For the legislative initiative to get any hold with the FAA, there is a long process of rule making. However the State imposed ban on kiting based upon FAA is something we can fight for a long time in the different court systems to come to a reasonable conclusion.

An aircraft should be able to climb at a certain point from the takeoff to a certain height and get to a predetermined altitude after an engine failure on take off. This minimum climb gradient is published in the FAA directories and if there are any antennas or buildings nearly the airport that climb gradient becomes more restrictive for the pilot on take off. So Sarasota also has this minimum requirement, and if the kite does not interfere with that climb gradient then all is good.

Politicians love to please their constituents, and maybe around Sarasota there maybe voices being heard by the local chosen garb that is elected in the county seats near those beaches.
History in South Florida has shown that on a local level beaches can be closed by cities etc. With not much reprieve from the kiters, other then to accept certain areas where they may kite.
However if they play the FAA card, and use it in their legislative wording, then we actually stand a better chance in developing a solution with the FAA's limitations in mind.

On a separate matter, kiting is allowed around Nice (France) airport as long as the kiters do not cross the extended centerline of the runway. They get to close 300 feet of landing traffic. I have flown in there for many years and looked VERY closely at them as I was on short final. One kiter did end up on a taxi way once. Not good for him as there are many different "police" forces to deal with to get of the airport property, and then ask for your kite back .....

Let's see what happens.