The Florida House voted to approve a bill on Tuesday that would give the state control over any utility authority created by the legislature after Jan. 1, 2023. The move would nullify the Gainesville vote asking for power over utilities to return to the city’s commissioners.
The bill will now head to the Florida Senate.
The provision, which was added as an amendment to the original House bill, essentially gives the legislature final authority over utility administration. The local governments of the applicable cities are therefore prohibited from passing laws or regulations affecting utilities.
Though Gainesville is not explicitly mentioned, the Gainesville Regional Utility authority board was appointed by the governor June 2023, making it eligible for preemption under the bill.
The bill’s purpose is to ensure people living outside a city’s municipal boundaries are not unfairly taxed, said Rep. Demi Busatta Cabrera, the bill’s author, at the Tuesday session. To do so, the bill also places a cap on how much may be charged from out-of-city customers and requires annual reports on utility rates and revenue.
“This is not about one specific utility system,” Busatta Cabrera said. “This is about many municipal utilities throughout our state that are using the utilities as their personal slosh funds, and it needs to stop now.”
The bill comes amid ongoing legal battles between the Gainesville City Commission and the GRU Authority board over referendum results. Gainesville residents voted twice to return control of regional utilities from the governor-appointed board to the city, and the GRU authority sued claiming an attempt to supersede state power.
The case reached appellate courts Feb. 10, though a decision is still pending.
Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson, whose district encompasses Gainesville, proposed an amendment during the House session to strike out the provision preempting utility authority to the state, asking the bill to move forward without it. Gainesville would be the only community impacted, she said.
Hinson emphasized the change would interfere with the proceeding court case.
“This body has long respected the idea that we do not change the law in the middle of active litigation,” she said. “We should allow the judicial process to play out.”
The late addition of the provision prohibits the “people most affected” by it from having a chance to weigh in, she added. The section was added at the final committee meeting, she said, and Gainesville residents have not had the opportunity to review it.
Hinson called for the legislature to not override the vote of the people, as expressed through the referendum results. The GRU Authority Board has “made a circus” of Gainesville utilities, she said.
“I’m not asking you to vote yes [to the amendment] because you think the GRU Authority is good or bad,” she said. “I am asking you to vote yes to let the process play out. Don’t nullify the votes of 40,000 GRU rate payers.”
Hinson’s amendment to remove the provision was rejected. The bill passed as originally written in an 81-26 House vote. It will now go to the Senate.
It is unclear at this time how its approval will impact the ongoing GRU lawsuit.
Contact Maria Arruda at marruda@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @mariazalfarruda.
Maria Arruda is a second-year journalism and political science student, currently working as the City Commission reporter for The Alligator. Previously, she reported on Student Government under The Alligator's University desk. She enjoys running, reading and going to movie theaters!
