Steube: They’re your trees — not the government’s

Local tree ordinances are a direct assault on private property rights.

America’s Founders understood unmistakably that private property is the foundation, not only of prosperity, but of freedom itself. Therefore, through the common law, state law and the Constitution, they protected our property rights — the rights of people to freely acquire, use and dispose of property. Thomas Jefferson said, “The true foundation of republican government is the equal right of every citizen in his person and property and in their management.”

However, in recent years we have seen these basic rights infringed by local governments in everything from renting your property to trees.

According to the Florida Constitution, it is a basic right of all natural persons in our state to acquire, possess and protect property. (See Article I, Section 2 of the Florida Constitution.) Many cities and counties in this state require you to obtain permission from them, the government, in the form of a permit, to cut down a tree, your tree, on your property.

To me that flies in the face of your constitutional rights. As a property owner, you should not be required to obtain permission from the government — i.e., a privilege — to remove a tree, on your property. It’s your tree, not the

government’s tree. The examples of the overreach by local government are rampant; most recently I represented a client who was being fined $16,000 for cutting down a tree on private property that the municipality agreed was diseased and dying and would have been approved to be cut down — but a permit was not obtained prior to the removal, so that violated the ordinance to the tune of $16,000. What is equally fascinating is that, in some counties, you can cut down any pine tree regardless of size, but not an oak tree. I suppose pine tree lives don’t matter, but oak tree lives do matter. This is a direct assault on private property rights. I have heard from countless constituents, both in my district and around the state, who have been abused by these outrageous and unreasonable ordinances.

One citizen had to replant a tree he cut down after he sold his property and was required to maintain the tree for a year after he replanted it despite the fact he didn’t own the property any longer.

Another was told by the city to cut down a tree that had been there for over 50 years because it was an “invasive species” and the property owner was responsible for paying to cut it down and remove it; and if the property owner didn’t, he would be fined.

These examples are just a couple of the innumerable accounts from citizens across the state.

This debate has been intriguing; as the same proponents from the left who believe local governments can and should regulate trees on your private property — those same proponents of government oversight for your trees — do not believe that the government has any right to tell a woman that she cannot abort an unborn child because it is her choice. It’s a woman’s choice to have an abortion, but a woman has no choice as to whether she can cut down a tree on her property. Simply perplexing.

Outside of criminal activity, governments should not regulate what citizens can and cannot do with their own residential private property. My Senate Bill 574 — Tree and Timber Trimming, Removal and Harvesting — would prohibit municipalities, counties or other political subdivisions from prohibiting or restricting private landowners from trimming, removing or harvesting trees on the landowner’s property. My goal through this legislation is to stop the overreach of our counties and cities and return control back to the property owner pursuant to his inalienable rights provided in Florida’s Constitution.

John Adams said it best: “Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty.”