Seven pieces of legislation sponsored by former Rep. Joel Rudman were withdrawn Thursday, after the Navarre Republican exited the state House amid a run for a congressional seat.
Rudman resigned effective Wednesday from the House as he seeks to succeed former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz in Congressional District 1. A special primary election will be held Jan. 28, with the special general election April 1.
Though he was leaving the Legislature, Rudman filed six bills and a proposed constitutional amendment. Perhaps the highest-profile bill (HB 31) would have allowed people to openly carry firearms in Florida.
He also filed a bill (HB 79) on Monday that would increase the penalties for animal cruelty from a first-degree misdemeanor to a third-degree felony if the person commits the crime during a declared state of emergency.
Rudman filed the bill almost three months after a 5-year-old bull terrier, now named Trooper, was found tied to a fence along Interstate 75 in Tampa as category 4 Hurricane Milton barreled toward Florida.
He also filed a bill in recent days to stop ghost candidates from being included on ballots. Ghost candidates are loosely defined as those who sign up to seek an office as a write-in, thereby avoiding qualifying fees, who don’t receive or spend campaign contributions, do little or no campaigning and accomplish nothing by their presence in the race other than turning an otherwise open primary into one in which only members of a single party can vote.
Earlier in December, Rudman introduced HB 6001 in the Florida House. This bill would have repealed Section 163.035 of the Florida Statues, which allows local governments to affirm public customary use rights on private beaches.
The 2018 law, House Bill 631 (known as the customary use law), allows beachfront owners to bar the public from certain beach areas up to the mean high water line using signs and ropes. This has been a headache for Fort Walton Beach residents, as most of their local beaches are private property.
Each of the proposals can be filed by other lawmakers before the annual legislative session, which will start March 4. As of mid-day Thursday, Gov. Ron DeSantis had not announced a date for a special election to replace Rudman in state House District 3 in Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties.
Pensacola News Journal staff contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Rep. Joel Rudman bills tossed out after resignation