Guest commentary: Ask Senate Rules Committee to oppose SB 1822
Unfortunately, a bad bill has gotten worse. The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF) is opposing SB 1822, as it preempts local regulation of auxiliary containers — taking away key tools of municipal and county governments to help control plastic pollution. At its last committee stop, it was amended to add another unrelated preemption for an incinerator location in the Miami/Dade County area.
SB 1822, which was originally titled “Auxiliary Containers,” is now titled “Solid Waste” and is being heard in the Senate Rules Committee on April 16.
Please join us in sending a message to the members of the Senate Rules Committee to oppose this bill that preempts local communities from taking measures to protect their coastal communities from the inundation of plastic washing up on shore. The Rules Committee will be the last stop before the full Senate floor vote.
In 2008, our Legislature recognized the detrimental impact that retail plastic bags and single-use food containers were having on our coastal communities and inland waterways. They asked the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to analyze the need for regulation to address the growing problem. The DEP’s analysis was submitted to the Legislature in 2010, and in 2021, the Legislature requested an update. New recommendations were submitted in December of 2021.
Rather than adopting the DEP’s recommendations and instituting predictable and appropriate statewide regulations that would give retailers the consistency and certainty that they’ve asked for, we’ve instead seen repeated efforts to preempt local governments’ authority for the past several years in a row. Having clear guidelines makes life easier for large businesses and their supply chains, but the pursuit of this consistency should not come at the cost of local governments being able to prevent the widespread degradation of our environment.
We ask you to join the SCCF in opposing this “kick the can down the road” effort and instead, strongly recommend that the Legislature consider the DEP findings to craft legislation that will address this problem for the entire state.
To take action now, visit https://p2a.co/igPDofY.
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.