50 years of Home Rule in Florida: Proof that one size does not fit all
When you soon go to the polls, as I hope
of you will, it will mark the 50th anniversary of when Florida voters gave Florida’s local governments Home Rule authority. And for most voters they would say, “So what? What does that mean to me?” In reality, it means everything. You see, before the voters decided to grant Home Rule authority in 1968, your local governments could do only what the Florida Legislature said they could do. All decisions regarding your cities and towns were in the hands of the Legislature. State lawmakers would decide what was best … and they met for a few months once a year in Tallahassee. And when Florida voters approved the Constitutional Amendment and said their local governments knew what was best for their communities, it did not end there: It went to the Florida Supreme Court. The first case discussing the 1968 amendment significantly narrowed the amendment’s application and suggested that, unless a city’s action was clearly reasonable, any dispute regarding the action should be resolved against the local government.
What a tremendous setback to the people who worked to pass this constitutional amendment. And who would define “reasonable”? And all action “should be resolved against the local government”? That clearly was not the will of the people.
On the heels of this decision, five years later, the Legislature enacted the Municipal Home Rules Power Act, now codified in Chapter 166 of the Florida Statutes. The MHRPA guarantees that “local governments retain governmental, corporate, and proprietary powers to enable them to conduct municipal government, perform municipal functions, and render municipal services. This power may not be curtailed
(Reference Florida Bar Journal June 2009 Volume 83 Number 6).
But the key to our local government’s ability to represent our residents’ best interests came down to a simple sentence:
And every year, the Florida Legislature works to curtail, limit and take away local governments’ authority to protect their communities, to preserve their communities, and do the job for which they were elected.
At the time the Florida voters passed the Home Rule Constitutional amendment, I don’t think they had any idea what would transpire in 50 years. I’m sure, for them, it made sense. After all, why shouldn’t their cities and towns have the ability to pass their own laws? But look what has transpired since.
Every year the Legislature tries and sometimes sadly succeeds in taking away
authority to self-govern. In this last session, you had legislators work tirelessly to dictate when you could hold your local elections, decide what trees can and cannot be removed in your city, and they tried to take away your city’s right to regulate vacation rentals. They tried to dictate what businesses can operate in your cities and tried to end the use of Community Redevelopment Areas that are used to reinvest tax dollars to remediate blighted areas. Downtown Winter Garden and Cranes Roost in Altamonte Springs are examples of what these cities have been able to do with CRAs.
Home Rule has allowed your local government to respond quickly to the constantly changing world we live in. When internet gambling establishments started popping up, local governments passed ordinances regulating and controlling them, protecting our citizens. It took local governments months to do what it took years for the state to do.
Another issue that local governments led the charge on was pill mills. Local government passed ordinances in a matter of months. How many lives were saved?
Today every local elected official, municipal staff member and attorney knows Chapter 166. It allows your local government to decide what is best for you as a citizen. It gives local government the authority to decide how your local community is run.
That is why it is vital that all Floridians continue to stay vigilant and demand that home rule be honored. You see one size does not fit all. It is preposterous to think that the rules for business and residents in St. Augustine would be the same as rules for Miami or Orlando.
Home Rule has allowed as a resident to have a say in the way your town is developed. Is a 50-foot building too high for your town? You had a say. Was an adult club appropriate for your community? You decided. Was a 2,500-unit residential community in a rural area that had no infrastructure compatible with your city’s plans? You had your voice heard. Not Tallahassee.
When you go to the polls in November, think about your grandmothers and grandfathers, moms and dads and all the people who thought this was a pretty good idea and voted to pass this constitutional amendment. It wasn’t just a pretty good idea. It was an idea that changed Florida’s landscape, Florida’s livelihood and, most important, Florida’s present and Florida’s future. A half of a century can make all of the difference in the world – or at least – all of the difference in Florida.