ORLANDO, Fla. – For the second straight day, Gov. Ron DeSantis mentioned a law that he claimed pertained to the removal of street art from crosswalks.
During the question-and-answer portion of a news conference about investigative subpoenas related to a DOGE audit of Orange County, News 6’s Laverne McGee asked DeSantis about the ongoing tension related to the Florida Department of Transportation’s initial removal of the rainbow colors embedded in a crosswalk outside the Pulse Nightclub.
“The legislature passed a change in law recently which said there’s no street art allowed,” DeSantis said. “The Department of Transportation put out guidance recently, a couple months ago, reminding everybody. And this has been addressed statewide.”
DeSantis, who claimed this was not an issue about content, argued that the street art “got out of hand.”
His comments appeared to expand on an answer he gave yesterday at a press conference in Tampa. He had mentioned Tuesday a “change in law” that undergirded FDOT’s actions.
[WATCH: Daytona International Speedway’s iconic checkered crosswalks repainted]
So what is the law?
That’s a question News 6 posed to the governor’s office Tuesday and again Wednesday. A staffer from the governor’s communications office responded both times by neglecting to comment and directing us to FDOT.
FDOT has not returned our emails related to DeSantis’ comments.
FDOT approved the Pulse crosswalk in 2017.
[WATCH: Rainbow crosswalk near Pulse Nightclub in Orlando removed]
In an interview with News 6 Tuesday, State Rep. Anna Eskamani, (D)-Orlando, objected to DeSantis’ characterization of the legal justification for the removal of the street art.
“What happened was a rule change in late June that created this new crosswalk prohibition,” Eskamani said. “And a rule change to the Green Book is not the same as a new law. Obviously, Florida law says that all road projects have to follow the Green Book, and so I want to present that clarity that a rule change is not the same as a law, and rules can change very quickly.”
News 6 was not able to identify a piece of legislation that prohibits street art, but it appeared that the governor may have been referring to Senate Bill 1662, passed during the legislative session and signed by DeSantis in June.
The law instructs local jurisdictions to adhere to traffic safety standards as outlined in FDOT policy.
Earlier this year, FDOT updated its policies to include a “prohibition on non-uniform traffic control devices, such as pavement markings on state and local roads.”
[WATCH: Seminole County’s green crosswalks go black amid Florida crackdown]
SB 1662 also authorizes the withholding of state transportation funds if local jurisdictions’ traffic signals do not comply with current traffic safety standards.
In his comments Wednesday, DeSantis noted that he approved funds for a Pulse Memorial, but he did not comment specifically on the crosswalk that has generated fierce backlash since the rainbow’s removal last week.
Current state statute (316.0745) does include a section that says the following:
“The Department of Transportation is authorized to permit traffic control devices not in conformity with the uniform system upon showing of good cause.”
As city of Orlando officials continue to mull their legal options pertaining to the Pulse crosswalk, a city spokesperson confirmed to News 6 Wednesday that Orlando hired a contractor to start removing art and other designs from crosswalks that were identified as being non-compliant in an FDOT letter sent to the city last week.
The spokesperson said the estimated cost to remove the city-identified spatial safety treatments on the list is approximately $85,000. She said the state is not expected to reimburse the city for that cost.