DeSantis, let local leaders protect puppies — and people
OK, Gov. DeSantis. It’s time for you to take a stand.
Are you with the puppies, or against them?
We’ll admit it: We’re picking puppies to lead this parade because, well, they’re puppies. County and city commissioners aren’t nearly as cuddly, and their spouses tend to object if you try. But governor, you can protect them, too.
Most importantly, you can protect the taxpayers who fund local governments with taxes on their homes and other property. You can make sure their money goes to things they really need: Police and fire protection, decent roads, libraries and parks — dog parks, even. For the puppies.
All it would take is one little veto.
The right instinct
Those of you who aren’t Ron DeSantis might wonder what we’re talking about. We know the governor knows.
As Orlando journalist Jason Garcia pointed out last month, the governor’s staff reached out to the sponsor — in clout, if not in name — of a really harmful bill that DeSantis knew would be headed his way for his signature. The governor’s inquiry was narrowly focused: Could we leave the puppies out of this?
But the bill (SB 620) is focused on profits, and puppies can be quite profitable. This legislation — decried by local-government groups as well as environmentalists and animal-protection organizations — is meant to discourage local city and county officials from approving new rules that could make local business leaders lose money. It doesn’t matter if the new rule is meant to benefit the public, or make a community a better place to do business overall. If a local government action — or even a voter-approved amendment — costs any business at least 15 percent of its profits, the business can sue for damages and attorneys’ fees.
This new legislation doesn’t grant carte blanche to file suit. This bill wouldn’t protect businesses against planning and zoning decisions. Business owners also wouldn’t be allowed to sue over local rules created to deal with emergencies, or budget decisions, or contracts with state or federal governments. They couldn’t bring suit over existing regulations and they would only gain the right to sue after doing business in a city for three years.
Still, we can think of lots of local decisions that could be weighed down by the threat of a lawsuit — such as a noise ordinance that forced some bars to cancel live entertainment, restrictions on neighborhood-disrupting vacation rentals or new rules governing how much strip-club dancers are allowed to take off.
Or a ban on for-profit sales of puppies and kittens — similar to the one Orange County and at least a dozen other Florida counties have already put into effect. The goal is to shut down the number of pets coming into Florida from so-called “puppy mills,” which often breed pedigreed dogs and cats under high-stress circumstances, resulting in animals with genetic defects and other serious health conditions.
Only one big pet-store chain still sells dogs and cats for profit in Florida— Petland, which lobbied hard against Orange County’s ordinance and tried to convince lawmakers to pass a new bill that would shut down existing pet-protection ordinances and block new ones. Campaign finance records show that, in the current cycle, businesses with names including the word “Petland” have made $261,000 in contributions to various candidates.
Politics or protection?
One of them is Senate President Wilton Simpson, who made passage of SB 620 his top priority — and who declined the governor’s request to exempt ordinances that protect animals.
The bill passed, and it landed on DeSantis’ desk Friday.
Now the governor has a decision to make, and we think it’s an easy one: Veto this bill. Doing so won’t cost local business owners any of the clout they already have in their communities, and it won’t send local cities and counties on a regulatory rampage. But it will protect local officials when they’re caught between a corporate bottom line and changes that will make local communities safer, neighborhoods more livable — and pets happier and healthier.
Protect the puppies and the people win too. Sounds like an easy decision.