Opinion: Senator Trumbull Attempts to Strike a Blow for Freedom

March 15, 2025

by Rex Lee Reid

One of the things that struck me most about this session of the Florida legislature so far was the pre-game or the special session the governor called before the official call. At first glance, it seemed like an overreaction and to some degree a political ploy.

Then I remembered what I have heard all too often from our legislators, “well we just didn’t have time to get to it in this session.” Subtext: “send me back next year and for sure we will get to it.”

Then the Senate president and House speaker made this exercise even more strange. They screamed like a child that was told they had a curfew and then they threw a temper tantrum closing the Governor’s session out, only to open another session to pass a bill they would not even send to the Governor’s desk.

As an observer of politics my entire life I would liken this to leadership's “New Coke moment”. A flop so big it could have only been dreamt up by the “smartest” man in the room.

Seriously, taking on the Governor, who may very well be one of the most revered governors in the nation, is a fool’s errand. But as I told the Senator when we spoke, I feel no need to comment until the process plays out.

Democracy is a dirty business and watching the sausage being made and getting caught up in the moment is a waste of time. It is the end product that matters and nothing else. And it appears that we have a good bill in spite of all the uncalled-for posturing.

The even better news is Senator Trumbull has come out swinging in an effort to restore our freedoms and filed the Boater Freedom Act.

That is intended to:

Prohibit officers from stopping or boarding boats without probable cause or prior knowledge of a violation.

Ensure that safety and marine sanitation equipment violations are treated as secondary offenses—meaning officers cannot stop a boat just to check for compliance.

Create the “Florida Freedom Boater” safety inspection decal, issued at registration or renewal, to indicate compliance with safety equipment requirements and further limit unnecessary stops.

Having been a boater all my life this is long overdue. It is way past time for those who enjoy the water to stop being considered a criminal in essence for just being on the water.

No one understands the need to protect and manage, to some extent, our natural resources that drive tourism than me. But the fact of the matter is the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has turned into a mini-Gestapo.

I am all for taking work seriously and this is not a slam on any officer. It is a critique of the system. Give someone a ruler, and they will either smack you with it or ruin your boating adventure by measuring your fish and fining you because it shrank half an inch in your cooler.

www.RexLeeReid.com

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