TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – A Leon County Charter Review Committee voted to advance a Historical Harms Amendment at a Thursday meeting.
The amendment advanced on a 14-3 vote.
This meeting comes after the original amendment stalled in the Charter Review Committee on a 9-9 vote.
The Leon County Commission voted to revive the amendment and send it back to the citizens committee in May.
County staff were against the proposal, especially in light of a new state law that bans local governments from funding DEI.
The amendment’s sponsor, Dr. Bruce Strouble, changed the proposal to focus on geography, rather than race. The revised language removes any “potential protected-class eligibility to ensure broad applicability” and “shifted to a geographic framework to address localized community needs,” according to Strouble.
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“There is no reparations in there. We would be in full compliance,” Strouble said.
If the amendment gets added to the November ballot, they would be asked if the Leon County Charter should be changed.
The options before the Charter Review Committee on Thursday were to take no action, further amend the preamble to the county charter and/or adopt Strouble’s amendment.
Strouble said the amendment language is meant to be “evergreen.”
Employment attorney Linda Bond Edwards said some of the past discrimination truly was geographic, not racial.
Dr. Howard Kessler said he “doesn’t see it as graciously” and that detrimental infrastructure was put in Black communities.
Ultimately, the County Charter Review Committee advanced the amendment. Next steps include three more meetings, then a county commission vote to put it on the ballot before voters ultimately decide.
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