With a nibble here and a crunch there, the Florida Legislature has snacked on home rule and local control of government for 58 years.

In 1968, 55.4 percent of state voters approved Florida’s first modern state constitution, cementing the home rule principle that local governments are best suited to making decisions affecting their residents. Florida’s home rule provision is pretty simple: “Municipalities shall have governmental, corporate and propriety powers to enable them to conduct municipal government, perform municipal functions and render municipal services, and may exercise any power for municipal purposes except as otherwise provided by law.”

First up for municipalities back then: Figuring out how to manage growth and development. Struggling with a 35 percent population increase between 1960 and 1970, Florida municipalities began reining in explosive development that threatened the environment and curbed quality of life for local residents. Regulations ranging from rent control to land use restrictions were written into municipal ordinances. Comprehensive land use plans controlled local development.

No surprise that didn’t sit well with the state power brokers and their build-it-and-they-will-come friends. On April 12, 1972, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in City of Miami Beach v. Fleetwood Hotels Inc., that rent control was a state prerogative, not a local one, and thus was born the idea of state preemption.

In 1973 the state legislature codified its right to overturn local decisions with the Municipal Home Rule Powers Act, which boiled local control down to this: Do what you want. When we don’t agree, we’ll “otherwise provide” a law saying you can’t. Or sneak in a provision in some other bill to stop you.

With one bite at a time, legislatures feasted for six decades on Florida home rule, steadily centralizing power in Tallahassee. Gun control? State. Bikes on sidewalks? State. Cruise ships? State. Painted crosswalks? Vacation rentals? (Except for a carve-out that lets pre-2011 local rules remain — for now.) Land use planning? Hurricane evacuation and recovery? Trees and landscaping? Plastic bags, straws and sunscreen? Minimum wage and building permits? Hear the echo: state. All once controlled locally.

Home rule preemption bills could end Fantasy Fest

The assault on home rule ramped up as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his band of MAGA-Lites took control of state government in 2019. Seven years later, dozens of bills introduced in the 2026 Florida legislature are aimed at removing the last vestiges of home rule.

While there are several with troubling implications, let’s look at just three sucking up the oxygen in Tallahassee right now:

Homestead property taxes: Love ’em or not, they fuel local government. Upwards of 65 percent of our property taxes pay for police, firefighters and emergency medical services. The rest funds roads, bridges, parks, libraries, waste and water management systems, environmental conservation, city and county staff and operations — and schools.

The governor wants them gone. The Florida House agrees resoundingly and on Feb. 19 passed a proposed constitutional amendment that would do just that, although the amendment’s language does exempt school taxes. The Senate’s in philosophical agreement, but, for now, is holding its cards close. No one is venturing suggestions for how local municipalities, like Key West and Monroe County, might function when there’s no money to pay the bills.

It’s unlikely voters will get a say this year, but the momentum to take state control of how local governments spend money is all but unstoppable. One way or the other, the state eventually will control local purse strings.

Comprehensive land use plans: Key West and Monroe County, like other Florida municipalities, have long maintained complex regulations and processes about who can build what where and under what circumstances. The current state administration finds such growth and development restrictions antithetical to its drive to turn state parks into resorts, sacrifice environmentally sensitive land for housing developments (and immigrant detention camps) and upend communities that’d rather not slide into the Florida sprawl.

This session, with names designed to make us feel good, bills, like the Florida Home Starter Act and Blue Ribbon Projects, are designed to eliminate, not just restrict, local control. And these are on top of the gawdawful SB 180, which last year banned local communities from adopting any growth regulations that could be considered more restrictive than rules already in place — including any adjustments meant to improve storm resilience.

And coming in at No. 3 is legislation that would prohibit local government from financially assisting or sponsoring anything the state thinks celebrates diversity, equity and inclusion. And for good measure, SB 1134 and HB 1001 encourage philosophically disgruntled opponents to sue municipalities. If that local control preemption reaches the governor’s office, he’ll sign it in a flash. He’s said so.

And Key West can kiss goodbye to Goombay, Fantasy Fest, Womenfest, Pride Month, Conch Republic Days and a slew of smaller festivals and events that power our tourist economy. Maybe we’ll keep Hemingway Days. He was a straight white guy.