Florida needs less state control and more in its home towns
The target was preemption – legislation that specifies powers reserved to the state alone and bars locally added controls.
More-frequent preemptions have centralized powers in the Florida Legislature and governor at the expense of county and city commissioners and mayors, who resent being penned into narrower roles.
Not all preemption is wrong. A long-standing prohibition on a city or county income tax, for example, seems proper in a state that has consistently avoided such a tax itself.
But local governments that feel closer to the needs of their residents lament that the state often insists on one-size-fits-all solutions to issues that may hit rural North Florida much differently than an urban metropolis like Miami-Dade County. In a long and geographically diverse state, needs often diverge.
In 2022, for example, the state preempted localities from targeting large rent jumps. Rent hikes in smaller areas at the time differed markedly from runaway rises in South Florida during the pandemic as housing demand skyrocketed with an influx of New Yorkers and others.
While Miami Today never supports rent controls, we understand why urban governments might look to such a panacea in a housing crunch. The state, however, made that option impossible, taking it off the table at a crucial time.
Beyond rent levels, the state has preempted localities from tenant protections – for example, controlling terms of evictions.
Likewise, the state has prevented cities and counties from using health and environmental controls that might be less vital in Tallahassee than Miami. For example, Florida preempted to the state alone regulation of smoking, making an exception to allow local smoking rules in public beaches or parks – but oddly preempting non-filtered cigars. Is protecting the non-filtered cigar really a state matter?
Another issue has been environmental control of throw-away plastics and Styrofoam. Waterfront communities sought controls that the legislature rejected in 2008 as it preempted local regulation of auxiliary containers, wrappings or disposable plastic bags. Then in 2016 it preempted local regulation of polystyrene products.
Likewise, the state has kept to itself the power to regulate guns and bullets, barring more stringent local controls than exist in rural counties, where hunting is a way of life and urban crime is nil.
When Key West tried to limit cruise vessels calling or the number of passengers entering the city, the state prevented it. While Miami has arms open wide for cruise ships and passengers, we appreciate why a tiny city on very limited land might not be so welcoming. The needs of the cities differ, but the state says the rules must be the same in both.
Preemptions seem tied to Tallahassee’s bias against local governments and its effort to centralize power.
For example, new Florida law allows any business to sue for damages if local legislation cuts into the business’s profits by 15% or might do so. The threat of such lawsuits can hang over governments as they try to regulate anything.
A high-profile example of state versus local power is the attack on Miami-Dade’s control of expressways that lie only within county limits. A state-created expressway board on which the governor controls most of the seats is trying to take over those tollways. That battle goes on in court.
Local governments walk on eggshells with the state because it controls funds that they need. It’s not uncommon that Miami-Dade agendas include requests to Tallahassee for money.
What was unusual last week was commissioners’ gentle pushback by passing resolutions against state controls on how the county can serve its residents’ particular needs.
A resolution by Micky Steinberg asked the legislature to adopt a bill already filed for 2024 that would remove past preemptions of local regulation of Styrofoam, disposable plastic bags and wrappers.
The other three resolutions seek to prevent future state preemptions.
One by Ms. Steinberg opposes a 2024 state bill to further preempt cities and counties from regulating short-term vacation rentals. Miami-Dade has had regulations since 2017, updated in 2020, in dealing with Airbnb and HomeAway. Ms. Steinberg’s resolution cites needs to deal with safety, security, noise, traffic and quality of life and the potential need for fines greater than the $300 that the state bill specifies.
In a third resolution, Ms. Steinberg opposes bills for 2024 that would reserve to the state the power to regulate dredging and filling. She notes current county regulations relating to dredging and filling in tidal waters of Biscayne Bay and in wetlands that protect water quality, quantity and supply. The bills, she said, would impair Miami-Dade’s efforts to protect the bay, manage stormwater and provide coastal protection against storms and sea level rise.
Finally, a resolution by Eileen Higgins opposes a state bill to preempt wage, benefit, staffing or recruitment requirements on anyone doing business with a county. The legislation cites impacts on five existing Miami-Dade programs dealing with pay, business size, hiring area for workers and employment of county residents. She noted that the state’s minimum wage is $12 and Miami-Dade’s standard is $20.34 minimum, a local premium that she fears the state legislation would eliminate. Obviously, wages in high-cost South Florida differ from more rural areas.
Needs of various areas of this growing state and its rapidly changing population mix vary vastly. The increasing efforts by Tallahassee to mold us all into a homogenous lump are misguided. Local governments know their areas’ needs better than a distant state government does and deserve the freedom to meet those needs.
The entire state would be better off for more home-town control.
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