Sarasota is on track to power city operations with renewable energy 100% by 2030, and city-wide by 2045.
City commissioner Liz Alpert said Florida Senate Bill 1628 would put a stop to that.
"I think it really hampers any of the efforts that we have been doing in the city of Sarasota," Alpert said.
Sen. Bryan Avila, R-Miami, is sponsoring the measure to prohibit local governments from lowering their own climate-warming emissions.
"This is really meant to make sure that we put in place a lot of predictability and a lot of visibility," Avila said to the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
He told fellow lawmakers that policies preventing the release of heat-trapping gases drive up costs.
"Local municipalities … to meet some goal that would require them to triple, to quadruple their tax base in order to even get anywhere near it ... would be detrimental to the residents in that community," Avila said.
But Alpert said what's actually driving up costs in her community is destructive weather intensified by climate change.
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Sarasota's sea levels are expected to rise a foot by 2050, and the city was already inundated with back-to-back flooding events in 2024.
"That emphasized even more the importance of climate change and how it can change our weather and devastate a coastal community like we are," Alpert said.
"It's something that we've been conscious of and working at for at least the 10 years or more that I've been on the city commission."
Sarasota has implemented several projects to lower polluting emissions, including through "micro-mobility" and making scooters, e-bikes, and a trolley available as transportation alternatives.
Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D- Orlando, voted against Avila's bill, saying during the environment committee meeting this bill would wipe out all the locally adopted climate resiliency plans, like the ones Sarasota has in place.
"We have local leaders in Miami Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Monroe, Orlando, Tampa … all across the state, they've adopted climate resilient plans because they are already dealing with flooding," Guillermo Smith said. "They're dealing with extreme heat, salt water intrusion, storm damage."
And Guillermo Smith countered Avila's comment about businesses needing protecting from costs imposed by local governments pointing to a new law in place allowing businesses to sue cities and counties if an ordinance is found burdensome.
"I think a lot of clean energy companies will probably think that this bill is burdensome. Maybe they're going to start suing cities and counties," Guillermo Smith said, adding that this bill benefits fossil fuel companies while hurting the public.
"Big oil. Big gas. They love this bill. Why wouldn't they love this bill? This helps their business. Who does it hurt? It hurts all of us. It hurts future generations. It hurts the planet," he said.
Because of rising temperatures Guillermo Smith said heat-related deaths are projected to increase, agriculture productivity is expected to drop, while tourism and property values are at risk.
Avila's measure passed its first committee stop with two more to go before it goes to the full chamber, but a House version of the bill hasn't moved forward yet.
Alpert said she plans to reach out to lawmakers about why renewable energy works for her city.
"Part of our job is to make sure we advocate for our community and let the legislators know so that we can educate them on why it's important," Alpert said.
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