Reuters: Regulatory News: Florida business ban targets firms with ties to Cuba, Syria

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Florida business ban targets firms with ties to Cuba, Syria May 1st 2012, 19:52 Tue May 1, 2012 3:52pm EDT * Governor Scott signs bill, says it promotes freedom * Critics say it's unconstitutional and could hurt business * Seems aimed at Brazilian construction firm's subsidiary By Jane Sutton MIAMI, May 1 (Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott waded into foreign policy on Tuesday and signed a bill banning local governments from contracting with companies that do business in Cuba or Syria, while acknowledging the law could not take effect without Washington's OK. The bill's sponsors and strongest supporters are Cuban-American politicians from Miami who said Florida tax dollars should not be used to support dictatorships that oppress their people. The Republican governor, whose campaign slogan was "Let's Get to Work," dismissed criticism from the Florida Chamber of Commerce and others who said the law could discourage foreign firms from investing in Florida. He acknowledged there were still 800,000 Floridians looking for work in the state but "principles matter," he said. "We believe in freedom. That's why we have bills like this," Scott added. The new law is unenforceable for now but is scheduled to take effect on July 1. It prohibits state and local governments from awarding contracts of $1 million or more to companies that engage in business with Cuba or Syria, both of which are designated by the United States as state sponsors of terrorism. The law enjoyed broad support in the Republican-controlled Florida legislature despite warnings that it is unconstitutional. Miami-Dade County Attorney Robert Cuevas said in a March memo that federal law does not authorize states to enact such restrictions, and that federal law trumps state law on foreign policy matters. He advised county commissioners to ignore the new law. Scott recognized as much in a letter issued Tuesday saying the new restrictions "will not go into effect unless and until Congress passes, and President Obama signs, a law permitting states to independently impose such sanctions against Cuba and Syria." CUBAN-AMERICANS IN MIND A handful of groups supporting democracy for Syria were recognized at the bill-signing ceremony, but it was firmly focused on Cuba. Florida is home to about 1.2 million Cuban-Americans and the ceremony took place at the Freedom Tower, a former newspaper building in downtown Miami that was used in the 1960s as a reception center for Cubans fleeing their homeland after former President Fidel Castro's communist government took power. Republican U.S. Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said the law would ensure that those who receive "blood money" from tyrants and murderers would not receive tax money from Floridians. Republican U.S. Representative David Rivera said it would force companies to make a moral choice. "You either do business with terrorist dictatorships or you can do business with the money and resources of the taxpayers of Florida. It's one or the other, you choose," Rivera said. A 50-year-old U.S. trade embargo already prevents American firms from doing business with Cuba, and the United States has adopted a series of economic sanctions against Syria in the last eight years. The pending Florida law would apply to foreign firms and their subsidiaries, and seemed aimed at Odebrecht USA, a U.S. subsidiary of Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. The company's U.S. subsidiary has won numerous construction, transportation and engineering contracts in Florida, including the American Airlines Arena and a performing arts center in Miami. It is bidding on a proposed $700 million hotel and office complex associated with the Miami airport. The company has drawn criticism from Cuban exiles in Miami for its involvement in a major upgrade to the Cuban port of Mariel, near the capital Havana. Manuel Marono, the mayor of the Miami suburb of Sweetwater and a driving force behind the new legislation, denied it would hurt employment in Florida, where the jobless rate of 9 percent stands above the national rate of 8.2 percent. "The jobs are still going to get done, the projects are still going to get done," Marono said. "It's just going to get done by people that care about people." Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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