Florida Senate - 2016                                     SB 606
       
       
        
       By Senator Margolis
       
       
       
       
       
       35-00897-16                                            2016606__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to state symbols; creating s. 15.053,
    3         F.S.; designating the Big Orange as the official state
    4         symbol for New Year’s Eve celebrations; providing an
    5         effective date.
    6  
    7         WHEREAS, the Greater Miami Host Committee, Inc., chaired by
    8  Monty Trainer, has been recognized by the Florida Senate for
    9  hosting and producing world-class signature events that promote
   10  globalization, tourism, business, industry, trade and commerce,
   11  culture, education, governmental relations, international
   12  affairs, and community and economic development to local,
   13  national, and international markets, and
   14         WHEREAS, these international signature events encourage
   15  hospitality, goodwill, trust, and international exchange, and
   16         WHEREAS, 30 years ago, Rodney Barreto, then executive
   17  director of the Greater Miami Host Committee, Inc., created and
   18  launched the Big Orange New Year’s Eve Celebration, hosted by
   19  the City of Miami, commissioning the design and construction of
   20  the Big Orange to ignite the same enthusiasm and anticipation as
   21  New York City’s Times Square Big Apple, and
   22         WHEREAS, designed by internationally acclaimed industrial
   23  artist Steve Carpenter, the Big Orange is 35 feet in diameter,
   24  weighs 2,000 pounds, and has become an LED-lighted icon, and
   25         WHEREAS, in 1995, the Big Orange was dubbed the “Times
   26  Square of the South” and simulcast with the Dick Clark’s New
   27  Year’s Rockin’ Eve television broadcast, and
   28         WHEREAS, the Big Orange has been recognized as an official
   29  United States time ball and is linked to the United States Naval
   30  Observatory Master Clock, and
   31         WHEREAS, the Big Orange and its celebration attract a
   32  diverse audience of 150,000 to 250,000 local revelers and
   33  international visitors annually, as well as a worldwide
   34  television viewership of more than 50 million, and
   35         WHEREAS, the Big Orange New Year’s Eve Celebration is
   36  recognized as one of the top 10 New Year’s Eve destination
   37  events in the world by MSN-USA Today, and
   38         WHEREAS, in 2013, under the Big Orange banner “La Gran
   39  Naranja,” the City of Miami and honorary chair Mayor Tomas P.
   40  Regalado launched Viva Florida 500, the quincentennial
   41  commemoration of the discovery of Florida in 1513 by Spanish
   42  explorer Ponce de Leon, who brought the orange from Spain to
   43  Florida that same year, and
   44         WHEREAS, on December 31, 2014, Miami, as Florida’s most
   45  culturally diverse city and the international epicenter of art,
   46  culture, business, music, education, technology, media, sports,
   47  and entertainment, hosted its very first live, family-friendly
   48  New Year’s Eve television special, conceived and co-produced by
   49  Latin Grammy Award-winning artist Pitbull, and
   50         WHEREAS, during the 2015 celebration, the Big Orange served
   51  as a symbol of the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s
   52  call to increase policies and business practices that promote
   53  gender equality and women’s empowerment through tourism and
   54  allied industries, NOW, THEREFORE,
   55  
   56  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   57  
   58         Section 1. Section 15.053, Florida Statutes, is created to
   59  read:
   60         15.053 Official state symbol for New Year’s Eve
   61  celebrations.—The Big Orange is designated as the official state
   62  symbol of New Year’s Eve celebrations in this state.
   63         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.