Gulf of America in schools bill will set sail for Senate floor

Joe Gruters looks to make School Board races partisan again.

Though it initially hit choppy water early in the process, a Sarasota Republican’s bill to make the “Gulf of America” the standard for Florida students has cleared its final Senate committee.

Sen. Joe Gruters’ legislation (SB 1058) requiring School Boards to “adopt and acquire” materials using the Gulf of America name to “honor American greatness” advanced through the Senate Rules Committee.

Hence, the attempt to align maps and books with President Donald Trump, who decided that the Gulf of Mexico name was obsolete earlier this year, will next head for the floor.

Ahead of the vote, the committee discussed a late-filed amendment from Democratic Sen. Darryl Rouson to call the body of water the “Gulf of Americas,” which was intended to “make sure all the Americas are included.”

It turned out the proposal was an April Fools’ joke, however, and was withdrawn.

This is the second Senate bill to address the Gulf of America nomenclature, and the other one is likely headed for the floor as well.

Sen. Nick DiCeglie’s measure (SB 608), which would change 92 statutory references in Florida law to refer to the body of water along Florida’s west coast as the Gulf of America, has its final stop in Fiscal Policy Wednesday morning.

Both bills have House companions that are headed to the Special Order calendar Thursday, and reflect the pro-Gulf of America mood shared by Tallahassee Republicans.

Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson is embracing the President’s preference regarding government documents, pushing for changes on behalf of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Simpson’s goal is to rename the body of water as the Gulf of America “as quickly as possible … in all department administrative rules, forms, maps, and resources.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis was the first state official to embrace the new name in an executive order declaring a State of Emergency over a Winter storm last month. That order said the inclement weather was headed to Florida across the “Gulf of America.”

The declaration came the same day Trump made the name change official in his own executive order.

Despite the unity demonstrated by Florida Republicans, the name change has been controversial in some quarters domestically and beyond.

The Associated Press hasn’t accepted the Gulf of America designation.

“The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences,” the news organization announced last month.

The AP has not been allowed at certain White House events in the wake of its decision, as the Trump administration has stood by the renaming of the body of water.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also rejects the name change, meanwhile, with her argument predicated on the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“If a country wants to change the designation of something in the sea, it would only apply up to 12 nautical miles. It cannot apply to the rest, in this case, the Gulf of Mexico,” Sheinbaum said, as reported by NPR.