Florida Senate passes bill preserving GRU Authority’s governance over GRU
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Senate passed an amended version of House Bill 1451 today, including a provision that prevents the City of Gainesville from regaining control of Gainesville Regional Utilities.
House Bill 1451 places additional regulations on municipal utilities
According to ananalysis from legislative staff, House Bill 1451 does the following:
- Expressly preempts to the state the subject of a regional utility authority created by the Legislature through charter amendment after January 1, 2023.
- Requires certain public meetings and reporting for municipalities that provide utility service or intend to provide utility service in areas outside of their municipal boundaries.
- Limits the rates, fees, and charges that a municipal water or sewer utility may impose on customers outside the boundaries of the municipality to no more than 25 percent in excess of those imposed on customers within the boundaries.
- Limits the rates, fees, and charges that a municipal utility may impose on the water or wastewater customers it serves within the boundaries of another municipality, where the serving utility uses a water or wastewater treatment plant located within the boundaries of the other municipality to provide such service.
Senate took up the House version of the bill
On the Florida Senate floor today, the Senate laid its version of the bill on the table and took up the House version, including the first bullet point above, which will prevent the City of Gainesville from regaining control of GRU by amending the City’s Charter because the bill preempts any changes to the GRU Authority to the state.
One amendment was adopted during debate, making minor changes to the section of the bill that adds reporting requirements to municipal utilities that provide service outside their municipal boundary.
During debate, Senator Jennifer Bradley (R-Fleming Island) said, “The issue… is one that has been going on for many, many years before the legislature acted in 2023 with concerns about mismanagement and the input of ratepayers outside the city of Gainesville not being heard in that debate, and back in 2023, following a particularly damning audit that occurred in JLAC (Joint Legislative Auditing Committee), with incredible amounts of financial mismanagement, heavy debt, and unsustainability in GRU, the legislature acted for the express purpose of managing, operating, controlling, and otherwise having authority with respect to the utilities owned by the City of Gainesville,… and that created a special entity that would govern the Gainesville Regional Utilities. Since that time, the tide is turning at GRU; it was a successful, important step that the legislature took… The City of Gainesville, after the legislature acted, unilaterally stepped in and stripped the substance of the Special Act out of their Charter. This has to stop. The ratepayers deserve consistency and long-term stability in Gainesville, your amendment does that, and it’s the right thing to do.”
The Senate passed the bill, 29-6, and it now goes to the Governor for his signature. The section of the bill concerning the GRU Authority takes effect when the bill is signed.
The Gainesville City Commission expressed its objections to the bill on February 26, and Mayor Harvey Ward sent a letter to legislators on behalf of the City Commission, asking them to remove the provision that applies to the GRU Authority.
Better luck next time Gainesville. Don’t go away mad like someone threw your lollipop in the dirt. Try not to waste more taxpayers money again.
Maybe the governor will just ignore the bill like he does his responsibility to appoint qualified Authority Board Members. For those counting that’s 2/5 positions.
Are county Republicans too cheap to “donate” so they can be seriously considered? Alas the vacant positions.
Perry and Clemons should be mandatory appointees as penance for subverting democracy.
Too bad invitado…the people have spoken . …where’s your buddy Jazzhole and his “the city owns GRU crap and home rule”, blah, blah, blah?…🦗🎶
No, Bulltinkle, a Republican representative snuck in an ammendment and partisan GOP fervor and DeSantis cultists carried this abomination over the finish line. The people spoke in the city election. The City, by the way, does own GRU and yes, this does impinge on home rule provisions in the state constitution. You should give it a read.
I am going to show y’all!!!!! Increased property taxes for all. I will not let my pet projects die. I will keep raising your taxes.
Yeah you sound like little Ronnie if little Ronnie ever told the truth
Remember how much the city commission is wasting when you have the chance in November to vote on cutting property taxes.
