Florida Gov. Rick Scott was in Miami Tuesday to sign a bill that will prohibit state and local governments from contracting with companies that have business ties to Cuba and Syria.
Scott signed House Bill 959 during an 11 a.m. ceremony at the Freedom Tower on Biscayne Boulevard.
"No generation can forget what happened in Cuba," Scott said as he signed the bill with lawmakers at his side.
The bill will stop Florida tax dollars from being used for projects by companies that do business with the Castro regime in Cuba and the Assad regime in Syria.
"Florida House Bill 959 only applies to government entities and not private enterprise," said Jose Felix Diaz, one of the bill's co-sponsors.
When asked about the constitutionality of the legislation, former U.S. Representative Lincoln Diaz Balart said, "the legislation is consistent with U.S. Law."
Similar local and state legislation has been deemed unconstitutional in the past. Court rulings and legal opinions have consistently stated essentially that a state or local government cannot develop and implement a foreign policy.
"I appreciate the Governor’s commitment to freedom and liberty, and I congratulate him for putting the interests of Florida’s taxpayers before those of businesses," Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement. "Florida taxpayers should not unintentionally support the dictatorships of Assad and the Castro brothers through business contacts. This legislation will assure that this practice ends."
The new law goes into effect July 1st. In a memo to Miami-Dade County commissioners, a county attorney warned that the bill, as he reads it, conflicts with federal law.
