Guest commentary: SCCF provides Week 3 legislative update
During the third week of Florida’s 2026 legislative session, senators tasked with forming the budget heard a warning from Appropriations Chair Sen. Ed Hooper regarding the $3.5 billion in revenue losses that the state would see from changes made to corporate tax in the federal government’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill passed in July.
Sen. Hooper stated that the “revenue losses are real, and they impact every silo of our budget process.” He went on to say that the Senate will pass a budget that is less dollars than the current budget year — and that’s before the $1 billion in extra Medicaid costs that will also need to be addressed.
The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF) will closely watch how these budget challenges impact the governor’s proposed environmental package and will strongly advocate for continued funding commitments made for Everglades restoration and the Florida Forever land acquisition program.
Bills that will impact the environment are starting to move through their respective committee stops. Among those heard last week were several relating the land application of biosolids affecting the water quality of northern and central Florida, and statewide local government preemption bills that relate to comprehensive planning, which we are closely monitoring. Other unique environmental bills that passed were a troubling net-zero policy preemption bill and two favorable green infrastructure and public lands transparency bills.
ENERGY
Net-zero Policies by Government Agencies — SB 1628 passed in its first of three committee stops by a vote of 5-3, with a considerable amount of committee member debate and an equal amount of industry support and opposition by clean energy advocates during public input. The local government preemption bill would prohibit all local government entities from expending funds to implement, support or advance net-zero policies.
The bill sponsor claims that the bill addresses unnecessary taxation, but the senators that opposed the bill pointed out that the bill would severely impact the clean energy industry in Florida that employs thousands of residents and undermines the environmental gains the Legislature has spent the last 30 years trying to revitalize.
One senator pointed out that the bill’s own analysis states, “There is broad scientific consensus that if the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continues, the risk of more severe climate impacts will increase including biodiversity loss, threats to human health, reduced food and water security, and more frequent and severe extreme weather events. In addition, every additional degree of warming will intensify multiple and concurrent hazards.”
The House version, HB 1217, had not yet been scheduled for its first of three scheduled committee hearings as of Jan. 30.
CLIMATE CHANGE/RESILIENCY/SEA LEVEL RISE
Nature-based Coastal Resiliency — HB 1035 passed unanimously in its first of two assigned committees and was presented as basically a statewide mangrove planting and restoration bill that also requires the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to develop guidelines and standards to address nature-based coastal resiliency and to promote nature-based solutions for coastal resiliency.
The comparable Senate version, SB 302, which adds a required statewide feasibility study regarding the value of nature-based solutions, unanimously passed the first of its three committee stops.
PUBLIC LANDS
Conservation Lands — HB 441 passed unanimously in the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Budget Subcommittee, the second of its three assigned committees. The bill sponsor said that she wrote the bill as a result of this past summer’s secretive Guana River Wildlife Management Area land swap proposal that rallied thousands of citizens in statewide opposition. The bill calls for more notice: 30 days instead of the current seven days, and increased transparency in any future state conservation land swap proposal.
The identical Senate bill, SB 546, has passed the first of its three committees.
Check out our 2026 Legislative Tracker at https://sccf.org/what-we-do/2026-legislative-session/ to see a table of the bills that the SCCF is following, updated daily during session.
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 sccf.org.