There are some stuck-up sticky-beaks who think they are too good to swim in sewage. Gov. DeSantis hopes you are not one of them.
Believe it or not, the Legislature unanimously passed a bill requiring closure of beaches and warnings when there was a lot of sewage in the water. These guys cannot unanimously agree to free drinks from lobbyists, yet they managed to get this through.
HB-165 may not be real ambitious, but at least it provides for a few basics. It requires public beach owners, such as Volusia County, to inform the Department of Health when testing shows excessive sewage. The Department of Health is required to consider closing the contaminated beaches.
There is a little ambition in the bill. It requires posting a sign when the beaches are closed due to excess sewage. That sounds like a good idea to me.
Gov. DeSantis has vetoed that bill.
Florida has a surgeon general, one Joseph Ladapo, sometimes known as Doctor Duck. Many people would not trust him to operate on a pet rock, but personally I would be comfortable having him operate on the governor.
Dr. Duck supported the veto. He said that he is “not interested in DOH having unilateral power to close Florida’s beaches.”
That seems fair. Many of us have no problem with tourists swimming in sewage. It might even help cut down on their numbers. However, there should be warnings for the locals. The law would have provided that.
The governor, in his veto message, says we should look to local governments to control the beaches. This is the same governor who, just the week prior, signed a bill barring local governments from enacting anti-bribery and
anti-stealing ordinances.
Last year, he signed a bill barring local ordinances that would require water for workers out in the summer sun. Leave that to the state health department. But this year, the state health department “should not be vested with
the power” to close polluted beaches. Trust for local government is, at best, a convenient cover in Tallahassee.
No one other than Dr. Duck should believe the governor’s home rule explanation for the veto. And when it is veto override time, we hope to predict what the Legislature will be thinking — perhaps the governor is full of something that should cause beach closures.
— Andrews is a DeLand-area attorney and a longtime government critic. For purposes of the column, he finds it convenient that there is so much government to criticize.
