TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A bill on the table of the Florida Legislature could lead to local governments being hit with lawsuits from businesses within their communities.
SB 620, which is sponsored by St. Augustine Republican Sen. Travis Hutson, would allow businesses to sue local governments if their ordinances lead to a loss of revenue or profits. In order to sue, businesses have to have been operating for at least three years and suffer at least a 15-percent loss of revenue or profits because of local laws.
However, the bill does provide exemptions for orders or declarations passed because of an emergency, The St. Augustine Record reports.
"Elected officials will hopefully see the…harm they could potentially cause to a business, and then they would weigh those decisions," Hutson told the newspaper.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 7-4 to approve the proposal, which is filed for the 2022 legislative session.
“What we need to make sure of is that our local governments don’t destroy our business,” Senate President Wilton Simpson said via the Orlando Sentinel. “They want to take people’s rights and businesses away from them. We’re not going to let them.”
Critics of the bill, like Seminole County Commissioner Lee Constantine, feel it could hinder the ability of elected officials to address the needs of their communities.
“This bill, in essence, takes away our legislative powers ― what we’re voted to do, just like you are, to take care of local problems,” Constantine told the St. Augustine Record.
Sen. Tina Polsky, a Democrat from Boca Raton, told the newspaper SB 620 "is just a carte blanche ability to sue local government over something that a business doesn’t like."
