TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Local governments in Florida will be severely limited when issuing emergency orders in the future under legislation moving quickly through the State Capitol.
Under the bill, emergency orders issued by local governments that limit church services, business operations, travel and firearm purchases would all be limited to seven-day durations. The legislation does, however, allow these orders to be renewed up to six times, or 42 days.
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“Before this bill will pass, an executive order locally could be ordered from a city manager, someone who isn’t even elected,” said State Rep. Bob Rommel, the bill’s House sponsor. “At least now, it’s going to have to be ordered from someone who’s elected by the people. Going to have to be short duration, and it’s going to have to apply equally to every single person.”
But despite the proposed limitations having the backing of Gov. Ron DeSantis, the measure has drawn criticism from the Florida League of Cities, which said the renewal period wouldn’t work in the event of an emergency.
“What if your entire infrastructure is down? It doesn’t make sense,” Scott Dudley, the director of legislative affairs for the Florida League of Cities, said. “This is an unnecessary restriction.”
For his part, DeSantis said there needs to be a check at the state level against measures imposed by local governments.
“They should not be able to close things down,” the governor said.
Besides DeSantis, the bill has the support of legislative leaders, including House Speaker Chris Sprowls.
“There should be an opportunity for the Legislature to invalidate a particular order, whether that’s local or state level,” Sprowls said.
State Rep. Anthony Sabatini, who fought mask mandates at every level at the height of the pandemic, voiced his support, too.
“I think this is the best and most important bill filed this year,” Sabatini said.
Not every lawmaker is on board with the legislation, though.
“I couldn’t disagree with Representative Sabatina more,” State Rep. Dan Dailey said. “I think Apopka is not Pensacola, is not Miami Beach, is not Coral Springs. And we need to stop regulating what local governments can and cannot do.”
The Senate version of the bill calls for orders to be renewed every ten days, but right now there is no limit on the number of renewals.
The legislation also calls for emergency orders to be as least restrictive as possible.