Transmission line bills already in committee in Tally, but So Miami mayor proposes own

It is, shall we say, rather unusual once the Legislative Session has already begun and bills are being discussed and introduced into Committee hearings by their respective Legislator-sponsors in both the State House and Senate in Tallahassee, that an elected official from a small city of 10,000 should not only suddenly come up a with a proposed amendment to Florida Statute ...

And then to also expect that at such a late date it might find a sponsor in the House and another in the Senate, much less be scheduled into Committee at this late date, much less make it to the floor of either Chamber for a vote by end of session.

But, that's just what's happened in South Miami, where Mayor Horace Feliu has brought forth an FPL-related resolution on tomorrow night's agenda -- one of three FPL-related resolutions on the agenda, two of which the Mayor is sponsoring himself -- that calls for an amendment to Florida Statue 337.401 with regard to the siting of transmission lines along public road right-of-ways.

Stranger still, when there are already two proposed companion bills in committee hearings in Tallahassee -- House Bill 1315, tentatively tentatively titled "Construction of Electric Transmission Lines" and companion Senate Bill 2644 -- with corresponding sponsors and designed to fix the problem of siting of transmission lines along public road right-of-ways in a manner that decidedly would give more power and autonomy to local municipalities willing to stand up to FPL.

South Miami residents, as we know, are up in arms about FPL high-voltage transmission lines that would carry power from Turkey Point reactors 6 & 7 through their city along two possible routes. Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner has already written a letter to FPL opposing one of those routes, which comes right up South Dixie Highway from Palmetto Bay through Coconut Grove.

The resolution as posted on the agenda at the City's website (and presumably the "urging the Florida Legislature not to pass such legislation" is a scrivener's error!!) reads:

A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA, REQUESTING THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE TO ENACT AN AMENDMENT TO FLORIDA STATUTE SECTION 337.401, TO REQUIRE THE SITING OF TRANSMISSION LINE ROUTES ALONG PUBLIC ROAD RIGHT-OF-WAYS, WHERE ALTERNATE PROPOSED ROUTES WOULD CAUSE GREATER ADVERSE IMPACTS BY VIRTUE OF THE ROUTE'S PROXIMITY TO RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITIES AND SCHOOLS; URGING THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE NOT TO PASS SUCH LEGISLATION; PROVIDING FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF THIS RESOLUTION TO THE CITY’S LOBBYISTS, THE STATE LEGISLATURE, THE MUNICIPAL LEAGUE OF CITIES, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, AND OUR SISTER CITIES; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

Now, given that there are already two perfectly good bills in the Florida House and Senate dealing with the construction of transmission lines through local municipalities, why would it be necessary to drum up an additional bill at this late hour ... and one with no visible sponsorship in the Legislature at this point in time?

Did the Mayor just not do his homework on this one ... or is there something we're missing here?