Title
A Resolution Of The City Commission Of The City Of Hollywood, Florida, Honoring Fifty Years Of Municipal Home Rule In The Florida Constitution And Committing To An Educational Initiative To Help Floridians Understand This Beneficial Right.
Body
Staff Recommends: Approval of the attached resolution
Explanation:
Florida’s voters placed municipal Home Rule powers into the Florida Constitution on November 5, 1968, during the regular elections as an amendment to Article VIII. This power has enabled each city, town and village across the Sunshine State to consider, adopt, revise or remove its own laws without the need to seek legislative permission from the state and has further served as the foundation upon which every municipality builds its governmental structure.
The political climate within the Florida Legislature has recently included many attacks on these powers. There are grassroots measures calling such actions wrong and declaring that local decisions be made at the local level by local officials must continue so that all legislators clearly understand Florida’s Home Rule as a constitutional power and one upheld in state statutes.
A 50th anniversary is a fitting time for all municipalities to engage their respective citizens to educate them about the Florida Constitution and local laws, so that all Floridians may continue to receive the many benefits of Home Rule.
Recommended for inclusion on the agenda by:
Dr. Wazir Ishmael, City Manager
Adam Reichbach, Assistant City Manager for Finance & Administration
Lorie Mertens-Black, Chief Civic Affairs Officer
Patricia Cerny, City Clerk