A Primer on Home Rule and more local news...
- IRNA
- Oct 18
- 9 min read
October 18, 2025 Weekly Newsletter
Instead of our usual news articles, we wanted to spend some time this week doing a deep dive into the concept of Home Rule. Below in an article in three parts which will hopefully help educate you on why the Indian River Neighborhood Association is so concerned with what the state legislature is doing to crush local control.
Why Home Rule Matters:
Defending Local Control
in Indian River County and Beyond
You've probably heard the IRNA talk about "Home Rule" before and while it sounds dry, it's important to understanding who really controls your neighborhood's future. Home Rule is the authority granted to cities and counties to pass their own laws and manage their own affairs on local issues, without needing specific permission from the state legislature for every action.
It's codified in Article VIII of the Constitution of Florida. Despite this constitutional protection, there's been growing confusion about what Home Rule means and why it matters, especially as the state legislature has systematically stripped away these local powers over the past decade. Let's dive in.
The Foundation: From Federalism to Home Rule
Do you remember learning in school about Federalism? It's the principle that power should be dispersed, not concentrated in one level of government. This is why states regulate some things and the federal government regulates others. When you hear people talking about "states' rights," they're talking about Federalism.
Home Rule applies this exact same concept to the relationship between state and local governments. Federalism divides power between the states and Washington, DC. Home Rule divides the power between the state and local government. We almost take it for granted now, but the state legislature has been attacking it for more than a decade. It's wrong and un-American.
The whole concept, expressed by James Madison in Federalist Papers 10, 39, 45, 46, and 51, is that self-government works best when decisions are made closest to the people affected by them. This makes sense because the powers of the government is derived from the people.
Here's context that often gets overlooked: What was the population of the United States in 1790, just after the Federalist Papers were written? The answer: 3.9 million people, of which 700,000 were enslaved. Philadelphia, our largest city, had a whopping 40,000 people.
Think about that. The founders, especially Madison, wanted the power of the people to be expressed from the local level up. At the time, Delaware, Rhode Island, Georgia, and New Hampshire all had smaller populations than Indian River County has today! Yet the founders trusted them with self-governance. Why should we accept less local control now than some of the original states had?
How Home Rule Should Work
Consider our transportation system as an example of this hierarchy working properly. If it were up to bureaucrats in DC to decide which roads got fixed and in what priority, it would be a mess everywhere. The states obviously know better which roads need building and when, accounting for damage, growth, and traffic patterns. That's the job of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT): they receive federal transportation funding (courtesy
of your tax dollars) and then allocate those highway funds to projects across the state.
But this extends to Home Rule as well. We have local control through the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), which the county and cities run together to decide on priorities for different grants from FDOT. If Tallahassee decided when we should widen Oslo Road or update intersections at CR 512, would they have ever happened? Would they have been built with six lanes to begin with? Who knows.
The local knowledge, local desire, and local needs were met by local governments that utilized money from higher up the chain.
This is how it's supposed to work. But increasingly, it doesn't.
Vero Beach City Council Candidate Queations
We, along with our friends from CWC, asked all three candidates for Vero Beach City Council several questions relating to land use, our environment, and quality of life. We shared their answers in a recent newsletter and wanted to keep an easy link to them here. If you would like to see their responses to our questions, please click here.
We appreciate them taking the time to address our concerns and encourage all eligible voters in Vero Beach to vote!
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Join the IRNA in building a stronger voice for our community. Your support empowers us to safeguard our natural resources, demand transparency from elected officials, and champion the changes we need to see—together, we can create lasting impact.
Florida's Assault on Local Control
The state has been consolidating power and stripping choices away from local governments, especially regarding development, housing, environmental protection, and neighborhood character. Here are just a few examples:
The Live Local Act: Everyone admits there's a huge need for more affordable housing, but the state went about addressing it in a terrible way. The original 2023 Live Local Act allowed developers to override local zoning decisions, bypass public hearings, and ignore height and density restrictions, they essentially stripped away community input on projects that would reshape entire neighborhoods. Cities and counties complained that they lost the ability to regulate certain aspects related to height and density, with developments being approved in areas where they wouldn't normally be allowed.
Thankfully, after massive pushback from local governments and the people, the legislature amended the law in 2024. But it still violates principles of Home Rule because the state is making decisions that will most impact local residents, without giving those residents meaningful say in the process. Worse yet, despite all the disruption to local control, developers say the law hasn't actually solved the affordable housing crisis, particularly for households earning below 80% of median income, the people who need help most.
Vacation Rental Preemption: In 2011, Florida banned local governments from regulating the duration or frequency of short-term vacation rentals, preventing cities and counties from protecting residential neighborhoods from being converted into de facto hotel districts. A study found that 23 percent of the annual rent increase in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area could be directly attributed to local Airbnb growth. Coastal communities have been particularly hurt, yet they're powerless to respond to their own residents' concerns because the state tied their hands, unless they were grandfathered in like Vero Beach was.
Fertilizer Ordinance Attacks: Over 100 local governments across Florida have passed fertilizer ordinances to protect water quality during the rainy season, preventing nutrient pollution that fuels toxic algae blooms. In 2023, the legislature quietly inserted language into the state budget prohibiting at least 117 local governments from "adopting or amending a fertilizer management ordinance" for an entire year. Studies showed that Cape Coral's stringent fertilizer ordinance resulted in a 24% reduction in nitrogen, while Lee County's ordinance achieved a 25% reduction in phosphorus and 34% reduction in chlorophyll. Despite this proven effectiveness in protecting our lagoons and waterways, the state sided with the phosphate industry over local communities trying to protect their water.
