City General Counsel Cindy Laquidara issued a binding legal opinion Tuesday against City Council's efforts to hire lobbyist representation in Tallahassee.
In a 14-4 vote Nov. 13, Council approved legislation appropriating $160,000 from a special Council operating contingency fund for state lobbying efforts identified by the Council Select Committee on Government Relations and Legislative Affairs.
Council members Reggie Brown, Warren Jones, Denise Lee and Stephen Joost voted against the measure, which was introduced by Council President Bill Bishop and co-sponsored by Council member Clay Yarborough.
"I believe we have missed out on a number of opportunities with respect to potential funding for projects," Bishop said during the Nov. 13 Council meeting.
"Jacksonville has turned into a donor county to the state with respect to tax revenue," which he said he thought had to do with Jacksonville's lobbying representation.
Mario Rubio is Mayor Alvin Brown's state affairs liaison. In the past few years, the City stopped hiring outside representation and used in-house personnel for its lobbying efforts.
With Laquidara's opinion, the legislation has been rescinded effective this past Tuesday.
Laquidara spoke in opposition to the idea during floor discussion Nov. 13, saying the power for Council to hire a lobbyist was treading on the separation of powers issue between the legislative and executive branches.
Her opinion at the time was not binding, which Joost then requested.
In conclusion, Laquidara stated "the hiring of a lobbyist, whether third-party or in-house, is an executive-level duty to be administered by the Executive branch of government."
In addition, she stated Council can pursue its influence through local bills, also known as J-Bills, and coordinated efforts with the Duval Legislative Delegation.
She also stated Council cannot hire legislative counsel to pursue lobbying activities on its behalf for implementing or executing an ordinance of the City, but could be used to assist with the creation and enactment of ordinances and resolutions as part of the legislative process.
Council hiring its own executive-level or administrative officers to undertake tasks already established for the executive department, such as lobbying, "infringes on the proper delineation between those two spheres of government," according to her opinion.
The separation of powers doctrine limits the exercise of power within each branch, but ensures independent exercise, she wrote.
Laquidara also said the City's general counsel is recognized as the agent that resolves disputes in consolidated government with binding legal opinions.
"Questions and discussions have arisen from certain council members as to whether after having been advised of a legal opinion, they are free to violate it or challenge it. The answer is no," Laquidara wrote.
Following Tuesday's Council meeting, Bishop said he read Laquidara's opinion and was not prepared to respond at the time. He said he was having it reviewed and further action would depend on the results of his second opinion, which he said he expected to have "shortly."
After the meeting Joost said the opinion provided a clear answer, which was that there is a separation of powers and the legislation violated the separation.
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