Reduce Silly Regulations effort has the backing of Governor Scott

From Eric Dondero:

Believe it or not, it is illegal in the State of Florida to ride your bicycle without your hands on the handle-bars. It is illegal to smoke so-called flavored cigarettes. It is illegal for a boyfriend and girlfriend to live together without a marriage license. All that may soon change.

From the Miami Herald "Lawmaker wants bad laws banished":

Rep. Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne... 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.

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.

RLC asked to help identify laws to eliminate

Meanwhile:

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.

The Reps are getting libertarian activists involved in the effort. Continuing:

[Rep.] Workman, a 37-year-old mortgage broker... 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.

There have been some mild objections to eliminating the laws from Democrats, such as Rep. Darryl Rouson of St. Petersburg, who expressed the belief that if the laws aren't harming anyone, they should be allowed to stay on the books.

But with Republicans holding vast majorities in the House and Senate in Tallahassee and with a movement libertarian sitting in the Governor's office, it's a good bet there will be less Florida statutes on the books come the end of the legislative sesssion.