TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Tallahassee leaders are sounding the alarm today about what they say is an “anti-DEI” bill sitting on the governor’s desk waiting to be signed.
Faith leaders and the city’s number two commissioner spoke out Thursday at the Bethel Family Life Center.
Reverend RB Holmes did not hold back in his assessment of Senate Bill 1134, calling it an “apartheid spirit.”
“Local mayors, city commissioners and county commissioners cannot provide laws and programs that strengthen marginalized neighborhoods,” Holmes said.
In a public appearance outside of City Hall, Tallahassee Mayor Pro Tem Dianne Williams-Cox said the community must “stay woke.”
“This is not a drill. This is for real, and it didn’t happen overnight,” Williams-Cox said. “So, I’m going to just say, I’m glad you woke now. Stay woke, because they did this. They’re able to do worse.”
Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez previously spoke with our Capital Bureau about the bill saying it does not limit local government.
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“That doesn’t inhibit the ability for local governments to be able to have a gay pride festival if that is something they chose to do,” Perez said.
Williams-Cox said she has not had any conversations with staff yet, but she believes they are studying the impacts of the bill and will brief the full commission should the bill be signed by the governor.
“Over the past three years, $35 million has been made by (minority women and small businesses) because we did a disparity study in 2019, and we renewed it in 2022, and we found gaps in how they were able to survive economically. And we put things in place to support it. This could go away,” Williams-Cox said
The issue is not just limited to the City of Tallahassee. County leaders are also concerned they’ll have to cancel a number of contracts starting in 2027.
While Thursday’s speakers were fairly alarmist about the bill’s impacts, they cautioned that nothing is set in stone.
Williams-Cox is running for reelection, so WCTV has reached out to all of her opponents for their thoughts on the bill. This story will be updated with those statements as they come in.
Joe Kalicki
“Democracy works best when local decisions are made by local representatives, so I strongly oppose SB 1134. It’s a repugnant focus for our legislature when Floridians are worried about making ends meet. It will illegalize city and county programs that support minority- and women-owned businesses in gaining access to education or capital. These programs have helped many folks in Tallahassee start or grow their businesses, which has massively benefited our local economy. This is yet another attack by our legislature on Home Rule, censoring our elected officials and harming our city’s ability to govern according to the will of its residents.
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