And on the legislative front…
As noted during last week’s Friends of the Everglades livestream, the Florida legislative session has (as usual) produced dozens of bad bills, but many have gone nowhere and have little chance of passing.
Great news! But don’t pop the champagne just yet; there are still several pro-”sprawl” bills nearing the finish line. One (HB 1221) would water down the definition of “urban sprawl” itself, rendering it meaningless — and prompting more of it. Other bills would speed up the process of issuing residential building permits (HB 665) or expedite development permits and orders (HB 791), ostensibly reducing oversight.
One of the proposals we were most concerned about, HB 789/SB 738, initially sought to saddle people or groups who brought a legal challenge to a Florida DEP or water management district "authorization" and lost to pay the agencies' legal fees; that provision was removed from both bills, as was a second section that mandated FDEP and water management districts to conduct a "holistic" review of the coastal permitting process, ostensibly to speed it up. But now the bills have hit a whole new snag, with attorneys complaining about one remaining provision that "could sharply limit the ability of toxic tort victims to recover damages from polluters who violate their permits," as Law360 put it (paywalled). The bills are headed for the House/Senate floor where they could run into significant opposition.
Then there’s the budget: The House and Senate are far apart in terms of Everglades restoration, with the House spending plan matching up with Gov. DeSantis’s $745 million proposal. The Senate, by contrast, would allocate nearly $300 million less. Should the Senate budget vision win out, Florida would fall behind on the cost share of Everglades projects, which could force the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to halt construction on federal everglades projects.
Another curious item: a Senate proposal (line 1696D of the Senate budget) to study the health and ecosystem of Lake Okeechobee. Conducted by the Water School at Florida Gulf Coast University, the study would, among other things, investigate “the health of plant, fish, and wildlife to be used for future planning of invasive plant control, replanting of native vegetation, and fish and game management.”
Sounds innocuous — until you begin to wonder whether the study is ultimately intended to inform state water management strategies, and perhaps undermine LOSOM.
We’ll be watching — and keep you updated.
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