GOVERNMENT OVERREACH? BILL WOULD RESTRICT CERTAIN FLAGS FROM STATE AND LOCAL MUNICIPAL GROUNDS

By Jim McCarthy & Mandy Miles

A60-day legislative session in Tallahassee that began March 7 could bring some serious policy shifts to Florida’s school curriculum and concealed-carry firearm laws. The House and Senate could be on their way to addressing an affordable housing crisis, while Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis aims to slide his priorities through a Republicancontrolled legislature.

Of the 1,000 bills filed so far, one particular piece of legislation could lower and remove certain flags that wave outside government buildings and inside legislative chambers and offices.

Legislation recently filed by state Rep. David Borrero, a Republican representing Miami-Dade County, would restrict a number of flags being displayed at government buildings at the state and local level, as well as public schools. Specifically, House Bill 1011 would only let agencies exhibit the state flag, U.S. flag and POW/MIA flag. The official firefighter memorial flag can be also displayed at state-owned facilities.

That means the Pride flag and the storied Conch Republic flag would need to come off government buildings in the Keys. Some governments have also flown the Ukraine flag to support the country’s ongoing war against Russia.

“No other flag may be exposed to public view for exhibition or display, in any matter, by a governmental agency, local government or unit of local government,” according to the bill’s text.

In Key West, the bill would affect the Conch Republic flag and the rainbow flag that has long symbolized LGBTQ rights. Both are displayed inside and outside Key West’s City Hall, and have been for more than 20 years.

“This bill came onto my radar last week,” Key West Mayor Teri Johnston told the Keys Weekly on March 6. “The focus of this legislative session should squarely be on our housing crisis, hardening our communities to the effects of sea level rise, infrastructure issues, coral reef and Everglades protections and windstorm insurance rates. None of our hot-button issues include dictating which flags a governmental agency can fly. This clearly falls into the tourist activity back without any hindrance. Wardlow and his constituents were told that while the checkpoint would not be dismantled, it would cease to operate in its previous, egregious manner. Wardlow left the courthouse with his head held high, and the following day he announced that Key West and the Florida Keys would secede, thus declaring the new Conch Republic. A conch shell-emblazoned flag has waved throughout the Keys since then.

Legislation only allows for the display of the state and U.S. flags on the grounds of public postsecondary schools. K-12 institutions can display the U.S. flag inside the classroom, but that’s it.

Monroe County school board member Sue Woltanski said she believes the flags a community displays during local government meetings or in their buildings should be a local decision.

Top: In addition to the American and state flags, Key West’s city hall also flies the POW/MIA flag, the Conch Republic flag, the rainbow flag and more recently, the Ukrainian flag as a show of support for the war-torn nation. Bottom: For more than 20 years, Key West’s city commission chambers have displayed the American flag, along with the state flag of Florida, the POW/MIA flag, the rainbow flag and the Conch Republic flag. MANDY MILES/Keys Weekly