Losing Home Rule

I took the opportunity to attend the city council meeting on July 7 and intended to speak to Senate Bill 180, which Governor DeSantis recently signed into law. On its face, you might think it would be a positive effort to “streamline” some of the bureaucracy involving the planning processes here in Florida. That might be true if you didn’t take the time to dig into the new law and consider some of the other legislation presently being discussed in Tallahassee. 

Because of the turmoil created due to the issue of what appeared to be a problem with the city’s audit report and the issues surrounding some comments as part of that report, I chose to hold off on my presentation. The audit issue caused a considerable amount of unrest at that meeting and the importance of this issue would have been lost, which I didn’t want to see happen. 

I am amazed, though, that no discussions regardingthe passage of SB180 had been placed on the agenda by staff members. That issue is equally as important to the future of our island and ourcommunity, as it directly impacts an assault on home-rule and limiting the loss of control of our own destiny in the future. You must merely look north of the Jolley Bridge and up SR951 to see the effects of out-of-control development that is happening. 

Yes, the last couple of years have seen some devastating storms hitting the Florida Coasts, as well as our inland counties and communities. Those events have helped to point out some of the deficiencies in some of the building codes astheyrelates to older homes and commercial properties,which have suffered some of the most significant damage. Our hearts go out to those who have been impacted by these storms and those since Hurricane Andrew in the early 90s. We have taken those lessons seriously andaddressed a number of those deficiencies by strengthening our codes and ordinances within our communities. Those improvements can be seen as newer homes and commercial structures have weathered these storms considerably better than in the past. 

Not allofthis piece of legislation is flawed, as it addresses some items, such as better plans for cleanup after the storms, as well as other efficiencies that should help to speed up the recovery from events such as these. However, you must look further into the bill’s other potential changes that Tallahassee hid and begin to question which special interest groups may be driving those discussions.  

The fact this bill takes effect immediately is another problem I have with the legislation and the fact it reaches back retroactively, negating changes which have already been made by local governmental bodies to improve their systemsas well as limiting their ability to amend their comprehensive plans to make the necessary improvement to drainage requirements and other issues discovered as the result of these storms. These changes, which have been dictated, will result in the improved safety requirement that will, inessence,gut home rule in those communities affected. 

Local jurisdictions should not be limited in their abilities to “build back better”because of these events; however,because of this new legislation, communities will be facing the potential of expensive lawsuits from developers with a low burden of proof regardingany harm being incurred by them. In addition to a potential for increased litigation costs to the taxpayers of communities, they would also be responsible for the litigant’s expenses if they are successful in their lawsuits. This has the potential to seriously impact smaller communities and their taxpayers.  

As we look at this new law as signed by the governor,we can’t help but see that it benefits developers at the expense of communities and, therefore their taxpayers. This legislation passed the Florida Senate by a vote of37-1 and the Florida House 115-1 with a minimum of debate before being passed on to the governor’s office for his signature, which was done on June 26. 

A March 2023 story in the Daytona Beach Journal stated that 66 Florida Legislators had connections with the real estate industry in the state, of the total of 160 serving in the legislature between the Florida Senate and Florida House of Representatives. 

It is no secret that the governor has publicly been promoting the elimination of the property tax here in the state. It certainly is a popular proposal, whether it can pass muster and the impact it would have on municipalities across the state and their employees is another question yet to be determined.All this just sets one to wonder about why anyone would want to destroy home rule. 

There is no doubt in my mind that local government serves its constituents better than those hundreds or thousands of miles away, as they hear directly from their citizens regarding issues that directly affect them, such as health, safety, and local zoning and planning issues.