TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Gov. Rick Scott has proposed restoring Florida's Commerce Department to streamline economic development efforts.

The new Republican governor announced his proposal Thursday at meeting of Enterprise Florida, a public-private partnership that assumed the department's economic development role when it was dissolved in 1996.

 It will need legislative approval but drew immediate support from business interests.

Doing away with the department was a pet project of then-Gov. Lawton Chiles. They agency's tourism promotion functions were turned over to Visit Florida, another public-private partnership.

Scott was short on details but said he wants the agency's head to have an office near his own in the Capitol rather than in a separate building.

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