Workers in Florida's 14 ports will no longer face duplicative security requirements and fees, and trade in those ports will move more swiftly if a bill making its way through the Legislature becomes law.
The Senate Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations passed along a bill Wednesday removing statewide security requirements, like access cards and fingerprint background checks. Proponents of the bill say federal laws already ensure port security, and that state laws are unnecessary.
Legislators passed statewide security measures in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but the Congress later added its own federal laws, creating an overlap.
"We actually passed the state security program before there was a federal program. So we didn't deliberately create duplication," said Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, who is sponsoring Senate Bill 524.
The overlapping security measures have been noticed by lawmakers for years, but only now does there appear to be sufficient momentum to repeal the unnecessary laws. Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, tried to push the repeal of the seaport laws for years, but ran into opposition from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, who implemented the state laws.
"The sad part about this is we're bringing an end to turf fights that are costing the people of the state of Florida a lot of money," Bennett said.
Workers in Florida ports will see their fees reduced, which can run as much as $130 for access to each port for criminal background checks. Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, said that the longshoremen in her district are looking forward to the passage of the bill.
"They (port workers) no longer will have to pay for two identifications. In every port they have to have a different ID, one for Tampa, one for Manatee, the federal one. It was an incredible amount of money that they had to pay. A bunch of problems, this solves it all," Joyner said.
Businesses, which pay as much as $800 per worker for security costs, will also see reductions in their overhead costs, boosting trade and state exports.
"We know that exports are an important part of the state economy, even during the recession they were doing well. Now we have the expansion of the Panama Canal coming on, so exports are only going to expand. So anything that we could do to reduce costs in an industry that deals with exports is going to help," said Jose Gonzalez, vice president of governmental affairs for Associated Industries of Florida.
The FDLE will also see its budget reduced by $521,800 if the state requirement for background checks is removed.
A similar House bill will get a committee review Thursday.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
