Wire Services
A panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal will hear arguments Feb. 9 in a constitutional fight about a 2019 law aimed at making major changes in the operation of expressways in Miami-Dade County.
The Tallahassee-based appeals court issued a notice Friday scheduling the arguments in an appeal by the Florida Department of Transportation.
The law, which passed after heavy debate among Miami-Dade County legislators, called for abolishing the longstanding Miami-Dade County Expressway Authority and replacing it with a new entity called the Greater Miami Expressway Agency.
The expressway authority quickly filed a lawsuit challenging the measure. Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper in 2019 ruled that the law was unconstitutional because it violated Miami-Dade County’s home-rule powers.
The state has argued in the appeal the lawsuit should be dismissed, in part because the Miami-Dade County Expressway Authority didn’t have legal standing to file the constitutional challenge and doesn’t have power to continue the case because the authority was dissolved under the law.
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Republished with permission from the News Service of Florida.
