Joy Goff-Marcil wants voters to decide ‘home rule’ question

Joy Goff-Marcil campaigned for the state House on a promise to protect home rule. Now she’s unveiled a potential ballot measure to make it harder for state lawmakers to override local governments.

The Maitland Democrat filed a resolution (HJR 1273) to put the question to voters whether Tallahassee should preempt local legislation and hand down business regulations.

Should voters approve Goff-Marcil’s proposed constitutional amendment, it will take a two-thirds majority for the Legislature to hand down such mandates.

“Coming from local government, I’ve seen firsthand the negative impact of a state government too big and reckless in its attack on home rule,” the former Maitland City Councilwoman said.

“Local communities are already prohibited from taking on important issues from housing costs to gun-safety.”

The moves come, though, as lawmakers consider a significant amount of legislation that would overrule local sovereignty.

The state Senate just advanced a measure that could stop local jurisdictions from banning plastic straws until a five-year environmental study concludes.

After Key West introduced sunscreen regulations, state Rep. Michael Grant, a Port Charlotte Republican, proposed legislation to eliminate local business regulations altogether.

The Florida League of Cities long championed home rule. This year, the group’s legislative priorities virtually all related to that principle. From protecting the taxing authority and restoring zoning powers over marijuana dispensaries and short-term rentals, municipal officials statewide see numerous threats to autonomy.

And organizations like Equality Florida have seen Grant’s bill as a way to undo local protections for marginalized populations still ignored at the state level.

Goff-Marcil notes municipalities and counties already face prohibitions from taking action on a plethora of issues. Those include housing costs, gun control and many environmental matters.

“Our local officials serve closest to the people,” she said, “and it should take more than a simple majority of lawmakers to shut them out from the process.”

Of course, it will also take some heavy lifting at the statewide level to put such local protections in place. The Legislature will need to pass her legislation. Then the constitutional amendment would appear on the statewide ballot and voters would weigh in.

But Florida lawmakers have made it hard to change the constitution. The body in 2006 put an amendment on the statewide ballot requiring 60-percent majority supports for future revisions to pass. The measure was approved by 58 percent of the vote.