Bill Text: FL S1122 | 2024 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Protection of Historic Monuments and Memorials

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)

Status: (Failed) 2024-03-08 - Died in Fiscal Policy [S1122 Detail]

Download: Florida-2024-S1122-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2024                             CS for SB 1122
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Community Affairs; and Senators Martin and
       Yarborough
       
       
       
       
       578-03034-24                                          20241122c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to protection of historic monuments
    3         and memorials; providing a short title; creating s.
    4         267.201, F.S.; defining terms; providing legislative
    5         intent and findings; preempting regulation of
    6         specified monuments and memorials to the state;
    7         prohibiting persons and specified entities from taking
    8         certain actions relating to historic monuments and
    9         memorials on public property; requiring courts to
   10         declare certain ordinances, regulations, and rules of
   11         a local government to be invalid and issue permanent
   12         injunctions against the local government; providing
   13         that it is no defense that a local government was
   14         acting in good faith or upon the advice of counsel;
   15         providing civil penalties for certain officials who
   16         engage in certain actions; prohibiting the use of
   17         public funds to defend or reimburse unlawful conduct
   18         of certain persons; authorizing specified persons and
   19         organizations to file suit against specified entities
   20         for injunctive relief and actual damages; requiring
   21         the court to award prevailing plaintiffs specified
   22         fees and damages; providing for standing to bring
   23         civil actions; providing that a local government is
   24         liable in certain instances; requiring the state to
   25         restore or relocate a monument or memorial in certain
   26         circumstances; prohibiting the distribution of certain
   27         funding to local governments until they reimburse the
   28         state; authorizing the removal or temporary relocation
   29         of a monument or memorial only in certain instances
   30         provided certain requirements are met; requiring
   31         certain local governments to place funds in escrow for
   32         a specified purpose; specifying requirements for the
   33         siting of temporarily relocated monuments and
   34         memorials; requiring local governments to notify, in
   35         writing on a specified form, the Division of
   36         Historical Resources of the temporary relocation of
   37         certain monuments and memorials within a specified
   38         timeframe; providing that specified monuments and
   39         memorials must be placed in their original location or
   40         a location meeting specified requirements; specifying
   41         certain duties of the division and the Department of
   42         Veterans’ Affairs concerning certain monuments or
   43         memorials; providing for rulemaking; providing for
   44         retroactive application; providing for severability;
   45         providing an effective date.
   46          
   47  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   48  
   49         Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Historic Florida
   50  Monuments and Memorials Protection Act.”
   51         Section 2. Section 267.201, Florida Statutes, is created to
   52  read:
   53         267.201 Protection of historic monuments and memorials.—
   54         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   55         (a) “Department” means the Department of State.
   56         (b) “Division” means the Division of Historical Resources
   57  within the department.
   58         (c) “Historic Florida military monument or memorial” means
   59  a historic Florida monument or memorial that honors or recounts
   60  the military service of any past or present military personnel,
   61  including any armed conflict since settlers from other countries
   62  came to what is now the United States.
   63         (d) “Historic Florida monument or memorial” means a
   64  permanent statue, marker, plaque, flag, banner, cenotaph,
   65  religious symbol, painting, seal, tombstone, or display
   66  constructed and located on public property which has been
   67  displayed for at least 25 years with the intent of being
   68  permanently displayed or perpetually maintained and which is
   69  dedicated to any persons, places, or events that were important
   70  in the past or that are in remembrance or recognition of a
   71  significant person or event in state history.
   72         (e) “Local government” means any municipality, county,
   73  school district, state college, state university, or any other
   74  political subdivision of the state.
   75         (2)(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to declare void
   76  all ordinances, regulations, and executive actions regarding the
   77  removal, damage, or destruction of historic Florida monuments or
   78  memorials which have been enacted by any local government.
   79         (b) It is also the intent of the Legislature that the state
   80  act to protect each historic Florida monument or memorial from
   81  removal, damage, or destruction. The Legislature finds that an
   82  accurate and factual history belongs to all Floridians and
   83  future generations and the state has an obligation to protect
   84  and preserve such history.
   85         (c) Further, it is the intent of the Legislature to provide
   86  statewide uniformity through the division. It is also the
   87  Legislature’s intent that the division actively work to protect,
   88  preserve, and ensure that each historic Florida monument or
   89  memorial is not removed, damaged, or destroyed, regardless of
   90  the location of such monument or memorial in the state, and
   91  consult with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs on actions
   92  regarding historic Florida military monuments or memorials.
   93         (3) The state occupies the whole field of removal, damage,
   94  or destruction of historic Florida monuments or memorials to the
   95  exclusion of any existing or future local government ordinance,
   96  regulation, or rule, or any action by an elected or appointed
   97  local government official, and any such ordinances, regulations,
   98  rules, or actions are void.
   99         (4)(a) Any local government or elected or appointed local
  100  government official who violates the Legislature’s occupation of
