassee, Florida,
for Petitioner
-3-
Appendix
RULE 6.040. DEFINITIONS
The following definitions apply:
(a)-(o) [No Change]
(p) “Open court” means in a courtroom as provided or,
whether virtual or physical, and includes a judge’s or traffic hearing
officer’s chambers of suitable judicial decorum.
(q)-(x) [No Change]
Committee Notes
[No Change]
RULE 6.130. CASE CONSOLIDATION
When a defendant is cited for the commission of both a
criminal and a civil traffic violation, or both a civil traffic infraction
requiring a mandatory hearing and a civil traffic infraction not
requiring a hearing, the cases may be heard simultaneously if they
arose out of the same set of facts.
When a defendant is cited for more than one civil traffic
violation arising out of the same set of facts, all cases must be
heard at the same time, before the same official, absent a request
for the cases to be heard separately.
However, in no case shall a traffic hearing officer hear a
criminal traffic case or a case involving a civil traffic infraction
issued in conjunction with a criminal traffic offense.
Under any of these circumstances the civil traffic infraction
shall be treated as continued for the purpose of reporting to the
department. Prior to the date of the scheduled hearing or trial, a
defendant may dispose of any nonmandatory civil traffic infraction
-4-
in the manner provided by these rules and section 318.14, Florida
Statutes.
Committee Notes
[No Change]
RULE 6.455. AMENDMENTS AND VOLUNTARY DISMISSALS
BY ISSUING OFFICERS
(a) Amendments. The charging document may be amended
by the issuing officer in open court at the time of a scheduled
hearing before it commences, subject to the approval of the official.
The official shall grant a continuance if the amendment requires
one in the interests of justice. No case shall be dismissed by reason
of any informality or irregularity in the charging instrument.
(b) Voluntary Dismissals. Upon an issuing officer filing a
written notice of dismissal, a written request for dismissal, or a
request for dismissal made in open court, the clerk of the court
shall enter the dismissal in the court records.
Committee Notes
[No Change]
RULE 6.490. CORRECTION AND REDUCTION OF PENALTY
(a) [No Change]
(b) Reduction of Penalty. An official may reduce a legal
penalty:
(1) within 60180 days after its imposition, or thereafter
with good cause shown;
(2)-(4) [No Change]
-5-