What to know about the Florida bill to rename Palm Beach International Airport for Trump

ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida lawmakers this week approved renaming the international airport in West Palm Beach after President Donald Trump, just days after the Trump family company filed to trademark the use of the president’s name on airports.

The legislation to switch the name of the Palm Beach International Airport to the President Donald J. Trump International Airport awaits the signature of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after it passed the state Senate on Thursday. If the Republican governor signs it into law and it's approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, the name change will take effect in July.

When asked if the governor planned to sign the legislation, his press secretary, Molly Best, said Friday that DeSantis hadn't yet received the bill. When he does, “he will review it in its final form," she said.

Here's what to know about the airport's renaming.

What the legislation does

The legislation gives the power to name large commercial airports in Florida to the state. In doing that, lawmakers kept the names of Florida's six other major commercial airports the same, while changing the one in West Palm Beach, which is nearby Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach.

The legislation also specifies that the state's airport names are “branding designations” only, without the need to create new legal entities. The changing of the West Palm Beach airport's name is expected to cost as much as $5.5 million for new signage, branding and other updates.

Trump trademark

The approval of the airport name change came just days after the Trump Organization filed applications with the federal trademark office seeking exclusive rights to use the president’s name on airports and dozens of related things found there, from buses shuttling passengers to umbrellas and flight suits.

The Trump Organization said that the first-of-their-kind applications were triggered by the Florida bill and that it didn’t seek any profit — only protection against “bad actors” given that the Trump name is the “most infringed trademark in the world.”

Unlike past U.S. presidents, Trump isn't waiting for future generations to name things after him.

Trump’s handpicked board voted last year to rename Washington’s leading performing arts center as the Trump Kennedy Center. Congress originally named the center for President John F. Kennedy in 1964, after his assassination. Trump's allies also put his name on the U.S. Institute of Peace and a new class of battleships that’s yet to be built.

There are also the “Trump Accounts” for tax-deferred investments, the TrumpRx government website offering direct sales of prescription drugs and the “Trump Gold Card” visa that costs at least $1 million

Local reaction

Palm Beach County historically was a Democratic-dominated, liberal enclave. But in the past decade, its politics have swung to the right because of an influx of MAGA influencers and billionaires, especially in the town of Palm Beach, which is Trump's home, and surrounding wealthy communities. Palm Beach County voters in 2024 picked Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris over the Republican Trump by the narrowest of margins — less than 6,000 votes out of more than 748,000 votes cast.

GOP state Sen. Debbie Mayfield, who sponsored the Senate bill, said the new name was a good fit for the county since Trump had made it his home.

Calling the name change “misguided and unfair,” U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, a Democrat whose district includes the airport, said the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature had ignored public input by pushing ahead with the name change without properly consulting local residents.

“Decisions about naming major infrastructure should wait until after an honoree’s service has concluded — and should include meaningful input from the local residents and communities most directly affected," Frankel said.