Florida Supreme Court - Preemption - Gun Regulation - Local Authority - Local Immunity The Florida Legislature has a philosophy different from that of many of its more urban centers and has exercised its legislative sovereignty to preclude or preempt local governments from deviating from that philosophy. In one of the many areas of political polarization, the state legislature has preempted local governments from acting to regulate guns. That preemption included penalties, both civil and criminal, for any local official having the temerity to offer a proposal implicating the regulation of a gun. Several communities sued to seek declaratory relief from the oppressive preemption and won relief in the lower court, lost it in the intermediate appellate court and lost again at the Sate Supreme Court. While the whole concept of state preemption flies in the face of allowing local governments to act as laboratories of democracy and regardless of how you may feel about the underlying philosophy of the state, the result seemed foreordained by the doctrine that local governments are mere creatures of the State. Similarly, I believe most states, if not all, adhere to the rule that the common law can be changed through statute (some, to my mind surprisingly, believe the common law can be changed through court decisions). IMLA fights for local autonomy and I hope that if your government is not a member you join and if a member you support our legal advocacy program so that we can protect the democratic principles foundational to our local governments. Fried vs. State, SC21-917 Opinion (flcourts.gov)<https://supremecourt.flcourts.gov/content/download/858250/opinion/sc21-917.pdf> 11th Circuit - American Rescue Plan - Spending Clause Power "Thirteen states sued the Treasury Secretary and related officials to challenge a tax offset provision in the American Rescue Plan Act, a coronavirus stimulus package passed by Congress in 2021. That off-set provision prohibits states from using Rescue Plan funds "to ei-ther directly or indirectly offset a reduction in [their] net tax revenue" that results from a change in law that "reduces any tax." 42 U.S.C. § 802(c)(2)(A). The States argued that this "tax mandate" exceeds Congress's authority under the Constitution." The panel of the 11th Circuit affirmed a lower court decision to enjoin the offset provision of the American Rescue Plan as violating the concept of dual sovereignty inherent in the Constitution. As that provision of the ARP was severable only it was enjoined. West Virginia vs. US Dept. of the Treasury https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202210168.pdf Charles W. Thompson, Jr. Of Counsel P: (202) 466-5424 x7110 M: (240) 876-6790 D: (202) 742-1016 [facebook icon]<https://www.facebook.com/InternationalMunicipalLawyersAssociation/>[twitter icon]<https://twitter.com/imlalegal>[linkedin icon]<https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-municipal-lawyers-association-inc./> [logo]<https://imla.org/> 51 Monroe St. Suite 404 Rockville, MD, 20850 www.imla.org<http://www.imla.org/> Plan Ahead! IMLA's 2022 Mid-Year Seminar<https://imla.org/seminars/>, April 8-11, 2022 in Washington, D.C.! IMLA's 2022 Annual<https://imla.org/annual-conference/> Conference, October 19-23, 2022 in Portland, OR! Check out our On-Demand webinar library<https://netforum.avectra.com/eweb/shopping/shopping.aspx?site=imla&webcode=shopping&cart=0&shopsearchCat=Merchandise&productCat=Webinar> with 100+ webinars at your fingertips.