Well, being that tomorrow is the last day of the legislative session and the Senate basically ignored the House vote on the property tax relief bill, I doubt we will be voting on it in November.
Hey Ward – if you don’t like it you can ask California to annex your property.
I was thinking he should give his property back to the Potano—or at least someone who has 1/1000% ancestry. They owned it far before he did; consider it his reparations contribution.
Throw in the rest of the liberal hypocrites as well. They want something returned—let them put their money where their mouths are.
Chronicle this Libs….. WINNING!!
MAGA wins again! Proud to tear down never builds anything meaningful.
As the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature nears the end of its 60-day regular session without accomplishing it’s only constitutionally required duty of passing a balanced state budget, negative reviews are coming in — including from Republicans themselves.
“The most painfully obvious dereliction of duty is how Florida families are telling legislators loud and clear: The cost of living is crushing them,” said former House Speaker Paul Renner in a written statement. “Property taxes, insurance, utilities — the basics of staying in your home — are getting harder to afford every year, and Tallahassee has just ignored it.”
Property taxes – local, insurance – risk based (if you believe that), utilities (higher when the fiscally incompetent commission was in charge).
Seems the locally elected control 2/3 of those costs. A change was, and is needed.
Thank goodness… City Commissioners can’t get their slimy greedy hands on GRU’s money (rate payers $) and spend it recklessly.
Glory, glory, alleluliah!
Now cancel the transfer and apply 100% to debt
Utility fraud, utility tyranny, and utility oppression upon the people here in Gainesville, Florida, is about to come to an end thanks to the GOP supermajority-led Florida Legislature and Governor.
The cash cow has left the building 🐂
I just don’t see this being turned around. It’s a done deal.
Even the pending court cases are affected by this.
Thankful, common sense has prevailed. They can’t get the greedy little hands on GRU anymore. Now we’re doing away with property taxes. Hopefully there will be no money for marketplace and that trashy Place will be gone no more donated money to private businesses. For events hopefully they will have to cut some of those outrageous salaries that they pay these nonsense employees they have. And fix it so they get paid per meeting. If they dom’t show there’s no pay
A world without property taxes will be tough for liberals who exist to “do good deeds with other people’s money…” Seriously, watching this most liberal of Florida cities try to govern with nearly zero property taxes will be soooooooooooooo interesting. What will they talk about at their meetings? Not what dumb ideas they want to fund. Every word will be about how to raise revenues: i.e., how do we take more money out of pockets of our constituents…. We shall soon see how generous their liberal voters feel when it’s their money paying for their elected leaders’ generosity…. (pass the popcorn!!!!)
Good point! It’s disappointing that the locally elected Democrats expect you to risk your property deed just so they can carry out their own virtue-signaling deeds.
If a commissioner keeps missing meetings, then DeSantis should appoint a replacement for the taxpayers that will show up ( Duncan walker)
Consequences for Governor not appointing a full Authority Board?
Clown show rolling on.
Because Dems don’t understand how to run a business like GRU. Look at what they’ve done to the school district!
While this legislation could render the pending appeal moot, the issues raised may be worth adjudicating to prevent future problems with misunderstanding the limited scope of local home rule. Thank you Senator Bradley and all those who got us to this point. The City of Gainesville can instigate more litigation over the validity of this latest enactment claiming that a local law was improperly tacked on to a general law. Like their other legal theories, it is a weak claim.
I really see this becoming a law suite that involves the concept of Home Rule versus the State’s ability the preempt Home Rule.
This has been established law forever and rules in the favor of the state.
But unless something the state has done is not constitutional the only way this gets turned around is with more legislation that reverses the current laws.
Neither seems likely. At least any time soon.
We would need a plate tectonic shift in Florida politics.
The city is subservient to the state…
The utility authority is charge over GRU because Hanrahan et al ruined GRU trying to stop climate change via boondoggle biomass plant…
maybe Tallahassee needs to step in with a “vagrancy authority “ now and close Grace and get the bums , criminals, & panhandlers outta here… do not allow other counties to release their inmates to Alachua county…
Also, DeSantis needs to step in and take over ACSB with an education authority to fix that weirdo mess.
