By John Haughey
The Center Square
January 31, 2020
It was Preemption Thursday in Tallahassee, as two measures cuffing local government regulatory authority were adopted by Florida House committees along partisan lines.
The House Commerce Committee, in a 15-8 vote, endorsed House Bill 3, sponsored by Rep. Michael Grant, R-Port Charlotte, sending the measure prohibiting local governments from imposing occupational licensing and business regulations to the House floor for adoption.
Meanwhile, the House Health & Human Services Committee, in a 10-6 vote, approved HB 113, which would repeal municipal ordinances regulating over-the-counter drugs and cosmetics – essentially a ban on banning sunscreens.
Sponsored by Rep. Spencer Roach, R-North Fort Myers, HB 113 is the House version of the Florida Drug & Cosmetic Act adopted as Senate Bill 172 in a 25-14 vote Wednesday night by the Senate.
The bills were spurred by the Key West City Commission’s 2019 decision to ban sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate by 2021 because they allegedly “bleach” the area’s fragile coral reef.
Sierra Club of Florida Government Affairs & Political Director Deborah Foote told the House Commerce Committee on Thursday the city banned the chemicals ”to protect their most valuable economic asset,” noting “a great deal of federal and state dollars” have been spent on restoring the reef.
“We’re in support of local communities taking local action to protect their environmental resources,” she said.
Reps. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, and Nicholas Duran, D-Miami, argued local governments should have the capacity to ban substances their constituents think are dangerous.
“This is hypersensitive local issue,” Duran said. “We have a municipality that has an intense interest in ensuring its reef maintains its integrity and continues to exist.”
Proponents say the ban is based on “junk science,” pointing to the Legislature’s Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability (OPPAGA) analysis of 18 peer-reviewed studies that showed no proof oxybenzone and octinoxate damage reefs.
“What we’re talking about here is not local control. It’s cancer,” Roach said. “I would ask you not to think of this as a preemption bill, but as a cancer-prevention bill.”
If adopted by the full House on Wednesday, the Florida Drug & Cosmetic Act could be signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis by week’s end.
Despite its pending introduction onto the House floor, HB 3 is nowhere near arriving on DeSantis’ desk. Its Senate companion, SB 1336, sponsored by Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, was tabled in its first committee hearing earlier this week. Last year, the same bill – also HB 3 – was passed by the House but never heard in a Senate committee.
HB 3 prohibits local governments from imposing new business regulations and automatically sunsets those now on the books by July 1, 2022.
The bill precludes local governments from requiring a license for painting; flooring; cabinetry; interior remodeling; driveway or tennis court installation; decorative stone, tile, marble, granite or terrazzo installation; plastering; stuccoing; caulking; canvas; awning installation or ornamental iron installation.
Under HB 3, cities and counties still could issue licenses for occupations such as plumbing, pipefitting, HVAC, electrical and alarm system trades, but cannot add new ones.
Florida League of Cities’ David Cruz said “there are preemptions in the bill that are of concern” to cities and counties, noting the bill would, for example, repeal Pensacola’s licensing of adult book stores.
Trimming occupational licensing is among DeSantis’ priorities. Nearly 30 percent of Florida’s workforce requires a license, the nation’s fourth-highest percentage and Southeast’s highest.
The measures are supported by business interests and Americans For Prosperity (AFP), which maintains licensing regulations nationwide cost 2 million jobs, $7.1 billion in “deadweight economic losses” and $197.3 billion in “misallocated resources” annually.
The Hawaiian state government understands the science behind chemicals in sunscreens that are harmful to reefs and have now banned all such substances in sunscreens. The Florida state government calls it junk science and is working to not only allow such chemicals, but taking it a step further and barring local municipalities from any regulation at all. The difference between the two states? Democrats run the Hawaiian state government, and Republicans run the Florida state government.
Well said, Mark. Profits over people’s health seems to be the mantle of the Republicans.