How the Florida Cabinet Works

The Florida Cabinet is three statewide elected officers, the Attorney General, the Chief Financial Officer and the Commissioner of Agriculture (Florida Constitution, Article IV, section 4).

They act with the Governor as chair on a set of shared boards and agencies (Executive Office of the Governor, Cabinet Affairs).

Article IV, section 4 of the Florida Constitution creates the cabinet and lets the Legislature give its members further powers and duties by law; it also settles deadlocks, providing that when the Governor and Cabinet split evenly, the side the Governor voted on prevails (Article IV, section 4(a)). The Executive Office of the Governor describes the four officials together as a collective decision making body for certain state agencies, boards and commissions, and runs an Office of Cabinet Affairs that serves as liaison with Cabinet departments; its phone is 850-717-9239 (EOG Cabinet Affairs).

The State Archives' Florida Memory guide calls the arrangement unique among the 50 states: the Cabinet is made up of elected officers and designed as a collegial body, and each Cabinet officer also runs at least one executive agency of his or her own (Florida Memory, A Guide to Florida Governors and the Florida Cabinet).

In Florida the Attorney General is the chief state legal officer, the Chief Financial Officer the chief fiscal officer, and the Commissioner of Agriculture the supervisor of agriculture matters (Article IV, section 4(b) to (d)).

Florida law can carve exceptions out of that agriculture duty, since it applies except as otherwise provided by law (Article IV, section 4(d)).

The Attorney General's office also houses the statewide prosecutor, who shares jurisdiction with the state attorneys over cases spanning two or more judicial circuits and is appointed by the Attorney General from at least three nominees of the Supreme Court judicial nominating commission (Article IV, section 4(b)). The Chief Financial Officer settles and approves accounts against the state and keeps all state funds and securities (Article IV, section 4(c)). Under state law, the Department of Financial Services also contains the Financial Services Commission, created effective January 7, 2003 (section 20.121, Florida Statutes).

The Governor and the three Cabinet members jointly head a list of bodies fixed in the Constitution and the Florida Statutes, from the state land trustees to the Department of Revenue (Article IV, section 4(e) to (g); section 20.21).

Voting rules differ by body. The land trustees may not sell or dispose of state land titled to them except by a vote of at least three of the four trustees (section 253.02, F.S.). The Financial Services Commission acts by majority vote of at least three affirmative votes (section 20.121). For Veterans' Affairs, the Governor appoints the executive director subject to a majority vote of the Governor and Cabinet with the Governor on the prevailing side, plus Senate confirmation (section 20.37). The commission's Office of Insurance Regulation handles insurer licensing, rates, policy forms and solvency, and its Office of Financial Regulation covers banks, credit unions and other financial institutions (section 20.121).

Cabinet members are elected statewide to four year terms in even numbered years that are not multiples of four, and all three seats are on the November 3, 2026 general election ballot (Article IV, section 5; Division of Elections, election dates).

The Division of Elections lists the Attorney General, Chief Financial Officer and Commissioner of Agriculture among the offices to be filled in November 2026, along with Governor and Lieutenant Governor (Division of Elections, offices up for election). The new terms begin on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January of the following year (Article IV, section 5(a)). For this cycle the voter registration deadline was October 5, 2026, the deadline to request a mailed ballot is October 22, and the mandatory early voting period runs October 24 to 31 (Division of Elections, election dates).

To serve, each Cabinet member must be a Florida elector at least 30 years old who has lived in the state for the preceding seven years, and the Attorney General must also have been a member of the Florida Bar for the preceding five years (Article IV, section 5(b)). A separate term limit in Article VI, section 4 keeps anyone off the ballot for re-election to any office of the Florida cabinet if, by the end of the current term, the person will have served eight consecutive years in that office; voters adopted that limit by initiative in 1992 (Article VI, section 4(c)).

The Cabinet began informally in 1845 with three members, grew to eight in 1868, held six from 1885 until 2003, and dropped to three elected members on January 7, 2003, after a 1998 constitutional amendment (Florida Memory, Florida Cabinet guide).

Florida Memory lists the offices under each charter. The 1838 Constitution, effective 1845, had a Secretary of State, Comptroller and Treasurer; the 1868 Constitution added a Commissioner of Immigration, Attorney General, Adjutant General, Superintendent of Public Instruction and Surveyor General; the 1885 Constitution had Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, Commissioner of Agriculture, Attorney General and Superintendent of Public Instruction (Florida Memory). Under the 1968 Constitution the six were the Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner, Commissioner of Agriculture, Attorney General and Commissioner of Education (Florida Memory).

The archive notes that until 2003 Florida was the only state with a Governor plus six independently and constitutionally elected Cabinet officers, and that the offices dropped in 2003 became appointments made by the governor (Florida Memory). The history note on Article IV, section 4 lists amendments adopted in 1984 and 1986, Constitution Revision Commission Revisions 8 and 13 adopted in 1998, and Revision 5 adopted in 2018 (Article IV, section 4, history note).

Several powers of the Florida governor need Cabinet votes: pardons and other clemency need the approval of two Cabinet members, and some appointments and removals need the approval of three (Florida Constitution, Article IV, sections 6 and 8).

Article IV, section 8 lets the governor, with the approval of two members of the cabinet, grant full or conditional pardons, restore civil rights, commute punishment and remit fines and forfeitures, except in treason and impeachment cases (Article IV, section 8). Section 6 lets the Legislature require either Senate confirmation or the approval of three Cabinet members for appointment to or removal from designated statutory offices (Article IV, section 6(a)). Section 3 lets three Cabinet members start a Supreme Court review of a governor's incapacity by filing a written suggestion (Article IV, section 3).

The Constitution also fixes where the Cabinet works: Article II, section 2 makes Tallahassee in Leon County the seat of government, where the offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, Cabinet members and the Supreme Court are kept (Article II, section 2). Cabinet members are among the officers the House of Representatives may impeach by a two thirds vote (Article III, section 17).

Last verified: October 18, 2026, from Articles II, III, IV and VI of the Florida Constitution on the Senate site, five sections of the 2026 Florida Statutes, the Governor's Cabinet Affairs page, two Division of Elections pages and the State Archives Cabinet guide.