Gov. DeSantis: SB 540 and budget fertilizer ban are 'corporatism' - and you should veto them

__________________________________

Gov. Ron DeSantis famously said in 2022 that “corporatism is not the same as free enterprise.”

We hope he takes his own advice when he considers two of the worst bills out of the state Legislature to cross his desk this year.

For the record: VoteWater joins other conservation groups around Florida, including our friends at Friends of the Everglades, in requesting Gov. DeSantis veto the following bills:

• Senate Bill 540: This would effectively end citizen challenges to comprehensive plan amendments by saddling those who challenge an amendment and lose with the other side’s legal fees. Comprehensive plan amendments are often passed to facilitate more development in areas where it’s been curtailed. This bill, if signed into law, not only disempowers citizens, it will result in more sprawl, more pavement, more runoff and flooding and more problems.

• Line item 146 in Senate Bill 2500, the Appropriations bill: In the last week of session a measure banning local governments from adopting or amending fertilizer ordinances that include a wet season application ban was snuck into budget bills; there were no committee hearings and no chance for public debate. Line item 146 appropriates $250,000 to the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) at the University of Florida for a “study”; a line-item veto of this proviso language eliminates the basis for the ban.

Both these bills (and others) amount to giveaways to powerful industries: the development industry and the fertilizer industry.

This is corporatism. This is corporate interests wanting something, or wanting to get rid of something, and turning to their friendly legislators to provide. And our Legislature complied, as always.

Gov. DeSantis mustn't do the same.

We’ve previously noted that if DeSantis is serious about clean water, as articulated in his Executive Order 23-06, issued back in January, he must veto bills like these.

If we’re to take his critique of corporatism seriously - he has another reason to scuttle these bills.

And you can give him even further reason:

Copy and paste the sample letter below - or create your own - and tell Gov. DeSantis that if he opposes corporatism, he must veto SB 540 and line item 146 in SB 2500:

To: [email protected]

Subject: Please veto SB 540 and line item 146 in SB 2500

Dear Gov. DeSantis:

I agree with your view that corporatism is not the same as free enterprise, and special interests should not dictate government policy.

That’s why I’m asking you to veto SB 540 and line item 146 in SB 2500.

Senate Bill 540 is a giveaway to the development industry. It saddles citizens who challenge a comprehensive plan amendment and lose with the other side’s legal fees, which could run into six figures. This effectively disempowers citizens while making life much easier and more profitable for developers. That’s corporatism in a nutshell.

Line item 146 in SB 2500, the Appropriations bill, was a sneak attack by the fertilizer industry and sympathetic legislators. They snuck a line in the budget implementing bill prohibiting new fertilizer bans or updating existing bans with wet-season application bans for one year while IFAS studies the effects. There were no public hearings and no chance for debate; “friendly” legislators simply rammed through a measure benefitting big business, at the expense of clean water. This, too, is corporatism.

Governor, the free market cannot work in Florida when politicians put their thumb on the scale - as they have with SB 540 and line item 146 in SB 2500. Please veto these measures - for the sake of our waters, our citizens, and the greater good of Florida.

P.S. Signatures Needed! The "Right to Clean and Healthy Waters" petition needs 900,000 signature by November 30 to get on the 2024 ballot. The petition can be printed out and signed here: http://www.floridarighttocleanwater.org/