The Florida Legislature reentered the Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) tug-of-war after the Commerce Committee approved House Bill 1451 with a new amendment that would make the GRU Authority permanent.
The 24-word amendment fails to mention GRU or the GRU Authority, but Gainesville leaders and community groups quickly recognized the local impact and leapt into gear to support or condemn.
Created by state Rep. Demi Busatta, R-Coral Gables, the amendment says “the subject of a regional utilities authority created by the legislature through charter amendment after January 1, 2023, is expressly preempted to the state.”
The GRU Authority—being the only regional utilities authority created by the legislature through a charter amendment in the last three years—would then be preempted to the state, meaning only the Florida Legislature could make changes to the structure.
The Gainesville City Commission voted Thursday to send letters to the Speaker of the Florida House and President of the Senate, along with the Alachua County Legislative Delegation.
The letters will ask the legislators to remove the amendment and to allow ongoing litigation before the Florida First District Court of Appeal and the Eighth Judicial Circuit to finish. The city commissioners also asked that Mayor Harvey Ward, who will write and send the letters, to include the information about the more than 70% voter support for removing the GRU Authority.
The amendment was included with HB 1451, also created by Busatta, just before a vote by the Commerce Committee to send the bill to the House floor. Overall, the bill places guidelines on city-owned utilities operating outside that city’s limits.
The guidelines set rate requirements, public meeting standards and new agreement contracts. The amendment concerning “regional utility authorities” is the only place in the bill that addresses a specific form of utility besides a normal municipal utility.
According to an analysis by committee staff, there are only six regional utility authorities in the state: four have members appointed by the city commission, one has members elected by voters and one (the GRU Authority) has members appointed by the governor.
The descriptors around when and how the authority was installed point straight to GRU, which the City Commission was quick to highlight.
“And of course, that only affects GRU; only affects Gainesville’s utility,” Ward said.
In a statement, state Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson, D-Gainesville, urged her fellow lawmakers to honor the will of the community as shown during recent referendums.
“The people spoke plainly. They voted to restore local oversight, accountability, and transparency to their community-owned utility,” Hinson said. “Any legislative action that preempts that decision undermines home rule and dismisses the democratic voice of Gainesville residents.”
The Florida Legislature created the GRU Authority in 2023 and gave it the power to manage the utility even though it would remain a unit of the city of Gainesville. The new GRU Authority was opposed by the City Commission and local community groups.
Around six months after the authority was installed, the city commissioners unanimously approved a referendum to undo Section 7 of its charter that created the GRU Authority.
After two referendums, both passing with more than 70% of the vote, the implementation of those referendums remains in limbo after the GRU Authority sued, questioning whether the city had the power to undo the Legislature’s action.
The Florida First District Court of Appeal heard arguments from both sides earlier this month. One main question from the hearings was did the Legislature intend to allow their act to be so easily undone.
State Rep. Chad Johnson, R-Chiefland, said the amendment codifies what the Legislature already intended with its 2023 bill creating the GRU Authority.
He told Mainstreet that the Legislature has both expressed and implied preemptions. While he said it was implied that the Legislature wanted the GRU Authority in place permanently and without interference, the new amendment will make it clear if passed.
“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.”
He said he’d support the bill as a member of the Alachua County Legislative Delegation. He added that he’s received 13 phone calls and many emails on the topic since the amendment passed.
Johnson also said the amendment was circulating at last year’s session and didn’t come as a complete surprise because of that. He also considered a GRU glitch bill for the 2025 session.
He pointed back to the context surrounding the authority’s creation: bipartisan concern at the Joint Legislative Audit Committee over the utility’s debt levels.
While Gainesville may be the only city impacted by the amendment at the moment, Johnson said other cities might fall under the provision because of mismanagement.
“The Legislature doesn’t want to be in the utility business, but we’ve got to when they’re insolvent and they come up under a [Joint Legislative Auditing Committee] review,” Johnson said. “Then the Legislature will step in.”
On Thursday, GRU’s CEO Ed Bielarski reiterated arguments from the oral hearings in a statement from the authority.
“The GRU Authority applauds the Florida Legislature’s action to reinforce a basic principle: When the state intervenes to protect utility customers from the overreach of local government, that protection is not advisory nor subject to local nullification,” Bielarski said in the statement.
Meanwhile, the Alachua County Labor Coalition put out a call for citizens to call elected leaders in the state House and Senate. The coalition said the amendment changes the bill from a bipartisan utility bill to a divisive, partisan one.
“Let the courts decide and keep the bill bipartisan by removing the GRU referendum reversal,” the coalition gives as potential verbiage for calling officials.
Remember this every time you pay your GRU bill: Chad Johnson is the reason your bill is going up. If it weren’t for him you wouldn’t have GRU spending your money on legal fees and giving our power plants to Duke. It’s time to rally behind whoever is running against him and against this corruption.
For a party that so loudly proclaims “freedom freedom freedom” their actions in this bill and virtually all others, do the opposite. They consistently act to restrict every person – independent of political affiliation – from having a voice in how their communities run. They limit what you can read, what you can find out about what they do, what you can say or do. It’s consistently demonstrating what government can do TO you rather than FOR you.
The state took over GRU on false pretenses of financial doom. GRU was rated highly with credit agencies. The Joint Legislative Auditing Committee made recommendations that were implemented by the city commission. The legislature ignored the plan that was implemented, bypassed local input and passed a special bill without input from the city or GRU customers that installed the Authority. It was a hostile power takeover. The state did not save GRU – they have damaged it by governor–appointed, blatantly unqualified Authority members who make decisions whimsically, without showing evidence of best practice and without transparency, The first Authority board resigned in mass, admitting they were unqualified. The current board refuses to answer questions about how they fill the qualifications that are REQUIRED BY LAW. That’s because they are unqualified and they know it.
The CEO managed to pivot from an unpaid Authority member to the highest paid government staff in Alachua County in the course of a single meeting. He has a vested interest in keeping his job despite having been fired from that job previously and losing a mayoral race because the public doesn’t like his leadership, Naturally he’s fighting tooth and nail to keep the Authority at the helm. They hired him. It’s a circus that is morbidly entertaining.
Now the legislature has, again, without input, at the last minute of the process of HB 1451, sought to bypass the legal process and cement the state takeover of GRU. It is the state that is overreaching, not the city. GRU is our utility. The Authority, that constantly talks about lowering rates and paying down debt, has spent $1,000,000 of GRU customer money on lawsuits. Against the will of the people who voted against them in multiple referendums. How does that make fiscal or democratic sense?
Go to the Alachua County Labor Coalition website for information on how to push back against the referendum to HB 1451. No, we do not want the state involved in Gainesville city governance.
The “70% voter” approval only applies to those who bothered to vote, always a minority of the city’s population. Much less the total population of GRU customers outside the city limits.
Democrats have relied on these off-cycle election gimmicks in other cities to “win elections” that only represent a small minority, the extremists. NYC mayor ZM was “elected” last year by only 6% of NYC residents. 👿👹
If you live in Alachua county and want to be taxed by the city of Gainesville, give GRU back to them…