Was it really illegal in Florida to ride a bike with no hands?
Bailey, 9, had a confession: “Daddy, I break the law every day I go to school. It’s just for a second! Is that illegal?”
It is, said Rep. Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, and it’s ridiculous.
Workman is on a mission to obliterate such illegalities buried in state law — like smoking clove cigarettes, coasting down hills in neutral, and unmarried couples living in cohabitation or “open adultery” — even if he doesn’t believe in them.
What’s most important, he said, is restoring personal liberties chipped away by government.
“Now, I don’t advocate cohabitation, I will kill either of my kids if they try that. I also don’t advocate adultery, my wife would kill me if I advocated for that,” he said. “But it still shouldn’t be a law.”
It also helps to please your boss.
The second-term legislator’s repeal run started in November when House Speaker Dean Cannon told him he wanted to leave office with fewer laws on the books than when he started. Then Gov. Rick Scott made reducing state regulations a top priority.
Workman, a 37-year-old mortgage broker, took the hints. He asked the local Republican Liberty Caucus to mine the Florida Statutes — five books and an index — for targets. He whittled down the group’s suggestions to seven bills and also gave away a few to colleagues.
Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, is trying to repeal a law requiring diners to order a salad or vegetable, entree, bread, and beverage to take home resealed wine. And Longwood Rep. Scott Plakon, a libertarian-leaning Republican like Workman, is proposing several of his own, including one that would repeal the unlawful roaming of sheep-killing dogs.
Workman presented four bills in committee meetings this week. An avid runner, Workman was so excited for one that he jogged to the lectern. He needed only six minutes to pass repeals on “arcane” rules for chauffeur’s licenses and coasting.
There were just a few questions, including one from Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg: “Why do we need to get rid of it if it’s not doing nothing?”
Said Workman: “Every law that we pass in some way takes a little piece of the liberties that we are supposed to protect for our citizens. ”
Another colleague pressed him on the original legislative intent of one of his targets: a provision that prohibits motor vehicles from coasting in neutral or with the clutch disengaged downhill.
“I think probably to take away liberties and freedoms of citizens,” Workman said.
That got laughs.
“Are there any safety concerns, seriously?” Rep. Richard Steinberg, R-Miami Beach, continued.
Workman apologized and explained the outdated law applied to technology “that probably came with the invention of the horseless carriage.” He was “just jesting” earlier, he said.
His business finished, Workman darted out of the meeting and into an elevator. As the doors closed, he told friends in the lobby, “I’m a pretty big deal. My Capitol office smells of mahogany and leather-bound books.”
He was joking again — refashioning a line from fictional newscaster Ron Burgundy in Anchorman.
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