In an attempt to spur growth and presumably, economic development, Florida lawmakers passed a new growth management law.  Among other things, they wanted to waive some of the rules that require developers to pitch in and pay for their growth.
 
By way of background, for years, Florida has operated under the belief that those who profit from new growth should also be the ones who help pay for that growth.  The general notion was that this is something that taxpayers alone should not have to shoulder.
 
Many believe that concurrency requirements could help regulate growth in Florida. During the period of time when these so-called "concurrency" laws were in place, Florida grew like crazy. In the last 18 years, we added more than 5 million new residents to our state.  It should be crystal clear to anyone, that those concurrency laws did not slow or hinder Florida's growth in any way.  But nevertheless, lawmakers weakened those laws in an attempt to bring back the good old days of so-called growth and prosperity and they hoped to do that by shifting the burden of paying for growth back to, you guessed it, taxpayers.
 
But there was a wrinkle in the plan. All of Florida's 67 counties and all of Florida's 412 municipalities have passed local laws and ordinances designed to implement the pre-2008 concurrency and growth management laws.   In acknowledgement of that (and in recognition of our constitution) lawmakers put in language that clearly and appropriately states;
 
"The designation of a transportation concurrency exception
area does not limit a local government's home rule power...
"
This means that the state cannot simply undo years of local laws with the simple stroke of a pen.  State government cannot and should not be able to wipe out literally millions of hours of work, thousands of hours of testimony, and scores of separate local ordinances worked on and written by local folks who have worked hard to strike the right balance.
But some lawmakers don't see it that way.
 
They are SHOCKED, STUNNED, AND AMAZED that they can't waive a legislative magic wand from the halls of power in Tallahassee and force local governments to bend to their will and drop concurrency. Never mind that it was their will in the first place that caused these local rules to be put in place...now they just want them to go away.
 
Sorry folks...but "home rule" means just that. Home rule gives local governments the power and the authority to chart their own destiny and govern at the local level.  While the state can and should set statewide standards and craft state law that we must all abide by, there are certain aspects of the law that are best left to local governments.  Big government does not always know what is best for local citizens and big government should be limited in how much they impact local communities.
 
That is the essence of HOME RULE.
 
For sure, state lawmakers will take another swipe at this one, but for now, let us hope that "does not limit a local government's home rule power" stands as the law of the law of the land...even the local land.