Utility bill tacks on GRU preemption, advances to House floor

A bill pitched as tightening municipal utility service agreements advanced out of its final House stop this week with little discussion, despite a tacked-on amendment that could cement state control over Gainesville Regional Utilities’ governance.

The Commerce Committee approved HB 1451 in a sub-five-minute hearing, with no debate and no public testimony on the newly added preemption language. The bill now heads to the House floor.

Sponsored by Rep. Demi Busatta, the legislation focuses primarily on municipal utilities that provide service outside their city limits. It requires public meetings before entering or materially amending service agreements, mandates annual customer meetings and reporting to the Florida Public Service Commission, and reduces the maximum allowable surcharge on outside customers from 50% to 25%.

But an amendment adopted without objection added a separate provision stating “the subject of a regional utilities authority created by the legislature through charter amendment after January 1, 2023, is expressly preempted to the state.”

The language does not refer to Gainesville Regional Utilities by name. However, the Legislature in 2023 created the Gainesville Regional Utilities Authority through a charter amendment, transferring governance of the city-owned utility from the Gainesville City Commission to a board appointed by the Governor. No other regional utilities authority fits the narrowly tailored language.

Last year, Gainesville voters overwhelmingly approved a charter amendment seeking to dissolve the authority and restore local control.

The Authority’s response to a lopsided public rebuke has not been retreat but resistance. After voiding the first referendum on technical wording, the board faced voters again — and lost again — this time by a 3-to-1 ratio. Rather than step aside, members have cast the outcome as a challenge to state supremacy rather than a clear expression of local will.

In the three months since the vote to dissolve it, the Authority has funded a robust legal defense while floating a change to its public comment rules that would bump all speakers to the end of its meetings. The stated reason was that most are showing up to air grievances regarding the Authority’s existence and not “utility issues,” which presumes a utility’s governance structure is not a utility issue.

The change would effectively make the back half of Authority meetings a siesta for members, who have become increasingly intractable and at times outright combative. At a recent meeting, Director David Haslam called a commenter “borderline arrogant” and invited him to have a direct conversation with “a police officer there” after adjournment.

Meanwhile, the Authority cannot resolve basic bonding issues unless the City Commission they regularly spurn approves a resolution voiding the will of the voters. If the Commission does not, GRU CEO Ed Bielarski said the Authority will need to increase rates.

The increase would be in addition to the repeated fuel cost surcharge hikes. Though tied to market-driven natural gas prices outside the Authority’s control, it previously credited itself for lowering utility bills when natural gas prices fell.

Returning to Tallahassee, the newly adopted amendment to HB 1451 would greatly limit or foreclose local efforts to alter the governance structure established by the Legislature.

The amendment was offered by Busatta, a Coral Gables Republican, and adopted without objection. There was no Committee debate on the preemption clause and no discussion referencing Gainesville or the GRU Authority.

Only one speaker, Rebecca O’Hare on behalf of the Florida League of Cities, waived in opposition to the amended bill. No public testimony was taken on the preemption language itself.

After adoption of the amendment, the Committee quickly advanced the bill. Democratic Reps. Christine Hunschofsky, Gallop Franklin and Michelle Rayner were the only dissenting votes.

Under the amended bill, municipalities operating water or sewer utilities in another municipality through a treatment plant in that municipality would be barred from charging higher rates to those customers than they charge inside their own boundaries. The measure also establishes expanded reporting requirements for municipalities that provide utility services outside city limits and requires the Public Service Commission to compile and submit annual reports to the Governor, the Senate President and House Speaker.

The preemption clause stands apart from those operational and reporting provisions.

House Commerce was the final stop for HB 1451 ahead of the chamber floor. A Senate companion measure has also reached the floor of that chamber. If enacted, the preemption provision would take effect immediately; the broader bill’s effective date is July 1.