Malarkey. The biomass plant was chosen over a coal fired mega plant that GM Kurtz tied himself to and refused alternatives. Fracking wasn’t a thing then and natural gas was too expensive for serious consideration. And yes talk of federal carbon taxes were in play as well.
Invitado: don’t gaslight me with your BS…Hanrahan et al were enamored with Kyoto protocol and were talking carbon neutral, carbon credits, solar feed in tariff… you are delusional. Got her marching orders from the UN via the league of mayors…redacted contracts, etc.
yeah, Kurtz was around back then..he did a good job with GRU until politics got involved…clean coal is good. No problem with that…the planet 🌎 is fine…climate change is BS…put your face mask on and get your booster covid shot.
Storm damage data says otherwise.
The basic physics of water evaporation into the atmosphere is an integral part of energy in storms and weather.
|Decade |Est. Damage (
|1950s |~$18B |Hazel (1954) |Less-developed coastlines |
|1960s |~$27B |Donna (1960) |Betsy (1965) also major |
|1970s |~$42B |Agnes (1972) |Agnes caused record flooding|
|1980s |~$95B |Hugo (1989) |Andrew struck late ’92 |
|1990s |~$160B |Andrew (1992) |Andrew rewrote cost records |
|2000s |~$295B |Katrina (2005) |Katrina alone ~$200B+ |
|2010s |~$510B |Harvey (2017) |Harvey/Irma/Maria all 2017 |
|2020–2024|~$880B* |Ian (2022) |Partial decade, record pace |
*Annualized projection based on Ian ($115B), Ida ($75B), and others through 2024.
All figures are approximate, inflation-adjusted estimates. Sources vary; NOAA and reanalysis studies
Consider that there has been both inflation and increased density of coastal development, both of which drive up the costs associated with storm damage.
Moreover, I asked my favorite AI the following question: Is there convincing evidence that atmospheric CO2 levels have significantly contributed to the number or intensity of hurricanes since 1950?
It’s reply: No. The best available evidence does not support a clear, strong increase in the number of hurricanes due to CO₂ since 1950, and only emerging evidence links warming (driven mainly by CO₂) to changes in their intensity and rainfall, with important caveats about data quality and natural variability.
Hurricane numbers since 1950
Reanalyses and recent detection studies suggest a decline in global tropical cyclone frequency of roughly 10–20% from pre‑industrial times to the late 20th/early 21st century, with a “much larger” drop (~23%) after 1950 as warming became more pronounced.
Basin‑scale records show large multidecadal variability (e.g., Atlantic busy vs quiet eras) driven by internal climate variability and aerosols, which complicates detection of a CO₂ signal in counts.
NOAA’s assessment is that it is premature to conclude with high confidence that human‑caused greenhouse‑gas increases have produced a change in Atlantic hurricane numbers outside natural variability.
Here’s the trend in average global ocean surface temperatures by decade, based on historical climate records (primarily from NOAA and HadSST datasets).
A few key takeaways:
∙ Pre-1970s: Temperatures were relatively stable, hovering around 16.0–16.3°C
∙ 1970s–1980s: Warming began to accelerate, coinciding with rising greenhouse gas concentrations
∙ 1990s–2010s: The steepest increases occurred, with the 2010s averaging roughly 1.5°C warmer than the early 20th century baseline
∙ 2020s: Early data suggests this decade is on track to be the warmest on record for ocean temperatures — 2023 in particular saw unprecedented ocean heat anomalies globally
The ocean absorbs over 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases, making these temperature trends one of the clearest indicators of long-term climate change. Warmer oceans drive stronger storms, coral bleaching, sea level rise (through thermal expansion), and disruptions to marine ecosystems.
