Having been a teenager and then having parented teenagers, I remember saying and hearing the words, “Why can’t you leave me alone?” As an elected official of Stuart, I am using those same exact words when I speak to legislators in Tallahassee. Though they are not my parent and I am not their child, I do feel a certain loco parentis relationship in our respective roles. What has become one of my main responsibilities as a commissioner is making sure that the legislature does not saddle us with unfunded mandates and rules which would have an impact on the city and you.

The Florida constitution enshrines the principle of “home rule.”  It states that municipalities can write their own laws and ordinances except for taxation as long as it is constitutional and the legislature does not pre-empt the municipality’s right to do so in a matter. The legislature has no problem in using that pre-emption authority every session. Little by little, Stuart’s rights (which are your rights) to self-determination are more and more infringed upon. Instead of leaving you and me to decide the manner that we want to live our lives, state government exerts its will and its judgement over ours.

So far this session, there have been a number of bills discussed and passed in the legislature that would dictate to us when to hold our local elections and the terms of our office holders and prevent us from deciding how to best regulate rentals, cars for hire and fracking. Take a simple thing like the term of a commissioner, there is currently a bill in the legislature that would pre-empt when that term begins and ends and even when we hold our elections. Why does the legislature care what day local elections occur and the term of a commissioner?  What is the purpose except to say that Stuart and the other 410 cities in the state need the legislature’s guidance in this matter and in dozens of other matters? To the gods of Tallahassee, the charters that were approved by our voters are pieces of paper and not the will of our citizens.

In the instance of fracking, the proposed legislation would prevent a municipality from regulating the procedure. Whether you think fracking is a good or a bad thing, is it possible to have an operation with trucks streaming down our streets and using large amounts of water needed in a way that would not disturb our residents? Every time either Washington or Tallahassee passes a law that restricts what and how we can regulate on the local level, a little more of our freedom to live our lives is taken from us.

It is true that we need federal and state laws to solve problems that do cross county and municipal boundaries. We do need far away Tallahassee and Washington to pass laws to prevent the devastation of the Indian River Lagoon. Give us back the Everglades by creating a flow way south. Clean up the pollution that is or has killed our wonderful springs. Stop rewarding Big Business, Big Ag and Big Labor at the people’s expense. Don’t tax us to give incentives and subsidies to your friends and contributors. Just do the right thing on that level. Your job is to protect us from things that we cannot protect ourselves from. You are not currently doing so.

We can decide for ourselves whether we want to vote for local government in March, August, November or December. Do we want fracking, our Uber drivers to have criminal background checks, and our neighbors to be able to rent rooms in their houses on a nightly basis?  Those decisions should be our choice not your mandate. Tallahassee let my fellow citizens and I decide these things. We are your voters, citizens and tax payers…we are not your children.