Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1451 on Friday, creating new parameters for municipal utilities operating outside city limits and seeming to cement the Gainesville Regional Utilities Authority despite referendums and ongoing litigation to dissolve it.

The bill seems to prevent any entity besides the Florida Legislature from interfering with the structure of a regional utility authority created after 2023 by the legislature and appointed by the governor. The Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) Authority is the only authority impacted by that clause of the bill.

The Florida House and Senate passed the bill 85-26 and 30-6, respectively.

State Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson, D-Gainesville, strongly opposed the amendment. In a press release from the Alachua County Labor Coalition, Hinson said residents have lost their voice as the governor puts special interests ahead of the voters.

“Now the responsibility for higher bills and the mismanagement of GRU rests with the legislators who supported this,” Hinson said.

Fellow democrats joined in questioning the inclusion of the amendment and how it impacts home rule, with Gainesville residents having voted twice to eliminate the GRU Authority and return management to the City Commission.

In Gainesville, community groups mobilized to oppose the amendment that state Rep. Demi Busatta, R-Coral Gables, added at the final of three House committees.

The overall bill deals with how city-owned utilities relate with customers living outside the municipal limits, setting rate requirements, public meeting standards and new agreement contracts. But the amendment that would preempt and further codify the GRU Authority seems targeted to Gainesville.

The exact language is as follows: “the subject of a regional utilities authority created by the legislature through charter amendment after January 1, 2023, is expressly preempted to the state.”

A preemption typically means local governments or anyone besides the Florida Legislature are prevented from altering policy or rules on a certain topic—in this case, municipal utilities that meet the above parameters.

State Rep. Chad Johnson, R-Chiefland, told Mainstreet when the amendment was first proposed that it makes clear what the Florida Legislature always intended. He said Tallahassee has no desire to get involved in municipal utilities, but he said when those utilities become insolvent, then the state must step in.

“I don’t think that there’s any question what the intent of the legislation was in 2023,” Johnson said. “This amendment will just codify what the intent was.”

State Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Green Cove Springs, also supported the bill from the Senate floor. She represents northern Alachua County and said the residents deserve long-term stability.

Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward said Friday that he doesn’t think the amendment language actually changes anything about the situation.

He said there’s also dozens of paths forward and added that he’s not sure how the bill would impact ongoing litigation.

“I don’t think the language in this bill changes a single thing about the way everybody currently operates,” Wards said. “I don’t think it changes anything. I mean, what it changed was that it made some lobbyists richer.”

Ward said it’s clear that the situation will look different in two years and added that any changes would take a couple years to shake through. Like in 2023, he called it a marathon and not a sprint.

But, GRU General Manager and CEO Ed Bielarski said the bill’s passage ensures the utility can continue its customer-first approach, pointing to its recent budget with no electric base rate increases.

“With the stroke of the governor’s pen, the seemingly never-ending attacks upon the governance of GRU have been put to rest,” Bielarski said in the release.

GRU Authority’s history and initial hurdles

The GRU Authority was established in 2023 after calls of financial instability caused by City Commission control. Proponents said the city had favored residents by forcing higher utility rates that also impact thousands of customers in the unincorporated area. Those higher rates then paid for a money transfer to city government that hit a $38 million annually.

Opponents touted the importance of home rule and pointed to past attempts to remove the utility from the commission’s oversight—attempts rebuffed by Gainesville voters in 2018. The City Commission also formulated a $315 million debt reduction plan to address concerns from the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee formed by state senators and representatives.

The GRU Authority’s tenure has proved bumpy in part due to two referendums issued by city commissioners to dissolve the authority and lawsuits in response to the referendums, which both passed overwhelmingly.

The authority hit a major snag after DeSantis appointed a director ratio that failed to follow the state law creating the GRU Authority. As a result, each of the directors voluntarily resigned before new appointments were made.

In the transition, the authority’s directors also wavered on whether to keep the top leadership who had started under the City Commission, namely former General Manager Tony Cunningham. After back-and-forth votes, Cunningham was fired and Bielarski, then a member of the GRU Authority, took his place and resigned his directorship.

Since June 2025, the authority has only had four members and found itself gridlocked in 2-2 votes, resulting in the end of a contract for GRU to provide stormwater and garbage billing for the city.

HB 1451 and ongoing litigation

The Florida First District Court of Appeal has three separate cases involving the GRU Authority and management issues stemming from the recent referendums. One of those already underwent oral arguments in February.

The GRU Authority’s case argues that the ballot language used in the 2024 referendum was out of line with state guidelines and that the city of Gainesville, even through its voters, cannot alter a part of its charter specifically placed by the Florida Legislature.

A Gainesville judge ruled that the ballot language was vague, though not for reasons cited by utility attorneys, but said the city could amend its charter through referendum—even eliminating the section on the GRU Authority.

There’s no timeline for when the appeal court rules, and now the language of House Bill 1451 must also be fit into the legal equation.

Gainesville Commissioner Bryan Eastman, who will head into a second term after no one ran against him, said the bill and amendment impact the whole state.

“This bill should be a wake-up call for cities across Florida,” Eastman told Mainstreet. “When the Legislature is willing to override 75% of voters to maintain control of a local utility, every community should take notice.”