1 hr ago
With only two committees left to weigh in on proposed state legislation that would reverse cruise ship restrictions in Key West, organizers are preparing last-ditch efforts to prevent the state from overseeing the city’s port.
Josh Aubuchon, the lobbyist hired by the Key West Committee for Safer, Cleaner Ships, said the Senate Rules Committee and House Commerce Committee are the final two legislative stops before the bills go to the full floor for a vote. While all previous committee and subcommittee hearings have resulted in favorable votes for the proposed and increasingly-amended bills, Aubuchon said there is still a possibility the cruise ship legislation might get lost in the flurry of bills still left to be heard, effectively dying in committee. He said the Senate Rules Committee has 118 bills to get through in the next month before the legislative sessions ends. The House Commerce Committee’s docket has 48 bills remaining to be heard.
With only two committees left to weigh in on proposed state legislation that would reverse cruise ship restrictions in Key West, organizers are preparing last-ditch efforts to prevent the state from overseeing the cityâs port.
Josh Aubuchon, the lobbyist hired by the Key West Committee for Safer, Cleaner Ships, said the Senate Rules Committee and House Commerce Committee are the final two legislative stops before the bills go to the full floor for a vote. While all previous committee and subcommittee hearings have resulted in favorable votes for the proposed and increasingly-amended bills, Aubuchon said there is still a possibility the cruise ship legislation might get lost in the flurry of bills still left to be heard, effectively dying in committee. He said the Senate Rules Committee has 118 bills to get through in the next month before the legislative sessions ends. The House Commerce Committeeâs docket has 48 bills remaining to be heard.
More travel executives get their mission-critical industry news from Skift than any other source on the planet.Tell me more
A year into the unprecedented global pause of the world’s largest cruise lines, no other segment of travel faces a more uncertain future, nor as much of a massive transformation to its business model. Beyond the ship’s decks, far-reaching implications loom for those destinations with an outsized dependence on large cruise ship tourism and its ripple effects.
Megaships remain synonymous with risk in the eye of an increasing number of consumers as the industry struggles to regain its clout. The public relations scar might run deeper than the industry likes to admit. A recent survey of 600 cruisers and non-cruisers in the UK and Australia, for example, revealed that 47 percent did not trust cruise lines to look after them if something went wrong during a voyage, while a staggering 67 percent were less willing to cruise because of the pandemic.
The state legislative effort to overturn Key Westâs voter-approved restrictions on cruise ships took a leap forward Wednesday when the Senate Transportation Committee approved a bill that would remove the cityâs ability to regulate its own harbor.
Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, the freshman senator representing the Florida Keys, voted against the bill. However, she had earlier put forth an amendment that would have exempted Key West from the proposed Senate Bill 426 because the city is a State Area of Critical Concern. That designation allows special protections for the off-shore waters of Key West because of its delicate coral and fish ecosystems.