Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed House Minority Leader Rep. Fentrice Driskell’s abandoned cemeteries bill (HB 49) into law, incorporating several recommendations from the Abandoned African American Cemeteries Task Force into the state’s legal framework.
The law establishes the Historic Cemeteries Program and an affiliated Advisory Council within the Department of State’s Division of Historical Resources.
The law also provides $1 million for research on abandoned cemeteries and providing grants for repair, restoration and/or maintenance of African American cemeteries.
The bill passed the House unanimously and garnered more than 30 bipartisan co-sponsors.
Driskell thanked legislative colleagues in the Senate for their leadership.
– Staff Reports, Florida Politics, The Tampa Bay 100
