Agency-specific duties

The Florida Board of Governors has additional public-law duties.

The Florida Board of Governors was the first agency OpenGovernment.Law audited. Public-records and open-meetings laws are the baseline, but the Board also exercises authority through a specific constitutional, statutory, and administrative-law framework.

Constitutional law

Responsibility for the whole State University System.

Article IX, section 7 of the Florida Constitution creates a single State University System governed by the Board of Governors. It directs the Board to operate, regulate, control, and be fully responsible for management of the whole system.

The Constitution identifies responsibilities that include defining each university’s distinctive mission and articulation, ensuring coordinated operation of the system, and avoiding wasteful duplication of facilities or programs.

Read Article IX, section 7
Statutory law

Specific duties of governance, compliance, and regulation.

Section 1001.705, Florida Statutes, translates the Board’s constitutional responsibility into specific duties. Among them are coordinating and operating the system, governing admissions, approving and reviewing degree programs, accounting for public funds, and complying with—and enforcing for institutions under its jurisdiction—all applicable local, state, and federal laws.

Section 1001.706 adds regulatory duties. The regulation-development process must provide public notice and an opportunity for comment, procedures to challenge unlawful regulations and unadopted statements of general applicability, emergency procedures, judicial review, and prominent website publication of the governing procedure.

Read section 1001.705Read section 1001.706
Administrative-law procedures

A public process that should leave a traceable record.

The Board’s Regulation Development Procedure turns those requirements into an identifiable sequence. It generally requires at least 30 days’ notice before adoption, amendment, or repeal; a 14-day written-comment period; filing with the Office of the Chancellor; certification of compliance; preservation of the supporting record; online accessibility; challenge procedures; emergency procedures; and appellate review.

Which duties apply depends on the action being taken and the source of the Board’s authority. The audit task is to identify the controlling layer and determine whether the public record shows that each required step occurred.

Read the Regulation Development ProcedureReturn to Extra Layers