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RESOLUTION NO. 2003-533 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FLORIDA, EXPRESSING OPPOSITION TO SENATE BILL 1164 AND HOUSE BILL 113 WHICH SET FORTH AMENDMENTS TO THE BERT J. HARRIS, JR. ACT AND ANY AND ALL OTHER PROPOSED AMENDMENTS THAT WOULD SUBJECT LOCAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS TO FURTHER LIABILITY FOR THE CONSTITUTIONAL EXERCISE OF THEIR LEGISLATIVE AND QUASI-JUDICIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND POWERS; DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO TRANSMIT THE RESOLUTION TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE AND GOVERNOR; SETTING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the Bert J. Harris Jr. Private Property Rights Protection Act. ("Harris Act"), as codified in Section 70.001 of the Florida Statutes, was enacted in 1995 to provide a limited remedy for property owners when their property has been "inordinately burdened" by the action of a governmental entity; and WHEREAS, since its inception, numerous commentators and governments alike have expressed concern that the Harris Act is impermissibly vague, fraught with various problems in its application and interpretation, and has had a chilling effect upon numerous governments in their planning and zoning activities; and WHEREAS, in the eight years since the enactment of the Harris Act, there have been over 258 claims asserted against local governments in Florida; and WHEREAS, despite its various constitutional infirmities relating to, inter alia, its failure to define "inordinate burden" and "reasonable, investment-backed expectations;" the automatic ripeness provisions that appear to violate separation of powers doctrine; and the uncertainties inherent in its attempt to create a statue of limitations period; the Act nonetheless provided in clear language that it does "not affect the sovereign immunity of government"; and WHEREAS, on July 18, 2002, a case affectin~ one of the cities of Florida, namely Royal World Metropolitan, Inc. v. City of Miami Beach, 11 t Judicial Court Case No. 99-17243 (Royal World), resulted in a favorable summary judgment for the City which determined that the doctrine of sovereign immunity protects the City from liability for damages under the Harris Act and said case has been appealed and is pending in the Third District Court of Appeals as of the commencement ofthe 2003 Session ofthe Florida Legislature; and WHEREAS, the legislation proposed via Senate Bill 1164 and House Bill 113, if constitutional, in part seeks to nullify the effect of the Royal World decision and adversely affect the ad valorem taxpaying public of Florida in as much as 258 other claims pending statewide, by not only providing that such waiver is retroactive to May 11, 1995 and 1