Tenant Protection Elimination: Recent preemption legislation has wiped out an estimated 46 tenant protection ordinances across Florida, including tenants' bills of rights, rent stabilization measures, and anti-discrimination protections based on source of income. Counties like Orange had passed ordinances requiring 60 days' notice for rent increases exceeding 5%—common-sense protections for working families. The state legislature eliminated them all at once.
Tree Protection Weakening: Florida passed legislation significantly limiting local government oversight of trees on private residential property, preventing cities from requiring permits to remove trees, even heritage trees that have stood for generations and define a community's character. Cities that had spent years building their tree canopy and earning Tree City USA designations suddenly lost the ability to protect what they'd worked to create.
These are not isolated incidents; they are part of a coordinated pattern of state overreach that treats local knowledge, local priorities, and local voices as obstacles. Indeed, a common theme emerges: when a city or county passes a law that inconveniences a powerful special interest, the state often intervenes to preempt that local authority.
Youth Sailing Foundation earns approval for new lagoon facility (Hometown News) - The Youth Sailing Foundation of Indian River County received unanimous approval from the Vero Beach Planning & Zoning Board for a new 10,453-square-foot community center and park on the Indian River Lagoon, marking the first project to be built in the city's Three Corners Recreation & Culture District.
Brightline Reduces Long-Distance Service, Cutting 12 Trains Daily Through Sebastian and Vero Beach (Sebastian Daily) - Brightline has reduced its daily long-distance service between Miami and Orlando, cutting the number of trains passing through Sebastian and Vero Beach by 12 as it adjusts schedules to meet rider demand and increase capacity during peak travel times.
Record number of sea turtles nested on our beaches this season (Vero News) - Indian River County has experienced a record-breaking sea turtle nesting season with over 11,000 total nests, highlighted by a new record of 4,620 green turtle nests, alongside more than 6,700 loggerhead nests and 78 leatherback nests.
Will the Florida Legislature protect clean water in 2026? (VoteWater.org) - In an opinion piece, Gil Smart argues that as the 2026 Florida legislative session begins, clean water advocates must watch lawmakers closely to combat anticipated pro-development bills, push for the repeal of restrictive laws like Senate Bill 180, and demand stronger enforcement to protect the state's waterways.
Expert Tips for Creating Bird-Friendly Yards (Vero Beach Magazine) - Homeowners can create bird-friendly yards by landscaping wet areas with native, moisture-tolerant plants like myrsine, yellow anise, and buttonbush to provide layered habitats that offer essential food and shelter for birds.
Why You Should Care About Home Rule
For the same reasons the founders cared about Federalism: When local control is taken away, they take away your voice in the process.
Decisions about the traffic on your street, the character of your neighborhood, the health of our lagoon, and the future of your community are being made by legislators who don't live here and don't understand our unique challenges. The Indian River Neighborhood Association believes that residents of Indian River County should be in charge of Indian River County's future, not statewide elected officials who may have never even visited Indian River County.
When power moves away from the local level, it doesn't just become less effective, it becomes less democratic. You can attend a county commission meeting and make your voice heard. You can talk to your city councilmember at the grocery store. Try doing that with a state legislator from Jacksonville or Miami who's never set foot in our county but gets to decide how tall buildings can be in your neighborhood or whether your local government can protect the lagoon from fertilizer runoff.
Our Fight for Home Rule
This is why we will continue to fight for Home Rule. We will fight for you and your rights against these state overreaches. We'll continue to keep you informed and try to keep you engaged, but we'll need your help.
The Legislative Session begins on January 13, 2026. Who knows what power grabs they'll make this session. We will need you to act in defense of our local rights and control. When we send out a call to action, please answer!
As Madison wrote in Federalist No. 45: "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite."
While Madison wrote about federal-state relations, his principle applies with equal force to state-local governance. In 1790, power belonged closest to the people because that's where it could be most responsive to local needs and most accountable to local voices.
In 2025, that means your county commission or your city council, not a bunch of legislators in Tallahassee or the special interests they serve. Madison's words remind us that power belongs first to the people and their communities, not to distant lawmakers. Help us make sure that vision of our founders remains true all these years later.
Pelican Island Conservation Society Annual Bird and Nature Art Show (Indian River Guardian) - The 10th Annual Pelican Island Conservation Society Bird and Nature Art Show, currently on display in Sebastian through October 19th, has announced its winners across multiple categories, with Iris Peters’ “Breaking Wave” receiving Best of Show.
McKee Jungle Lights Gears Up for its Most Ambitious Light Show Yet (Vero Minute) - McKee Botanical Garden's annual Jungle Lights holiday tradition is preparing for its most ambitious show yet, featuring six distinct Amazon Rainforest-inspired zones, with tickets for the December and January event going on sale October 15th.
Major Melbourne sewage leak contained after 24 hours (WFTV) - A significant sewage leak on Sarno Road in Melbourne has been contained after more than 24 hours of effort, with city workers currently repairing the ruptured 16-inch force main.
City of Sebastian looking to fill expired positions (Hometown News) - The City of Sebastian is seeking applicants to fill one regular and one alternate volunteer member position on the Planning & Zoning Commission, with applications for the roles accepted until October 24, 2025.
Captains for Clean Water: What’s been going on with Big Sugar’s Southland rock mine proposal (Angling Trade) - A proposal by Big Sugar and the Southland Group for an 8,000-acre industrial rock mine is being opposed due to its proximity to the EAA Reservoir, which opponents warn could compromise the reservoir's integrity, contaminate drinking water, and undermine billions in Everglades restoration efforts.
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