Gil Ziffer is the newly elected 2017-2018 president of the Florida League of Cities, the organization that represents more 400 municipalities in the state. Ziffer, 60, has served on the Tallahassee City Commission since 2009 and is seeking re-election next year.
It was my honor to be elected to the Florida Legislature from 1998 to 2006. Currently, I serve proudly as the mayor of the city of Seminole. The 2017 Florida Legislature blatantly conducted a ‘war on cities.’ The home rule provision in the Florida Constitution was ignored, stomped on, mocked, and decimated. It was shocking and egregious! Home rule is the right of local self-government, including the powers to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety and welfare;…
Local control, the notion that communities should have a certain degree of “home rule” in managing its own affairs, has become one of the hot-button issues in both Florida and across the country. As part of the “ban the bag” movement, however, the rallying cry of “local control” is in danger of trivialization, made almost meaningless. On one side are organizations like American Legislative Exchange Council and the American City and County Exchange — highly regarded sister groups that list…
Home-rule advocates Campaign to Defend Local Solutions announced Monday that it is adding Mayors Against Illegal Guns and the National Black Justice Coalition as official partners. “The spectrum of voices speaking out for home rule and against heavy-handed state pre-emption continues to grow,” said CDLS campaign manager Michael Alfano. “From protecting equality laws to preventing gun violence, our partner organizations and elected officials know that the government closest to the people governs best, and we’re grateful for their efforts.” Mayors…
A bill that would roll back all local ordinances and regulations of vacation rental houses to 2011 codes got a split-vote approval Tuesday from the House Agriculture & Property Rights Subcommittee. The issue was fashioned as one pitting property rights — those of people or companies that buy houses and convert them into short-term vacation rental properties, versus those of neighbors who don’t like having small hotels pop up in their neighborhoods. Senate Bill 425, presented by state Rep. Mike…
Jennifer Webb promised that, if elected, she would file a bill to overturn a state law that prohibits cities from restricting short-term rentals. Webb did not stop on that one issue. If elected, Webb said, she would work to restore home rule, the power of a municipality to regulate issues within their borders. Many municipalities have complained in recent years that laws passed by the Florida Legislature have eroded the concept of home rule by restricting cities’ legislative powers. “It…
A House panel approved a bill Thursday morning that would reshape the timing and electorate of Florida’s local elections. The bill, PCB SAC 16-04, would preempt local authority to set the date of municipal elections, granting the ultimate say-so on when they are held to state lawmakers. Bill sponsor Rep. Matt Caldwell chairs the State Affairs Committee which passed the bill Thursday in its first stop along its way to a vote before the full House, after an hour of discussion. Debate focused on…
