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Liz Arnold's avatar

Seems in Tallahassee they want to do away with home rule and turn the state over to developer rule!

You didn’t mention SB 1456 where they want to limit the number of commissioners in our county to 5 by eliminating the at large commissioners and forcing all the commissioners to face an election in 2026…. Even those that were just elected.

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George W Kruse's avatar

There are A LOT of bad bills I didn’t mention. I was focused on a singular theme of growth and the ways to pay for it.

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Liz Arnold's avatar

Maybe you should make a motion to use our lobbyist to fight against both bills.

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Terry Schaefer's avatar

George,

Thank you for this posting exposing a trend state legislators pursue at the cost of local communities. Most local governments focus on the significance of Home Rule in their annual Legislative Priorities submitted to their State Delegation only to learn those legislators support bills curtailing Home Rule. The ballot box is the most expedient means to reverse the trend. Manatee County voters acknowledged this threat posed by the previous Commission and showed up to initiate change this past November. Thank you for your commitment to “we the people”.

Terry Schaefer,

Holmes Beach Commissioner

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Jim Minix's avatar

Thank you for giving your constituents a cogent & readily understandable view of what is going on in Tallahassee right now. As a former attorney for Manatee County, I am well aware of the way that the state government is undermining the traditional Home Rule powers of local government. It seems that the party of small government now controlling our legislature no longer wants to share power with its subordinate local governments with which it disagrees, particularly where it hurts the funding relationship that party enjoys with Florida developers.

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Publius's avatar

George, thank you for writing this. We need voters to reach out to our state legislators. They need to respect federalism and stay in their lane. Please tell me some of our local State Senators and Reps aren't supporting these bills that usurp local authority.

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Jules E's avatar

1000% spot on!

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Mark's avatar

I will give Commissioner Kruse a “Second” here- he’s raising the flag and ringing the alarm bell. To quote another Founding Father,

“Liberty, once lost, is lost forever"- John Adams.

Allowing our Home Rule to be usurped and controlled by distant centralized rulers in Tallahassee is the road to non-democratic socialism. It doesn’t really matter what other names they try to give it.

Mark VanDeRee

Waterline Road Preservation Group

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Lee Washington's avatar

Out here saying the quiet parts out loud! Very informative but infuriating at the same time. A lot to learn. Thnx as always.

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Florida mom's avatar

This was an amazing, easy to understand breakdown of what’s happening in our state. It’s infuriating because people are just not paying attention.

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