Guest commentary: SCCF provides legislative updates for Week 2 and 3
Nature-based Methods for Improving Coastal Resilience — SB 50 and HB 371 by Sen. Ileana Garcia and Rep. James Vernon “Jim” Mooney Jr., respectively — both passed unanimously through their committees during Week 2.
As of March 14, the Senate bill had passed all of its assigned committees and was headed to the Senate floor for full debate. The comparable House bill had been read in its first committee and garnered more discussion than in the Senate. The testimony was all positive as representatives are excited by the prospect of the bill providing more guidelines and standards for optimal combinations of green and grey infrastructure to address sea level rise and the impact of storm surges. Both bills also contain language to improve the permitting process for those implementing these nature-based solutions.
The House bill will move to the Agriculture and Natural Resources Budget Subcommittee next and then to the House State Affairs as its last committee of reference.
Regulation of Auxiliary Containers — HB 565 by Rep. Omar Blanco — was introduced and failed last year, but is back again and being heard early this session in both the House and Senate assigned committees. The bill preempts local governments from regulating “auxiliary containers” commonly used as single-use plastic food containers. The bill sponsor talked of the public’s freedom to have a product choice, but opponents pointed out that the bill fails to adopt any of the Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) long-standing suggested solutions to the increasing plastic pollution problem in Florida. Opponents further pointed out the critical threat plastic pollution poses to sea turtles, shorebirds and human health.
Despite the compelling testimony from anti-pollution advocates and several legislators sitting on the committee, the bill passed by a vote of 13-5 and moved to its second committee of reference, the Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittee.
The identical Senate Bill — SB 1822 by Sen. Jonathan Martin — was to be heard in its first committee of reference on March 17 in the Senate Environment & Natural Resources Committee.
WEEK 3
The third week of Florida’s legislative session included the passage of several environmentally damaging bills. While the bills dealt with different topics, such as development, plastic containers and mitigation, each bill preempts local governments’ ability to manage the consequences or growth.
Land Use and Development Regulations — SB 1118 by Sen. Stan McClain — has been called the worst environmental bill of the session.
The bill preempts infill policies and zoning and development regulations, eliminates rural development boundaries, negates local referendum votes, and allows administrative approval of developments in rural areas. An amendment to the bill by the sponsor makes it worse by preempting regulation on utility/energy siting facilities and removes the lot size requirements of local land development codes, allowing increased density in rural areas.
During debate, legislators noted that they received hundreds of calls in opposition, yet the bill passed by a vote of 5-3. Because of the length of the debate on the bill and previous bills heard during the meeting, the public was limited to 30 seconds for their comments.
The bill moves to the Senate Regulated Industries next. The comparable House version — HB 1209 — had not yet been scheduled in its first committee, the Housing, Agriculture and Tourism Subcommittee, as of March 21.
The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF) opposes the bill and will be working with our advocacy partners across the state to speak to legislators about the bad provisions of the bill.
Mitigation Banks — HB 1175 by Rep. Wyman Duggan — passed by a vote of 12-3 in the House Natural Resources and Disasters Subcommittee last week. It allows environmental mitigation to take place outside of the impacted area, which eliminates the ability for a community to receive any benefits of local wetland functions, such as storm protections, flood attenuation, water filtration and recharge, and healthy wildlife habitats.
The bill also allows for the early sale of credits before mitigation banks are appropriately created and restored. The early release of credits would eliminate the function of a wetland in one area and could result in the loss of wetland function years before those functions are replaced.
The comparable Senate Bill — SB 492 — has passed its first committee of reference and will be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government next. While Lee County may not be affected by the bill immediately, the explosive growth in our region is having cumulative impacts across the state.
The SCCF opposes the bill as currently written.
As of 2023, the House of Representatives has updated its rules for posting committee agendas, which allows for a little more than a 36-hour notice for bills appearing in committee Wednesday through Friday. Due to the tight timelines, please check our SCCF Legislative Tracker at https://sccf.org/what-we-do/2025-legislative-session/ for late week environmental bill updates.
Holly Schwartz is policy associate for the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF). Founded in 1967, the SCCF’s mission is to protect and care for Southwest Florida’s coastal ecosystems. For more information, visit www.sccf.org.