By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
The work that more than a dozen local governments have undertaken over the past 15 years to combat climate change could be eliminated if legislation making its way to the floor of the Florida House gets passed into law later this year.
The proposal (HB 1217), sponsored by House Republicans Berny Jacques from Pinellas County and John Snyder from Stuart, would ban government entities from adopting or enforcing policies aimed at reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, the primary source of climate change. It would also ban them from implementing, using government funds to support, or imposing any tax or assessment to advance such policies.
“A lot of these policies will be much more costly to the consumer and to the taxpayer, especially when you’re talking about a cap and tax or cap and trade situation,” Jacques told the House Commerce Committee Tuesday. “We’re trying to mitigate any kind of costs for our constituents.”
A handful of members of the CLEO Institute, a nonprofit group advancing clean energy and community resilience across Florida, warned lawmakers it would be unwise to take away the power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from local governments — and beyond.
“I take big issue with the language of this bill when it says government entities, because that is not just speaking about county level, local level and state level,” said University of South Florida student Carolina Gutfreund. “That’s also taking into account university administrations, school districts, fire districts and police districts, and now, if this bill passes, none of those entities will be allowed to make their own policies when it comes to net-zero goals.”
Rep. Michele Rayner, D-St. Petersburg, said the language felt overly partisan, noting that the staff bill analysis describes “net-zero” policies as advancing the goals of the Paris Agreement, the international climate treaty signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2015.
Rep. Chase Tramont, R-Port Orange, responded that he’s learned a lot this session from Democrats about affordability, yet they weren’t supporting a bill that could save Floridians money.
“Here it is. This bill directly addresses the affordability crisis and the cost of living,” he said. “But, unfortunately, ideology trumps the concerns of the cost of living.”
The proposal comes nearly two years after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation declaring that the state would no longer be required to consider climate change when crafting energy policy.
The proposal passed the committee on a party-line vote, with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats dissenting, and now moves to the full House for a vote. Its Senate companion bill, however, (SB 1628), sponsored by Miami Republican Bryan Avila, still has two committee stops to go, and has not been scheduled to be heard so far in either of those committees.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: in**@************ix.com. Banner photo: Smoke streaming from a power plant in Florida (iStock image).
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