Monument proposal moves ahead in House

Rep. Dean Black, R-Jacksonville [flhouse.gov]

The Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 17 voted 14-5 along party lines in support of a proposal (HB 455) that prevents local governments from passing their own rules on removing historic monuments or memorials.

 A similar measure in the Senate (SB 496) has yet to appear before a committee.

Under the bill, monuments and historic markers that have been up at least 25 years on public property are protected.

“Historic markers” are defined as any permanent statue, marker, plaque, flag, banner, cenotaph, religious symbol, painting, seal, tombstone or display put up on public property for at least 25 years and depicts a person, place or event considered significant in state history.

“History belongs to every Floridian, every single one of us,” said bill sponsor Rep. Dean Black, R-Jacksonville. “And when some locality or municipality damages that history, every Floridian is harmed, not just the residents of that locality.”

When asked if the military service of an individual depicted by a statue or monument would be limited to the U.S. armed forces, Black responded that it could be for a “service in any armed conflict.” Black later acknowledged that could include the Confederate Army.

Davie Democratic Rep. Mike Gottlieb said the language is so broad that schools named after an individual could face a lawsuit if a portrait or memorial to the campus namesake was moved.

The bill would direct courts to invalidate local ordinances on the removal of memorials and allow civil fines of up to $1,000 to be imposed on officials that allow the markers to be removed or damaged. It also would allow civil lawsuits against local governments and officials, with a cap of $100,000 in damages.

The proposal was first introduced after numerous controversies in recent years in Florida and other states about removing historic markers. Many of the targeted monuments honored members of the Confederacy and are considered a product of the “Jim Crow” system in the late 19th and early 20th centuries where racial segregation and discrimination laws and policies were directed against African Americans.

Similar efforts to supersede local government authority on monuments and memorials failed after appearing before committees in the 2023 and 2024 sessions.

The 2024 legislative effort was scuttled after Republican lawmakers criticized supporters speaking on behalf of the proposal who cited a need to protect “white culture” and “white supremacy.”