A Senate Republican on Tuesday filed a bill that combs through state laws and would replace references to the “Gulf of Mexico” with the “Gulf of America” after President Donald Trump issued an executive order to rename the gulf.
Sen. Nick DiCeglie, R-Indian Rocks Beach [who sponsored last year’s ill-fated bill to eliminate local control over vacation rentals] filed the 70-page bill (SB 608) for consideration during the legislative session that will start March 4. Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, issued a statement expressing support for the bill.
Also Tuesday, Rep. Juan Carlos Porras, R-Miami, filed a bill (HB 549) that would require state agencies to update geographic materials to reflect the Gulf of America name. Porras’ bill also would require county school boards and charter-school boards to buy instructional materials and library materials that reflect the change.
After Trump issued the executive order last month, Gov. Ron DeSantis jumped on the issue. In an order he issued about a winter storm, DeSantis referred to an “area of low pressure moving across the Gulf of America.”
But that couldn’t change state laws, which include dozens of references to the Gulf of Mexico. DiCegilie’s bill noted that the “Gulf of Mexico spans approximately 1,700 miles along the United States coastline, of which 770 miles are located along the Florida coast.”
It said Trump’s executive order directed the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior to “rename the Gulf of Mexico as the ‘Gulf of America’ in order to recognize the importance of the body of water to the United States.”
As an example of the changes that would be made by the bill, legal descriptions of boundaries of gulf-front counties from Escambia to Collier include references to the Gulf of Mexico, which would change to the Gulf of America. That includes the boundaries of DiCeglie’s home county, Pinellas.
But other references in laws to the Gulf of Mexico are a little more obscure. For instance, a law about the use of tourist-development taxes refers to counties “adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean.”
Other laws include references to the Gulf of Mexico in addressing coastal development issues. One such law expresses intent for the Department of Environmental Protection to “establish coastal construction control lines on a county basis along the sand beaches of the state fronting on the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, or the Straits of Florida.”
Another law defines coastal barrier islands as meaning “geological features which are completely surrounded by marine waters that front upon the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, or the Straits of Florida and are composed of quartz sands, clays, limestone, oolites, rock, coral, coquina, sediment, or other material, including spoil disposal, which features lie above the line of mean high water.”
In addition to the state laws, ordinances in gulf-front counties include references to the Gulf of Mexico.
Trump’s executive order addressed federal references to the gulf’s name, directing the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which works under the Department of the Interior, to “provide guidance to ensure all federal references to the Gulf of America, including on agency maps, contracts, and other documents and communications shall reflect its renaming.”
–Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida
Note: FlaglerLive will not be changing Golfo de México’s name.
Joe D says
How much is it going to cost FLORIDA taxpayers to “update” these maps and references in the Florida documentation system to follow through with this JOKE of a Presidential order?
I don’t remember seeing a cost total, listed on this site, which explained what the taxpayer cost (in time and equipment/technology) was for the REMOVAL of all references from OFFICIAL FLORIDA regulations and documents to CLIMATE CHANGE or ENVIRONMENTAL damage/pollution caused by lack of environmental protection, ordered by Ron DeSantis to magically make “Global Warming,” disappear.
The Gulf of Mexico, has been identified as such for over 400 years, our PRESIDENT can call it the “Gulf of Trump,” or “Gulf of Melania,” if he chooses to, but it will remain the Gulf of Mexico to all international observers.
Can you imagine, if this Narcissistic decision actually sticks….and our Children’s TEXTBOOKS start listing His lunacy…how our Children will be LAUGHED at if they ever venture out to other countries and talk about the “Gulf of America!”
It’s only been 3 weeks people, and the CHAOS and the INSANITY is out of control! We’re not even going to GET to my prediction on this BLOG of Trump MAGA voters feeling they were DUPED by the 18 month point in TRUMP 2.0…they are likely to hit that realization LONG before 18 months!
But yes, by all means, keep voting those MAGA lapdogs into office…even in the upcoming special elections.. it’s worked so well for Flagler County so far!!! That was SARCASM for those of you who had it go over your head!
Justbob says
Utter silliness. Wonder how much this nonsense costs taxpayers?
Deborah Coffey says
Completely stupid and disgusting. We’re actually paying people to waste time on such ridiculous things? Really?
Tired of it says
Such an important issue. This is what elected officials arewasting their time on. Anything to get noticed by Presidet Musk and his his sidekick, trump.
Laurel says
Trump, and Dicegli are so tedious, and so wasteful and geographically ignorant. There is North America, Central America and South America. Oh, and Vance, it includes “Hatia.”
List of countries in America:
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Bolivia
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Grenada
Guatemala
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela
The damned dumb shits. These are the idiots who are in charge.
Sherry says
How to grow fascism. . . first get rid of the “Independent Press”:
The Associated Press said the White House barred its reporter from Tuesday’s Oval Office executive order signing because of the AP style guidance on using the name Gulf of Mexico versus Gulf of America.
The AP said in a statement it was informed Tuesday that if the news agency did not “align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office.”
Laurel says
To think our country was started to get away from a king!
Stav Sicinaki says
Don’t care, didn’t ask. Cope and seethe.
JW says
Americans (mostly MAGA) are like children: noisy, curious, unable to keep a secret, not given to subtlety, and prone to misbehave in public. Americans are basically adolescent, so don’t be surprised: no introspection, we are the greatest nation in the world! Really??
Narcissists is a better term!
Toby Tobin says
Laurel,
By listing all the countries in North, Central, and South America, you are unwittingly making the argument against yourself. Why name the Gulf after any one country? We are all part of “America.”
Laurel says
Toby Tobin: You are being naive. Trump is not renaming the Gulf after 35 countries, he is appealing to the “Make America Great Again” crowd. Unless, of course, you believe MAGA is referring to 35 countries. Is that it?
Trump: “I love the poorly educated.” Apparently, that includes the geographically illiterate Vice President Vance.
Actually, I’m surprised that Trump isn’t renaming the body of water “The Gulf of Trump!” Maybe, hopefully, he’s slipping.