TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A new bill that would make it illegal for local governments to tear down public monuments, including those honoring Confederate soldiers, is making its way through the Florida Senate.
House Bill 97, titled the Soldiers’ and Heroes’ Monuments and Memorials Protection Act, was filed by Republican State Rep. Mike Hill of Pensacola for the upcoming 2019 legislative season.
It was filed on Dec. 12 and is being co-introduced by Anthony Sabatini, another Republican state representative.
The bill would protect all monuments honoring U.S. soldiers, military organizations, armed conflicts, and law enforcement officers built on public property on or after March 22, 1822.
In an interview with Miami New Times, Hill said that the bill goes beyond just Confederate monuments, saying the remembrances have educational value.
"It will not change any person's life today by tearing down a Confederate monument or tearing down a statue or tearing down a cross," Hill told the Miami New Times. "It will not change any person's life by doing that. What it will do is prevent someone from learning the history of why it was there in the first place."
He told Fox and Friends that the bill also protects first responders and astronauts, saying that left-wing politics seek to "divide and destroy" the nation by deleting history.
Under the bill, the memorial in question can only be altered "to accommodate construction, repair, or improvements to the remembrance." If the remembrance is moved, it most be moved to a location of "equal prominence as the original location."
If the bill is passed, it would make it a third degree felony to damage or deface a memorial. The bill would also protect road names, historical flags, schools, parks and other things designated as military memorials.
According to Miami New Times, Hill, who's also an Air Force veteran, is the first African-American representative elected from the Florida Panhandle since the Civil War.
To read the full bill, click here.
