A bill driven by Florida State Rep. Alex Andrade's (R-Pensacola) frustration over the Skanska-Pensacola Bay Bridge disaster failed to advance in the state Senate despite its passage with just one "no" vote in the House.
In an interview shortly after passing in the House, Andrade said the bill would make much-needed changes to an out-of-date law.
"What it amounts to is gamesmanship on an archaic piece of law that limits the value of damages collectable to the value of vessels that cause the damage," Andrade told the Florida Record. "So, allowing for an addendum essentially or, you know, a supplemental plan to increase the amount of those damages that can be collective in circumstances like this in the future is something, I think, most folks understand and can get behind."
Andrade sponsored the bill amid growing frustrations over an issue in his district where construction barges belonging to the company Skanska took out the Pensacola Bay Bridge during Hurricane Sally. According to the Pensacola News Journal, Skanska relied on federal maritime law in an effort to limit the company's responsibility for the damages to the value of the barges.
"I think maritime law and the protections from maritime law, they're pretty archaic and it's frustrating to me the dynamic right now back home in the fact that if Skanska's dump trucks had broken their bridge for nine months and caused all of this economic damage and direct impact damage, we'd have very little concern about exactly how much in damages to be paid out. But, because these were floating and not on wheels that caused the damage that, you know, my constituents may get nothing," Andrade said.
Under House Bill 157, road contractors with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) doing work over navigable waters would be required to have a liability insurance policy for third-party damages in an amount set by the FDOT.
"I have spoken with enough Florida road contractors to know that in the circumstances where you are doing bridge work and work on the water for these road contracts, they're so few and far between that this won't apply to the vast majority of road contractors in Florida," Andrade said.
The change, which was part of a larger transportation policy package, advanced with 114 votes in the House on March 2.
It was then sent over to the Senate for consideration.
As of March 12, it was indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration in the Senate. The legislation died in appropriations two days later.