Guest commentary: SCCF provides update on legislative special session
Last week, the Florida Legislature met to discuss three issues during its Congressional Map Redistricting Special Session.
The Legislature passed a new congressional map that creates four more Republican-leaning seats. The map could face a legal challenge as it may violate Florida’s 2010 “Fair Districts” Constitutional Amendment, which prohibits partisan and racial gerrymandering.
Two other scheduled issues that were not discussed last week were artificial intelligence (AI) and medical (vaccine) freedom legislation.
BUDGET SPECIAL SESSION
The Budget Special Session to finalize the budget that was not passed during the regular session has been set for May 12-29.
According to Politico, legislative leaders announced two weeks ago that they’d reached a deal on overall spending, agreeing to allocate $1.38 billion in general revenue for agriculture, natural resources and the environment. That was a significant jump in spending from the House’s original budget, which only allocated $771.2 million in general revenue for those categories.
As our state continues to develop rapidly, we ask that you contact your legislators as they prepare to negotiate the state budget to let them know the importance of providing a balanced amount of funding for the Florida Forever Program.
Without adequate funding, the Florida Forever Program will miss the current opportunity to protect irreplaceable properties that have already been identified for purchase.
Visit https://sccf.quorum.us/campaign/156437/ to send a message to our legislative budget leaders telling them to fully fund the Florida Forever Land Acquisition program
JUNE SPECIAL SESSION
Although a date has not been set, Gov. Ron DeSantis stated recently that there will be a June special session to discuss property tax reduction and repeal proposals. The governor has said that he sees any proposed property tax cuts to follow a graduated or phased in approach.
In order to pass, any such proposals would need to be approved by 60% of the members in both the House and the Senate to put it on the ballot as a referendum. To pass, the measure would also require 60% of the voters’ approval.
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.