Argue data all you want Lex, as if you – or I have the training to know what it means. Let’s cut to the chase: Every national academy of sciences, every relative scientific specialty, and all prestigious general scientific oranizations of scientists IN THE WORLD, endorses the findings that human activity is responsible for the quickly warming weather of the last century and that it presents a threat to humans through agricultural, industrial, domestic, and political (war!) upheavals. Only 1 organization, Petroleum Engineers opposed this conclusion and they have now changed their position to uncertainty on it’s affects.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_consensus_on_climate_change
Jazz: no. You are wrong…there are 30% of climate crackpots that believe in your fake science. 70% of respected scientists say climate change is BS. This is good news…the planet 🌎 is fine!
Stop pedaling your leftest fear!
Se, Bradley does not own GRU, the citizens of Gainesville do> She’s just another GOP hack screwing our neutered county and largest city because we’re blue. Traitors like you should forget running for office here again, unless you loudly proclaim your plan to screw us.
The problem with GRU is the 40% of the customers who live in the county i am all for them stopping GRU at the city line and letting another power company take over them customers then they can have the piggy bank back and let the idiots who keep voting they in office have what they voted for
Like you, I am out of city limits but forced to buy GRU.
I would be FINE if they let me buy from someone else. But I can’t. This is the big issue.
We do not have representation.
I guess I could put in enough solar that GRU would have to pay me for what we don’t produce. 🙂
I figured after a couple of big hurricanes, the bio mass plant would be paying the customers!
When did you ever have a choice in your utility and when did you ever have a say about their rates or use of profits? FPL spent $200k illegally electing the traitor Keith Perry.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article264196761.html
I would love for someone to explain why GRU is outside the city limits of Gainesville how many crooked politician deals were done to achieve this. As I said many times, I’m all for the dumb ass people of Gainesville to have their GRU back. Stop it at city limits and deal with it. I would love to see the rates when they loses 40% of their customers. However, since it’s owned by the people “(customers) then us 40% should be able to vote on anything related to it just like the ones in the city can
Of course the state GOP screws Gainesville and Alachua County every chance they get, without regard for the priniciples of ownership and democratic government. Hopefully the courts will reverse this, though with almost all Desantis appointees, thin chance. The precedents being set on this of state control not only of local issues but actually local property will come back to bite the unprincipled simpletons cheering this on at some point, or should.
Clearly you don’t understand preemption. 😂
Is believe this explains it.
Fascism’s relationship with private property is one of its most distinctive and often misunderstood features….fascist regimes typically preserved private ownership in name while fundamentally subordinating it to state control in practice.
The Core Principle: Nominal Ownership, State Direction
Fascist ideology held that property rights were not natural or individual rights or home rule, but privileges granted by the state in service of the national ideology. Agree with us or else.
Clearly you don’t understand ownership of property and our democracy as guranteed in our constitution.
Now, are we finally done?
No. I am certain lawyers will try to find a way around what the state is doing.
But the reality is for the moment it’s much harder for the city to get GRU back.
The cases will likely to continue and the lawyers will get richer.
Eventually jazzman’s people may be in power and will reverse it.
Take that Harvey. Your virtue signaling and silly letters are no match for the firepower of the Florida Legislature.
Spoken like Mussolini!
This is only act 1.
The fun really begins when SB 1134 drops.
Sit-ins and tantrums until they’re dragged away in handcuffs bc they can’t DEI with their budget anymore.
1. It is standard and common that municipal utilities extend outside of city limits, especially in rural areas. People outside pay on average 10 – 15% more because they are accessing city infrastructure and its benefits but not paying any city taxes. You can’t vote if you don’t live in city limits. You also can’t vote for FPL or Duke, period.
2. Regardless of which side you are on, it was painfully obvious that this local law (which in and of itself is improper) was tacked on at the last minute by two legislators representing cities hundreds of miles away that were obviously lobbied by who knows, but I have a good guess. GRU is the only one it affects. Talk about vindictive legislating.