1 RESOLUTION NO. ______2 3 A Resolution of the Mayor and City Commissioners of the City of South 4 Miami requesting that Ron DeSantis retract or eliminate those 5 portions of Executive Order Number 20-244 that prevent local governments 6 from enforcing the first line of defense against COVID-19 which is social 7 distancing and the wearing of mask by everyone when in public, with limited 8 exceptions. 9 10 WHEREAS, on September 25, 2020, Governor Ron DeSantis signed Executive 11 Order Number 20-244 (“Order”), subtitled “Phase 3; Right to Work; Business Certainty; 12 Suspension of Fines”, which established Phase 3 reopening measures for the State of Florida; 13 and 14 15 WHEREAS, the Order rescinds all prior COVID-19 related restrictions regarding 16 business operations and allows infected individual to serve the public and further spreading the 17 coronavirus; and 18 19 WHEREAS, the Order encourages local businesses to further the spread of the 20 coronavirus by preventing local governments from closing businesses that are causing super 21 spreader events and who flaunt the social distancing requirements for their patrons and 22 employees; and 23 24 WHEREAS, the Order severely endangers the residents, business employees and 25 business customers by preventing the enforcement of the wearing of masks and social distancing; 26 and 27 28 WHEREAS, this past Friday the nation bore witness to the recklessness this same 29 executive action of our President who distains the wearing of masks and whose reckless 30 disregard for the scientific and medical advice has exposed countless members of his staff, 31 members of congress and the public to coronavirus super spreader events, such as his rally’s, the 32 Rose Garden celebration of his nomination, Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the United States 33 Supreme Court, his allowing a known infected person to fly on Air Force One and potentially 34 infect the presidential staff, the pilot and crew and members of the press. Finally, the president’s 35 testing positive on Thursday for infection of the coronavirus and his continued exposure of 36 others because of his refusal to wear a mask and his ridicule of others for wearing masks; and 37 38 WHEREAS, your Executive Order 20-244 is restricting the ability of local governments 39 to determine and enforce restrictions that will keep its residents safe in the midst of the COVID- 40 19 pandemic which include mandating the wearing of masks unless the wearing of a mask 41 prevent essential human activity such as eating and drinking; and 42 43 WHEREAS, your Executive Order 20-244 ignores the state of emergency and all but 44 claims that the emergency is over: and 45

Page 1 of 4 1 WHEREAS, the , in 1973, enacted the Municipal Home Rules Power 2 Act (“MHRPA”), now codified in Ch. 166 of the Florida Statutes. The MHRPA guarantees that 3 local governments retain governmental, corporate, and proprietary powers to enable them to 4 conduct municipal government, perform municipal functions, and render municipal services. 5 This power may not be curtailed except as otherwise provided by law1; and 6 7 WHEREAS, both the Florida Constitution and state statutes express a preference that, 8 absent some necessity for a statewide enactment, local officials should deal with problems 9 relating to the health and welfare of their citizens2; and 10 11 WHEREAS, Executive Order 20-244 is a continuation of the misuse of state preemption 12 that significantly limits the power of cities and other local governments to solve problems for 13 their residents – in this case with possible life or death consequences; and 14 15 WHEREAS, cases of COVID-19 across the state vary widely from county-to-county in 16 Florida. The total cases in Miami-Dade County currently stands at 171,225 - the highest number 17 of cases in the state3; and 18 19 WHEREAS, local governments should be allowed to make their own determinations 20 regarding masks/facial coverings, spacing, crowd size and regulations concerning businesses 21 (such as bars, restaurants, etc.) and anything else they consider locally important depending on 22 the severity of the outbreak in their community; and 23 24 WHEREAS, local governments are concerned about local businesses and are 25 encouraging them to do business by reducing regulations and providing them with alternatives 26 was of conducting business safely; and 27 28 WHEREAS, local governments are on the front lines of recovery efforts and state 29 preemption acts as a barrier to the ability of local governments to enact necessary regulations 30 that are responsive to the specific needs of their community; and 31 32 WHEREAS, Executive Order 20-244 encourages individuals to flaunt the required CDC 33 guidelines for social distancing and the wearing of masks which furthers the spread of the 34 coronavirus; and 35 36 WHEREAS, Executive Order 20-244 encourages business to ignore the health, safety 37 and welfare of the public by allowing them to disregard the need for social distancing and the 38 wearing of masks; and 39 40 WHEREAS, Executive Order 20-244 ignores the basis science surrounding the spread of 41 the coronavirus by prohibiting local governments from enforcing social distancing and the

1 https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/the-effectiveness-of-home-rule-a-preemption-and- conflict-analysis/ 2 Ibid. 3 Florida Department of Health, Division of Disease Control and Health Protection, COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/96dd742462124fa0b38ddedb9b25e429

Page 2 of 4 1 wearing of masks by prohibiting the collection of fines and penalties levied against irresponsible 2 individual who flaunt those basis life-saving rules; and 3 4 WHEREAS, Executive Order 20-244 is promoting the spread of the coronavirus by 5 encouraging restaurants to pack customers into spaces too small to for the customers to be able to 6 socially distance themselves. 7 8 NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY 9 COMMISSIONERS OF THE CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA: 10 11 12 Section 1. The foregoing recitals are hereby ratified and confirmed as being true and 13 correct and are hereby made a specific part of this resolution upon adoption hereof. 14 15 Section 2. The City of South Miami Commission hereby requests the elimination of 16 those portion of Executive Order Number 20-244 that restrict local government enforcement of 17 Covid-19 related ordinances and rules that require social distancing and the wearing of masks, 18 including penalties and fines against individuals that flaunt those rules and closing of business 19 for 24 hours at a time for failing to enforce the wearing of masks and social distancing by 20 employees and customers who are on their premises. 21 22 Section 3. Corrections. Conforming language or technical scrivener-type 23 corrections may be made by the City Attorney for any conforming amendments to be 24 incorporated into the final resolution for signature. 25 26 Section 4. Instructions to the City Clerk. The City Clerk is instructed to forward a 27 copy of this resolution to: 28 29 Governor Ronald Dion DeSantis, 30 State Senate President.; 31 State Speaker of the House; 32 all municipalities in Miami-Dade County, 33 the members of the governing bodies of all 67 counties. 34 the Florida , 35 the Florida League of Cities 36 Miami-Dade County League of Cities 37 All members of the Miami-Dade Legislative Delegation 38 All members of the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners 39 Miami-Dade County Manager 40 Miami-Dade County Mayor 41 42 Section 5. Severability. If any section clause, sentence, or phrase of this resolution is 43 for any reason held invalid or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, the holding 44 will not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this resolution. 45 46 Section 6. Effective Date. This resolution will become effective immediately upon

Page 3 of 4 1 adoption. 2 3 PASSED AND ADOPTED this ____ day of ______, 2020. 4 5 ATTEST: APPROVED: 6 7 ______8 CITY CLERK MAYOR 9 10 READ AND APPROVED AS TO FORM, COMMISSION VOTE: 11 LANGUAGE, LEGALITY AND Mayor Philips: 12 EXECUTION THEREOF Vice Mayor Welsh: 13 Commissioner Harris: 14 Commissioner Liebman: 15 ______Commissioner Gil: 16 CITY ATTORNEY

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