Posted by TBG2016 on MARCH 24, 2020
When Florida governor Ron DeSantis was a member of Congress,
he told the Palm Coast Observer in 2012 that he
supports “government that is constitutionally limited to its enumerated
functions.” His recent executive order shows that he must’ve changed his
mind on that point, and now favors expansive unenumerated powers for himself.
DeSantis is now using the Covid-19 emergency to invoke powers
that the Legislature never granted him, just as St. Peterburg mayor Rick Kriseman last week invoked powers he doesn’t have. The
evidence of DeSantis’ wrongdoing can be found in the wording of his own executive
orders (EO:s).
 |
| Ron DeSantis |
When DeSantis issued his EO 20-68 on St. Patrick’s Day ordering bars
closed at 5 P.M. that day, he cited the specific power he found under chapter
252 for the governor to order the bars closed. That specific power being found
under 252.36(5).
Not so for his next executive order. DeSantis’ EO 20-69 dealing with “local government
public meetings” suspended the requirement in Florida Statutes 166.041(4) that a quorum be
physically present in order to conduct a meeting. In his EO 20-69,
DeSantis simply cited the 26,000 word chapter 252 without specific reference to
where in that chapter of Florida Statutes he found the power to do so.
In his EO 20-69, DeSantis also referenced a legal opinion from Florida attorney general
Ashley Moody. However, DeSantis never asked Moody to answer the question of
whether the governor may suspend the requirement that a quorum be physically
present, which is what his EO 20-69 does.
The question that DeSantis posed to Moody can be found in
the legal opinion, and that question was:
“Whether, and to what extent, local government bodies may
utilize teleconferencing and/or other technological means to convene meetings
and conduct official business, while still providing public access to those
meetings?”
In her opinion, Moody brought up the issue of a quorum being
physically present and concluded:
 |
| Ashley Moody |
“The nature, extent, and potential duration of the current
emergency involving COVID-19 present unique circumstances. However, without legislative
action, they do not change existing law. It is my opinion that, unless and
until legislatively or judicially determined otherwise, if a quorum is required
to conduct official business, local government bodies may only conduct meetings
by teleconferencing or other technological means if either a statute permits a
quorum to be present by means other than in-person, or the in-person
requirement for constituting a quorum is lawfully suspended during the state of
emergency.”
Notably, Moody did not say in her opinion that the governor has
the authority to suspend the quorum requirement. That was a good move, because
the governor has no authority under Florida Statutes chapter 252 to do so. The
Legislature never granted him that power, not even during a declared state of
emergency.
If courts later were to decide that the governor lacked the
authority to suspend the quorum requirement, every decision made at such
“quorumless” local government meetings will be null and void. Furthermore,
the municipalities would have to pay the legal fees of those bringing the
lawsuits should those parties prevail.
The importance of lawfully suspending the quorum
requirement is thus of great importance, and presumably why Moody said that the
quorum requirement must be “lawfully suspended.”
Media liaisons for both the governor’s office and the attorney
general’s office did not respond to our questions for this article by the
deadline we provided.
 |
| Jane Castor |
Some local government seems to approve of DeSantis action in his
EO 20-69. Tampa mayor Jane Castor incorporated EO 20-69 by reference in her
own EO 2020-03.
Everyone has the right under the Florida Constitution (Art I, sec 24(b)) to attend meetings held by
local government bodies, even and especially during a declared
state of emergency. This is because the first declared right in the state
constitution is that “all political power is inherent in the people.”
With his EO on quorums at local government meetings, DeSantis is
engaging in a 3-step shell game with the goal of carrying out an illegal power
grab. The fact that some local government agencies are supporting him for their
own bad reasons doesn’t make it any less illegal.
Governor DeSantis, a Harvard Law School graduate, knows better.
He just chooses to not govern better. “Doing what is best for the community” or
“doing whatever is takes to keep people safe” in violation of the law is just a
different form of authoritarianism.
What additional powers will DeSantis next imagine that he has?
Perhaps he will allow state and local government to raise armies and conscript
residents in to it. After all, there’s an EMERGENCY so how
could any reasonable person deny them that power?
As always….the Guardian reports
and our readers decide. Like our
Facebook page to find out when we publish articles.
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This post is contributed by the Tampa Bay Guardian. The views expressed
in this post are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of the
publisher of Bay Post Internet or any publications, blogs or social media pages
where it may appear.
Cross
Posted with permission from: Tampa
Bay Guardian
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