*Item requested by Mayor Mike Meier and as a follow up to a commission discussion at the regularly scheduled commission meeting on February 10, 2020.
In 2008, the Florida Legislature adopted The Energy, Climate Change, and Economic Security Act, which among other policies, directed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to research and analyze the impacts of single-use plastic bags and auxiliary containers in retail uses. The Department was also charged with studying local government ordinances and policies and prescribing options and recommendations in mitigating plastic pollution for the Florida Legislature to adopt in the future. During this process, local government policy making was effectively preempted by the State until the recommendations of the report could be weighed and acted upon by the State legislature.
The report was finalized and presented to the legislature on February 1, 2010. Since then, the Legislature has neither adopted the report nor acted on the recommendations provided by DEP therein.
Since 2010, dozens of municipalities throughout the State have adopted various ordinances designed to address plastic pollution within their communities. While some local governments like the City of Stuart have chosen to adopt ordinances that do not conflict with the 2008 preemption, others have challenged this arbitrary rulemaking by the State and enacted their own policies and laws designed to curb plastic pollution within their jurisdiction.
The Resolution provided herein is in response to the growing threat of plastic pollution in local and regional waterways, and the need for state action due to both current legal constraints and a desire for uniformity in law throughout the state.