(C) Florida Phoenix This story was originally published by Florida Phoenix and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . House bill: Businesses looking to stop local laws from being enacted could get a controversial tool [1] ['Mitch Perry', 'More From Author', '- March'] Date: 2023-03-20 Business interests, including the Florida Retail Federation, Associated Industries of Florida, and the Florida Realtors Association, are backing a bill that would make it easier for businesses to stop a local ordinance to go into effect. How would that be done? A business would make a legal challenge, which would result in a local government ordinance being immediately suspended. That’s a tool the businesses would like, but activists say the local community would be the losers. The legislation was approved Monday in a House civil justice subcommittee, though there would be more steps to go to reach the House floor and connect with the state Senate version. The House measure would also require a local government to prepare a business impact estimate before adopting an ordinance and would allow courts to award up to $50,000 in attorney fees to a plaintiff after determining a local ordinance is “arbitrary or unreasonable.” Critics maintain that this is another bill that would preempt local government and give control to the state. The bill sponsor, Rep. Robert Brackett, does not agree with that notion. “This bill does not stop local governments from doing anything. It simply holds them accountable,” Brackett told lawmakers on the panel. “It does not violate home rule in any way, shape or form. It simply holds them accountable if they do things that are unreasonable.” Brackett represents Indian River County and part of Brevard County and is the former mayor of Vero Beach in Southeast Florida. He insisted that he would never advocate for any legislation hurting local governments. Rich Templin, the director of politics and policy with the Florida AFL-CIO, “Governments have been taken care of in this bill and that’s good for all of us … but everyone else is losing their local government with this one bill because everybody is going to be paralyzed.” He added, “that’s why this bill has been called for two years ‘the mother of all preemptions.’” Templin was referring to a similar proposal that was sponsored last legislative session by Republican Sen. Travis Hutson, which was ultimately vetoed by Gov. DeSantis last June. Republican Sen. Jay Trumbull, who represents counties in the Panhandle, is sponsoring this year’s bill and has said that there are a number of differences with this proposal from the one that the governor rejected. Jackson Oberlink, with the progressive group Florida Rising, called the proposed legislation “an extremely overreaching state mandate.” A native of Vero Beach, he said it could make the Indian River Lagoon more vulnerable to corporate polluters in that community. “If this bill passes it would allow for big sugar, sewage companies and chemical manufactures to sue Indian River County for trying to protect the Lagoon,” he said. Democrat Kristen Arrington, representing part of Osceola County, described herself as a “big animal lover,” and asked Brackett if his bill would impact local ordinances that have enacted measures against puppy mills? Brackett said that yes, such proposals would be subject to being shut down if challenged in court. There are certain ordinances that would be exempted from the legislation. According to the House analysis, those ordinances include anything related to the issuance or refinancing of debt; anything related to compliance with a federal or state law; to budgets or budget amendments; ordinances related to procurement; ordinances required to implement a contract or agreement and emergency ordinances. A similar measure (SB 170) has already been approved in the Senate, with Orange County Democrat Linda Stewart the only member to cross party lines on that final vote. [END] --- [1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/03/20/house-bill-businesses-looking-to-stop-local-laws-from-being-enacted-could-get-a-controversial-tool/ Published and (C) by Florida Phoenix Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/floridaphoenix/