What is happening
State leaders want the authority to control local decisions being made by the Gainesville community. They’ve drafted a bill to tell local residents how to manage their publicly-owned utility. We must join together to stop the Tallahassee power grab and urge legislators to say “NO!” to a hostile takeover of Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU).
On March 17 the Alachua County Legislative Delegation voted 4 to 1 to support a bill led by State Representative Chuck Clemons (R-Newberry) that would strip the Gainesville City Commission of its authority over GRU and, instead, a Governor-appointed board would gain control. This bill is set to be introduced in the House on April 8, after the end of a 30-day notice period.
Why we need to stop the Tallahassee power grab
This bill is not in the best interest of Gainesville residents. GRU has been publicly-owned by the people it serves for more than 100 years. State leaders with ties are ignoring the will of 60% of Gainesville voters who already voted down this idea in 2018. This bill would also:
- Trigger higher utility bills for customers
- Allow the state government to steal control from local residents
- Destabilize GRU’s operations that are closely knitted to the city budget.
- Disrupt the municipal budget and poses a threat to funds used to support police and fire departments.
- Threaten the livelihoods of the more than 1,000 GRU-employee families
Now is the time to protect your energy rights and to protect local control of GRU.
What you can do to protect local energy rights
- Send a message to your State Senator and Representative to oppose the GRU takeover!