  101  the whole field of removal, damage, or destruction of historic
  102  Florida monuments or memorials by enacting or enforcing any
  103  local ordinance, regulation, or rule impinging upon such
  104  exclusive occupation of the field shall be liable as provided in
  105  this subsection.
  106         (b) If a local government violates paragraph (a), the court
  107  shall declare the ordinance, regulation, or rule invalid and
  108  issue a permanent injunction against the local government
  109  prohibiting it from enforcing such ordinance, regulation, or
  110  rule. It is no defense that in enacting the ordinance,
  111  regulation, or rule the local government was acting in good
  112  faith or upon advice of counsel.
  113         (c) The court shall assess a civil fine of up to $1,000
  114  against an elected or appointed local government official who
  115  knowingly and willfully violates paragraph (a).
  116         (d) Except as required by applicable law, public funds may
  117  not be used to defend or reimburse the unlawful conduct of an
  118  elected or appointed local government official found to have
  119  knowingly and willfully violated paragraph (a).
  120         (e)1. A person or an organization described in subparagraph
  121  2. may file suit against a local government or an elected or
  122  appointed local government official in any court of this state
  123  having jurisdiction over the defendant to the suit for
  124  declaratory or injunctive relief and for actual damages, as
  125  limited herein, caused by the violation. A court shall award a
  126  prevailing plaintiff in any such suit:
  127         a. Reasonable attorney fees and costs in accordance with
  128  the laws of this state; and
  129         b. The actual damages incurred, but not more than $100,000.
  130         2. The following have standing to bring a civil action for
  131  any violation of paragraph (a):
  132         a. A group involved in the design, erection, or care of the
  133  monument or memorial or a member of such a group.
  134         b. A group or person regularly using the monument or
  135  memorial for remembrance.
  136         (5) If a historic Florida monument or memorial is removed,
  137  damaged, or destroyed by a local government in violation of
  138  paragraph (4)(a), the local government is liable for restoring
  139  or relocating such monument or memorial to its original
  140  condition or location or as close as possible to the original
  141  condition or location within 3 years after the date of the
  142  removal, damage, or destruction. If the local government does
  143  not have the necessary funds, the state shall restore or
  144  relocate such monument or memorial and the department shall
  145  withhold from the local government all arts, cultural, and
  146  historic preservation funding until the local government
  147  reimburses the state for the cost of restoring or relocating
  148  such monument or memorial, and all such funds shall again be
  149  available to the local government once the state is repaid. The
  150  local government may not retroactively collect any of the
  151  department funds that otherwise would have been received during
  152  the period that state funds were withheld.
  153         (6)(a) A local government may only remove a historic
  154  Florida monument or memorial temporarily due to military
  155  necessity or for any construction or infrastructure project.
  156         (b) The local government proposing to remove such monument
  157  or memorial shall put into an escrow account the good-faith
  158  estimate of the funds necessary to relocate the monument or
  159  memorial.
  160         (c) A historic Florida monument or memorial temporarily
  161  removed for such purpose shall be temporarily relocated to a
  162  site of similar prominence, honor, visibility, and access within
  163  the same county or municipality in which the monument or
  164  memorial was originally located.
  165         (d)1. A local government must provide written notification
  166  to the division, on a form prescribed by the department in
  167  consultation with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs:
  168         a. Of the temporary removal of a historic Florida monument
  169  or memorial. The written notification must be provided within 10
  170  days after the date of the local government’s decision to
  171  temporarily remove the historic Florida monument or memorial.
  172         b. That the military necessity has ceased or that the
  173  construction or infrastructure project is completed. The written
  174  notification must be provided within a reasonable time, but not
  175  more than 30 days, after the military necessity has ceased or
  176  the construction or infrastructure project has been completed.
  177         2. The historic Florida monument or memorial shall be
  178  relocated back at the original location or, if that is not
  179  possible, at a site with similar prominence, honor, visibility,
  180  and access within the same county or municipality as determined
  181  by the department after consultation with the Florida Historical
  182  Commission or, for a historic Florida military monument or
  183  memorial, after consultation with the Department of Veterans’
  184  Affairs.
  185         (7)(a) The division shall take any issue regarding
  186  protecting, preserving, or relocating a historic Florida
  187  monument or memorial to the Florida Historical Commission or, in
  188  the case of a historic Florida military monument or memorial, to
  189  the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, for a recommendation to
  190  take action, to defer making a decision, or to not make a
  191  decision.
  192         (b) The division shall make a written record of its
  193  decision to take action, to defer making a decision, or to not
  194  make a decision and the reasons therefor in consultation with
  195  the Florida Historical Commission or, in the case of a historic
  196  Florida military monument or memorial, the Department of
  197  Veterans’ Affairs.
  198         (8) The department, in consultation with the Department of
  199  Veterans’ Affairs, may adopt rules to implement this section.
  200         (9) This section applies to any monuments and memorials
  201  that have been removed, damaged, or destroyed on or after July
  202  1, 2018.
  203         Section 3. If any provision of this act or its application
  204  to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity
  205  does not affect other provisions or applications of this act
  206  which can be given effect without the invalid provision or
  207  application, and to this end the provisions of this act are
  208  severable.
  209         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.