There is created a Department of Transportation which shall be a decentralized agency.(1)(a) The head of the Department of Transportation is the Secretary of Transportation. The secretary shall be appointed by the Governor and shall be subject to confirmation by the Senate. The secretary shall serve at the pleasure of the Governor.
(b)The secretary shall be a proven, effective administrator who by a combination of education and experience shall clearly possess a broad knowledge of the administrative, financial, and technical aspects of the development, operation, and regulation of transportation systems and facilities or comparable systems and facilities.
(c)The secretary shall provide to the Florida Transportation Commission or its staff, such assistance, information, and documents as are requested by the commission or its staff to enable the commission to fulfill its duties and responsibilities.
(d)The secretary may appoint three assistant secretaries, who shall serve as the Chief Operations Officer, Chief Finance and Administration Officer, and Chief Strategic Development Officer, respectively; be directly responsible to the secretary; and perform such duties as are assigned by the secretary. The secretary may also appoint an Executive Director of Transportation Technology. Such assistant secretary and executive director positions are exempt from career service pursuant to s. 110.205(2)(j) and are included in the Senior Management Service. The secretary shall designate to an assistant secretary the duties related to enhancing economic prosperity, including, but not limited to, the responsibility of liaison with the head of economic development in the Executive Office of the Governor. Such assistant secretary shall be directly responsible for providing the Executive Office of the Governor with investment opportunities and transportation projects that expand the state's role as a global hub for trade and investment and enhance the supply chain system in the state to process, assemble, and ship goods to markets throughout the eastern United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The secretary may delegate to any assistant secretary the authority to act in the absence of the secretary.
(e)Any secretary appointed after July 5, 1989, and the assistant secretaries shall be exempt from the provisions of part III of chapter 110 and shall receive compensation commensurate with their qualifications and competitive with compensation for comparable responsibility in the private sector. (2)(a)1. The Florida Transportation Commission is hereby created and shall be composed of nine members appointed by the Governor subject to confirmation by the Senate. Members of the commission shall serve terms of 4 years each. 2. Members shall be appointed in such a manner as to equitably represent all geographic areas of the state. Each member must be a registered voter and a citizen of the state. At least three members of the commission must be representatives of or possess expertise in the higher education, transportation, or workforce development industries. 3. A member of the commission shall represent the transportation needs of the state as a whole and may not subordinate the needs of the state to those of any particular area of the state. 4. The commission is assigned to the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Transportation for administrative and fiscal accountability purposes, but it shall otherwise function independently of the control and direction of the department.
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