Florida lawmakers took the first steps Tuesday to wipe away the Gulf of Mexico from state laws and educational materials.
Three Republican-controlled House and Senate panels gave initial approvals to bills aimed at carrying out President Donald Trump’s move to rename the Gulf of Mexico, which first appeared on Spanish maps in the mid-1500s, as the Gulf of America.
Sen. Nick DiCeglie, an Indian Rocks Beach Republican who sponsored one of the bills (SB 608), called the change “patriotic.”
Days after Trump issued a Jan. 20 executive order titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness,” Gov. Ron DeSantis used the Gulf of America name in a state executive order about a winter storm. But state laws and numerous other government materials use the Gulf of Mexico, leading to the legislative proposals.
“This is just changing the name Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America in Florida statutes,” DiCeglie said. “It’s consistent with the executive order coming from the federal government. And it’s as simple as that.”
But Rep. Dotie Joseph, D-North Miami, said she opposed the change as “the Gulf of Mexico was assigned that name at birth.”
Matthew Grocholske, who called himself a Floridian with “a lot of time on my hands to waste,” said lawmakers should be focused on insurance and affordable housing rather than “wasting time” on the name of the Gulf and pointed to Republican lawmakers’ focus on Trump.
“Right now our government is in a very weird time period,” Grocholske told the House Government Operations Subcommittee. “This is not normal. This is a state that has enabled one person, one person, and has focused its whole legislative session so far on empowering that one person to try to pick up any sense of power. And that’s not what the government should be.”
But Rep. Judson Sapp, R-Green Cove Springs, called the change “brave” and said it announces “that America is great. And it tells the world that we believe that.”
DiCeglie’s bill was approved in a 4-2 vote by the Senate Community Affairs Committee after a similar measure (HB 575) was approved 13-4 by the House Government Operations Subcommittee.
The proposal would rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America in 52 sections of state laws. If approved by the Legislature and signed by DeSantis, the changes would take effect July 1.
Separately, the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee backed a measure (SB 1058) by Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, that would require state agencies to update geographic materials to reflect the name change. Also, county school boards and charter school governing boards would have to begin acquiring instructional and library materials that reflect the Gulf of America name.
“We want our kids to have the correct names of everything moving forward, and this is just a way to do that,” Gruters said.
In opposing the bill, Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, said presidents shouldn’t unilaterally change the names of bodies of water or land.
“It just bothers me that we’re even making this change, that we’re wasting our time dealing with this,” Polsky said.
Before the vote, Gruters removed part of the bill that sought to rename Tamiami Trail, which is U.S. 41 from Miami-Dade County to Hillsborough County, the “Gulf of America Trail.”
Rep. Juan Carlos Porras, R-Miami, has filed the House version of Gruters’ bill (HB 575).
