Florida Senate - 2015                              CS for SB 946
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation;
       and Senator Bullard
       
       
       
       
       592-03759-15                                           2015946c1
    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” in Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties;
    6         encouraging public officials, schools, private
    7         organizations, and citizens in Miami-Dade and Monroe
    8         Counties 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, given the adjacent ecosystems of southern Biscayne
   24  Bay and the northern Florida Keys, the lifelong conservation and
   25  education efforts of Sir Lancelot Garfield Jones are of
   26  significant importance to Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties, and
   27         WHEREAS, often referred to as the “Sage of Caesar Creek,”
   28  Sir Lancelot Garfield Jones became an educator of schoolchildren
   29  and a conservationist whose resolute values toward the
   30  preservation of Biscayne Bay greatly contributed to the
   31  establishment of Biscayne National Park, which was created to
   32  preserve and protect area wildlife for the education,
   33  inspiration, recreation, and enjoyment of present and future
   34  generations, and
   35         WHEREAS, Biscayne National Park is home to a rare
   36  combination of terrestrial, marine, and amphibious life in a
   37  tropical and subtropical setting of great natural beauty, which
   38  annually draws an average of 500,000 visitors, contributes more
   39  than $34 million to the state’s economy, and supports 422 jobs,
   40  and
   41         WHEREAS, the invaluable efforts of Sir Lancelot Garfield
   42  Jones to preserve the land he loved and to ensure that future
   43  generations would delight in its beauty and abundance have
   44  resulted in significant economic, ecological, and cultural
   45  contributions to the state, its heritage, and its future, NOW,
   46  THEREFORE,
   47  
   48  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   49  
   50         Section 1. Section 683.095, Florida Statutes, is created to
   51  read:
   52         683.095 Sir Lancelot Jones Day; Miami-Dade and Monroe
   53  Counties.—The second Monday in October of each year is
   54  designated as “Sir Lancelot Jones Day” in Miami-Dade and Monroe
   55  Counties to commemorate the contributions of Sir Lancelot
   56  Garfield Jones in the preservation of Biscayne Bay and the
   57  establishment of Biscayne National Park. Public officials,
   58  schools, private organizations, and all citizens in Miami-Dade
   59  and Monroe Counties are encouraged to honor the legacy of Sir
   60  Lancelot Garfield Jones and his contributions to the state by
   61  commemorating Sir Lancelot Jones Day on the second Monday in
   62  October of each year.
   63         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.