Sunset legislation to disband spaceport authority
Mar. 22—Local legislation will be introduced into the General Assembly today to disband the Camden County Spaceport Authority.
State Rep. Steven Sainz, R-Woodbine, in a phone interview with The News on Monday, said the proposed legislation to disband the authority will have its first reading on the House floor today.
Sainz said the voters spoke during a special election on March 8 where more than 72 percent of the vote was to prohibit the county commission from closing on a deal to purchase the launch site from Union Carbide.
"It's hard to ignore how the people vote," Sainz said.
The move to disband the spaceport authority began hours after Camden County commissioners appointed their first members to the spaceport authority at a special called meeting on March 11 — three days after the special election.
People were concerned the county was trying to circumvent the referendum by appointing members to the authority for the first time since it was created through special legislation in 2019 sponsored by Sainz.
Several hours after the special called county commission meeting on March 11, Sainz expressed his support for the voters who overwhelmingly voted to stop the county from buying a launch site with some environmental concerns and which posed public safety risks to residents and structures on Cumberland and Little Cumberland islands.
"If there is a referendum vote that signifies that the county commissioners cannot purchase this property, I will not stand aside and see that this piece of legislation created a few years ago be utilized in a way that allows the county to ignore the votes of my constituents," Sainz said.
State Rep. John Corbett, R-Lake Park, whose district included part of Camden County until the recent redistricting, is also supporting the legislation to dissolve the authority, Sainz said. Corbett was a co-sponsor of the legislation to establish the spaceport authority.
Sainz said the legislation will have to be approved by both the House and Senate to become law.
State Sen. Sheila McNeill, R-Brunswick, did not return a call Monday for comment.
Megan Desrosiers, president and CEO of the environmental organization One Hundred Miles, said she hopes the legislation gets the support needed to pass.
"Camden County voters sent a clear message on March 8," she said. "They want their elected officials to pull the plug on a taxpayer-funded spaceport. Unlike the commissioners, Reps. Sainz and Corbett are listening and responding. I hope Sen. McNeill will follow suit."
