The House State Affairs Committee is advancing two bills from House Speaker Pro Tempore Wyman Duggan that could change how government runs in Jacksonville from now on.
The next stop for each of these proposals is the House floor.
HB 4045 would change the charter of the Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA) to make it responsible for aerospace development at Cecil Airport. This one-time Navy base has been repurposed for commercial use.
JAA would have to provide an economic development plan yearly to the Jacksonville City Council as part of this deal
The Duval County School Board could have its own general counsel next year, breaking with almost six decades of precedent in Jacksonville’s consolidated government.
HB 4049 seeks a general counsel independent of the one atop local government. However, the Board lawyer ultimately would be “subject to the opinion” of the city’s general counsel, and would otherwise be subordinate in litigation and contract preparation, in a condition to which the Board agreed.
The local bill faced opposition from the Jacksonville City Council when presented for approval. Some Council members said it threatened the consolidated government model and, ahead of voting, voted against recommending the charter change to the delegation.
The controversy that a majority of the City Council couldn’t abide centered on whether DCSB could circumvent the independent authority of the city’s General Counsel.
