Gun safety and gun violence prevention is one of the legislative priorities of the League of Women Voters of Florida, and the League of Women Voters of Alachua County supports the City of Gainesville and Alachua County in their efforts to reduce gun violence in our community. As such, we support regulations concerning handgun purchase, ownership, and use. We promote social and economic justice and the health and safety of all Americans by supporting regulations concerning the purchase, ownership, and use of handguns that consider the balance of individual constitutional rights with the general interest and welfare of the community.

Dear Members,
Our league is concluding our fiscal and administrative year this month with two asks of our members...

UPDATED: 05/05/23: On March 9th, the gas rebate issue finally went before the City Commission. GRU presented their reasons for wanting to retain the rebate program and Utility Advisory Board (UAB) chair Barry Jacobson gave excellent rebuttals to their arguments. However, the commission decided to take no action so the rebate program will remain in place for now and we do not expect any changes to the program in the near future. In addition, market forces are aligned against future home gas use and, while it will take longer than we would like, we believe the gas rebate program will eventually die from attrition.

On May 11, we expect the commission will hear a presentation from GRU on gas infrastructure plans and their reasons for continued expansion of gas pipelines in western Alachua County. We are against adding more gas infrastructure for the same reasons we are against the rebate program and will be redirecting our efforts toward preventing this expansion. Additionally, given that federal policy and market forces are currently running counter to the use of residential use of natural gas, investing in more gas infrastructure makes no financial sense for GRU.

published 4/24/23