Miami Dolphins Stadium Bill Passes Florida Senate Commerce Committee

WSVN-TV -

The Miami Dolphins are proving to have friends in high places when it comes to their fancy new roof plans.

Members of the Florida Senate Commerce Committee unanimously voted in support of a bill that would give the franchise a $3 million annual sales tax rebate for the next 30 years, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

The move comes just weeks after the Miami-Dade County Commission passed a non-binding resolution supporting a rebate, which would help publicly fund a stadium update slated to cost $400 million.

“In the Senate, I don’t think that we’re going to have as many problems [getting the renovation funding bill through] as we’re going to have in the House,” State Sen. Oscar Braynon (D-Miami Gardens), the bill's sponsor, told the Times.

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has promised he will pay half of the cost of the upgrades, which includes a $100 million canopy roof, and is campaigning for taxpayers to foot the bill for renovations he's wanted since 2009. (Not everyone's on board.)

A final vote on the stadium rebate deal will not happen until at least March, when both houses of the Florida legislature reconvene for the 2014 session.