TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – With supporters saying Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith is not the best person to represent Florida, the state Senate on Thursday approved a plan to replace a statue of Smith at the U.S. Capitol.
Each state is allowed two statues in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall, and Florida has long been represented by statues of Smith and John Gorrie, widely considered the father of air conditioning.
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Senators voted 33-7 on Thursday to approve a bill (SB 310) that would start a process to replace the Smith statue.
Under that process, a committee would recommend three prominent Floridians as potential replacements, and the Legislature would pick one whose statue would be placed in the hall.
The bill drew debate Wednesday on the Senate floor, though it passed quietly Thursday.
Sponsor John Legg, R-Trinity, recounted taking students to the U.S. Capitol in 1999 and receiving questions about why Smith's statue represented Florida.
"We should find a way to preserve history but yet place someone at the Capitol that may be more reflective of, I believe, the values that we hold dear in this state," Legg said Wednesday.
But Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, questioned the removal of the statue of the Civil War general.
"Help me understand how that would not fall in the category of revisionist history,'' Hays said.
A House version of the bill (HB 141), filed by Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, R-Miami, has been approved by three committees and is ready for the House floor.