Florida Senate - 2015                                     SB 946
       
       
        
       By Senator Bullard
       
       
       
       
       
       39-00137A-15                                           2015946__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to legal holidays and special
    3         observances; creating s. 683.095, F.S.; designating
    4         the second Monday in October of each year as “Sir
    5         Lancelot Jones Day”; authorizing the Governor to issue
    6         proclamations commemorating the occasion; encouraging
    7         public officials, schools, private organizations, and
    8         citizens to commemorate the occasion; providing an
    9         effective date.
   10  
   11         WHEREAS, born in 1898 on a 22-foot boat in Biscayne Bay,
   12  entrepreneur and farmer Sir Lancelot Garfield Jones prospered by
   13  supplying the nation with Key limes and was an expert fishing
   14  guide sought by five presidents and numerous senators,
   15  influential industrialists, and other cultural icons eager to
   16  experience the beauty of the bay’s wildlife, and
   17         WHEREAS, Sir Lancelot Garfield Jones lived most of his 99
   18  years on the tiny island known as Porgy Key, near the southern
   19  end of Biscayne Bay, which was first settled by his pioneer
   20  father and Bahamian mother in 1897 in an area long associated
   21  with African-American maritime history and which is now on the
   22  National Register of Historical Places, and
   23         WHEREAS, often referred to as the “Sage of Caesar Creek,”
   24  Sir Lancelot Garfield Jones became an educator of schoolchildren
   25  and a conservationist whose resolute values toward the
   26  preservation of Biscayne Bay greatly contributed to the
   27  establishment of Biscayne National Park, which was created to
   28  preserve and protect area wildlife for the education,
   29  inspiration, recreation, and enjoyment of present and future
   30  generations, and
   31         WHEREAS, Biscayne National Park is home to a rare
   32  combination of terrestrial, marine, and amphibious life in a
   33  tropical and subtropical setting of great natural beauty, which
   34  annually draws an average of 500,000 visitors, contributes more
   35  than $34 million to the state’s economy, and supports 422 jobs,
   36  and
   37         WHEREAS, the invaluable efforts of Sir Lancelot Garfield
   38  Jones to preserve the land he loved and to ensure that future
   39  generations would delight in its beauty and abundance have
   40  resulted in significant economic, ecological, and cultural
   41  contributions to the state, its heritage, and its future, NOW,
   42  THEREFORE,
   43  
   44  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   45  
   46         Section 1. Section 683.095, Florida Statutes, is created to
   47  read:
   48         683.095 Sir Lancelot Jones Day.—
   49         (1) The second Monday in October of each year is designated
   50  as “Sir Lancelot Jones Day” to commemorate the contributions of
   51  Sir Lancelot Garfield Jones in the preservation of Biscayne Bay
   52  and the establishment of Biscayne National Park.
   53         (2) The Governor may issue annually a proclamation
   54  designating the second Monday in October as “Sir Lancelot Jones
   55  Day.” Public officials, schools, private organizations, and all
   56  citizens are encouraged to honor the legacy of Sir Lancelot
   57  Garfield Jones and his contributions to the state by
   58  commemorating Sir Lancelot Jones Day on the second Monday in
   59  October of each year.
   60         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.