Year: 2022

In 1973, the Florida Legislature enacted the Municipal Home Rules Power Act, giving cities and counties the power to enact their own laws — unless state law overrides them.  This legislative override, or “preemption”, is either the trampling upon local rights – or – a bulwark against a patchwork of parochial laws, depending on who…

Visit full text article “Will fiscal impact statements help businesses hold local government accountable?” »

The annual assault on Florida’s popular open government laws continues this legislative session. Even as the public clamors for greater transparency and access to their elected officials and government, our own Representative, Cyndi Stevenson, has added to the problem by introducing a bill that would hide voter registration records from media and members of the…

Visit full text article “Lawmakers grapple with the cost of our obsession with privacy” »

Counties across Florida collectively bring in hundreds of millions of dollars a year in hotel bed tax revenue — but the uses for that money are limited.  Historic City News has reported when controversial organizations have used pressure locally to influence who the recipients of that money will be in St Johns County and what…

Visit full text article “Legislature considering a proposal to broaden the use of bed tax funds” »