Two Jacksonville Republicans have successfully carried three local bills to passage in the Florida House.
House Speaker Pro Tempore Wyman Duggan drove home two measures impacting Duval County, while Rep. Dean Black delivered one for Nassau.
One Duggan bill (HB 4045) would change local charter and charge the Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA) with ensuring that Cecil Airport develops and expands as a spaceport, and another bill (HB 4049) would give the Duval County School Board internal counsel.
HB 4045’s plan to “accelerate job creation” is to set up an Economic Development Committee to work toward bringing direct route international flights to the Jacksonville International Airport and to use JAA to drive more aerospace business to Cecil Field, with the committee reporting annually to that end.
It was passed without a single objection.
HB 4049 illustrated the art of compromise, with Jacksonville officials ultimately agreeing that the School Board lawyer would still be subject to the opinion of the General Counsel as binding, after City Council members balked at giving the board too much autonomy. The bill passed 108-5.
Black’s legislation (HB 4017) was also passed unanimously. It would terminate Nassau County Recreation & Water Conservation & Control Districts on the books since the 1960s, when the Legislature created them by a special act.
There is one such district in ordinance.
Though the board hasn’t done anything in 23 years, removing it from the books purportedly would reduce administrative costs, and would transfer all assets and liabilities of the district to the Nassau County Board of County Commissioners.
