Fights over control and ‘home rule’ flare up again
Bills preempting local laws on employment advance through legislative committees
TALLAHASSEE – Cities and counties with ordinances on employment standards, occupational licenses or banning potentially environmentally harmful sunscreens could soon see those laws wiped out by state lawmakers.
Three bills preempting those regulations to the state advanced through legislative committees during the first week of the session. Preempting local laws is a favored tactic of some lawmakers and large businesses, which prefer not to deal with a “patchwork” of different laws in the more than 400 cities throughout Florida. It’s led to a battle each year with the Florida League of Cities and Florida Association of Counties often on the losing end.
“The real question we have to ask is, who gets to decide?” Rep. Spencer Roach, R-North Fort Myers, said while discussing one of the bills this week. “In a state with … 22 million people you simply cannot have a city-by-city, county-by-county regulatory framework. And if you do that you will not be able to attract and retain capital in the state of Florida.”
Lawmakers have already preempted local ordinances on tobacco products, guns and employment benefits. Cities can’t
pass laws banning Styrofoam or plastic bags in grocery stores either.
Gov. Ron DeSantis gave local governments a small reprieve last year when he vetoed a bill barring local governments from banning single-use plastic straws, writing in his veto message the bans haven’t “frustrated any state policy or harmed the state’s interests.”
But this year’s crop of preemption bills line up with part of DeSantis’ agenda, including his push to reduce business regulations and occupational licensing requirements.
Rep. Michael Grant, RPort Charlotte, is the sponsor of HB 3, which would prevent local governments from passing new occupational licensing requirements after July 1, and phase out all existing local ordinances by July 1, 2022. The state already has license requirements for many of the occupations involved and some trades, such as plumbing, pipe fitting, electricians, alarm system installers, would be exempt, so local governments could still require licenses for them.
In explaining the bill before the House Business and Professions Subcommittee on Wednesday, Grant echoed DeSantis’ remarks during the State of the State speech, saying, “You shouldn’t need a permission slip from government to pursue your occupation.”
Lobbyists for the Florida League of Cities and the Florida Association of Counties pushed back, claiming the measure could have unintended consequences. Panama City’s requirements for landscapers applying fertilizer to go through training and certification would go away. So would Pensacola’s permitting for “adult-type stores and entertainment,” League of Cities lobbyist David Cruz said.
Furthermore, Florida AFL-CIO legislative and political director Rich Templin said, removing local licenses will lead to depressed wages and reduce standards that could hurt consumers.
“This will create a laissez-faire, Wild West structure across the state that we believe is dangerous for workers, dangerous for consumers and bad for business owners,” Templin said. “Licenses are not permission slips. Licenses show that you have the skills the training and can command the wages that you deserve for that license.”
The bill passed on a 12-2 vote.
Another bill, HB 305, would further restrict local employment laws. State law already prevents cities and counties from imposing a minimum wage — although they can set one for their own employees — or from requiring employers offer sick leave or other benefits. The bill would prevent cities and counties from setting requirements on pre-employment screenings, job classifications or placing caps on work hours.
Roach said local caps on the hours low-wage workers can work in a given week, usually passed to prevent burnout in grinding jobs involving physical labor, actually hurt employees. He worked extra hours as a waiter when he first entered the workforce to get ahead.
“If we allow this kind of predictive scheduling that has been allowed in other places, you’re going to lock minimum wage employees out of the first rung of the opportunity ladder and prevent them from climbing up that ladder, and that’s not fair to them,” Roach said.
HB 305 passed on a 9-5 vote with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed.
In the Senate, another committee passed SB 176, which would bar local governments from regulating over-the-counter cosmetics, but the main aim of the bill is to remove Key West’s ban on certain types of sunscreen that contain chemicals that could harm coral reefs.
Bill sponsor Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, disputes that claim, and said Florida residents and tourists need access to all types of sunscreen to prevent cancer. The bill passed on a 12-4 vote, with two Democrats joining Republicans supporting the measure.
Even though some Democrats approved the preemption bills, the tactic is a frequent complaint among other Democrats who bemoan the erosion of local government powers.
“We don’t like it when people tell us what to do and I don’t think we ought to be telling them what to do,” said Rep. Loranne Ausley, D-Tallahassee, during discussion of HB 305.