Rick Scott signs bill to replace General Edmund Kirby Smith statue in D.C.

A bill to remove and replace a statue of a Confederate army general is one of more than two dozen bills signed into law Thursday.

Gov. Rick Scott signed the bill (SB 310), which calls on the Department of State to select a prominent Floridian to replace General Edmund Kirby Smith’s statue in the National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C.

The move to take down the statue came after renewed debate about Confederate symbols, including its battle flag.

The law calls on the Florida Arts Council and the Department of State to estimate the costs of replacing the statue, including the costs associated with designing and creating a new statue, removing the current statue, and any unveiling ceremony.

The recommendations must be presented to Scott, the Senate President and House Speaker by Jan. 1.

Other states have replaced their state statues in the past. For instance, Arizona recently replaced John Campbell Greenway with U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater.

Don’t worry, though. The Sunshine State’s other statue — one of Dr. John Gorrie, the father of air conditioning — remains.