{The Detail Podcast embedded below. It was originally the sole intent of this post but then I started typing…}
Recently on Facebook, I posted about the unfortunate signing of Senate Bill 180. I commented about how destructive it will be to home rule and sensible growth. What was otherwise a very solid bill to manage post-storm emergencies was hijacked as a trojan horse to carry this terrible language:
It’s the verbatim language that can be found in Senate Bill 250 from 2023, which has caused Manatee County to (*temporarily*) delay reinstating your wetlands, removing Policy 2.1.2.8 and finalizing the thoughtful updates to the Comprehensive Plan. It’s also being insinuated that some may try to use the language to fight against mandatory neighborhood meetings for developers and for increasing impacts fees to where they should have been for years. All because unelected agency bureaucrats are “interpreting” the language differently than how our elected representatives are “implying” it’s intended to be.
Rest assured, the Manatee County BOCC is proactively working to continue moving ALL of these publicly-demanded, and Board-approved, policies forward in spite of the new, potentially-unconstitutional, statutes. We WILL make these happen.
My post was picked up by various news sources and some even implied that a single post caused $4 million in appropriations to be vetoed in Manatee County. However, I’d like to think the Governor of the 3rd largest State has thicker skin than to veto funding for our veterans and our parks over a social media post from a random commissioner of the 15th largest County.
Considering all of our vetoed appropriations combined could have been funded for what it will cost to operate an internment camp in the Everglades for five and a half days (3,000 beds x $245/day), I’m sure there were other reasons for the vetoes. Unfortunately, line item vetoes do not require justification or explanation to those affected so we’ll just have to try again next year.
As an aside, if the State of Florida has had the ability and the funds all along to construct housing for 3,000 people in eight days, that would be REALLY helpful as we are discussing homelessness and our crushing housing affordability crisis. I think the State needs to rethink priorities here. Build strained counties 3,000 housing units for our homeless, our teachers, our first responders, and you can call it whatever the hell you want and collect political donations through t-shirt sales via text message all day long!
(Ironically, $1 million of our vetoes was to go toward Fresh Start to house the homeless. Maybe we should have said it was going to “house” farm workers currently aiding our local agriculture industry to provide food locally so farmers don’t have to sell their land to developers…Unless that outcome is a feature and not a bug.)
Last Thursday, I went on
podcast on WSLR in Sarasota to discuss Senate Bill 180, its implications and current politics in general.You can listen to the full podcast below.
You can already start to see the immediate impacts of this bill and its predecessor throughout the state. One example is below.
Article (7/3/25): State law forces Punta Gorda to repeal new development rule https://www.gulfshorebusiness.com/punta-gorda-ldr-repeal-2024
Before I finish, I want to touch on the end of the podcast regarding those in Tallahassee who voted for this bill. The comments from the host, as well as comments online, have implied that some red line should be drawn for those voting in favor of removing development home rule. While I fundamentally, and vocally, disagree with the language in SB180, and believe it to be incredibly damaging to local community governance, I disagree with this red line premise.
SB180 was approved in the Senate and the House by a combined, bipartisan 140-1. This bill was structured to pass. Much like the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” in Washington DC last week, it was intentionally presented with enough good stuff they couldn’t vote against layered on top of some real crap no rational person would vote for if presented alone.
DC should have never run OBBB as a single bill but they knew they needed the tax cuts in order to pass the garbage and the economically insane parts that will inevitably bankrupt our future, both financially and morally.
Tallahassee should have never run SB180 as a single bill but they knew they needed the emergency protocols and improvements in order to pass the theft of home rule and the take over of virtually all future development oversight.
I won’t villainize a representative over one vote because they cast hundreds, if not thousands, of votes each session. It’s folly to insist that any delegate agrees with, and votes in accordance with, 100% of my views - just as it’s impossible for me to vote 100% of the time with your views.
Do I believe there are elected officials at the state and the federal levels who need to be voted out and replaced with representation that focuses more on those they vowed to represent? I certainly do. However, I make those decisions based on the collective service they have, or have not, provided to their constituents.
Asking for perfect fealty from our delegates is no better than what you see the parties doing at the state and federal levels - and that’s what is breaking our system. In DC, if you didn’t vote for the OBBB, you were threatened with being primaried. That threat is usually effective (unless you’re from Kentucky) because of the loyalty they demand, the uni-party duopoly at all levels of government today and the insane amount of money flowing into races to ensure those in elected positions do as their party leadership demands.
These votes - at the state level for SB180 and at the federal level for just about everything they do - are why we need to get our primaries fixed, get excess money out of politics, and get parties that actually represent the peoples’ interests over maintaining their own party control.
We need to be more proactive when we know what we’re against and compel those in Tallahassee to look out for our interests. Manatee County became a highly-educated electorate on local issues. We saw the outcome of that in 2024. Now it’s clearly time to become highly-educated, and hyper-focused, on state issues. That’s where the power and the control is concentrating.
I fortunately hold a position that gives me a voice. Yet, when we’re elected, they ask us to sit quietly and go-along to get-along or risk scorn, a primary and maybe even $4 million in lost appropriations. Too many elected officials shrink from their duties.
I will not sit quietly.
We won on getting the Agricultural Enclave language killed earlier this session. And we will win on Senate Bill 180 when we work together as a community to fight back.
I will continue to be outspoken and tell them, publicly and privately, what I think about their misguided policies when they affect your lives and our collective home rule!
But as I’ve said before, I will continue to attack the policy but I will not attack the person.
These three bills (SB 250, HB 1C and SB 180) have sickened me. They have effectively tied our hands from making our codes stronger for a more resilient community. And possibly in perpetuity. Imagine that this happened after Andrew, from which the Florida Building Code came about, making many changes towards resiliency. But more could always be done for the safety, health and welfare of the citizens if state would just let the locals who know their communities do their job.
Mr. Kruse, thank you. As a resident of Manatee County, I applaud your efforts to bring some long-overdue perspective to our Board of County Commissioners.