The state of Florida on Thursday urged a panel of skeptical federal appeals judges to allow enforcement of a law that prohibits companies from bidding on state and local government contracts if they also do business in Cuba or Syria.
The law, blocked by a federal district judge before it was to go into effect last year, was challenged by Coral Gables, Fla.-based Odebrecht Construction Inc., a subsidiary of a Brazilian conglomerate that has a separate unit working on an expansion project at Cuba’s port of Mariel. Odebrecht says the law will prevent it from bidding on billions of dollars in state and local projects in Florida.
