Guest commentary: SCCF provides weekly legislative updates

The 2024 Florida Legislative Session began on Jan. 9 with Gov. Ron DeSantis presenting his State of the State address to spotlight his priorities for the upcoming session. He largely spoke about education and tax relief, however, he highlighted that Florida’s success is tied to the environment.
Introduced on Dec. 5, the governor’s proposed $114.4 billion Focus on Florida’s Future Budget included environmental priorities like $1.1 billion for Everglades restoration and the protection of water resources. The funding proposed this year ties into his overall pledge of $3.5 billion for the Everglades that was made at the start of his second term.
Specific gubernatorial environmental spending proposals include:
– $500 million for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP)
– $64 million for the EAA Reservoir to continue the momentum of this critical project to reduce harmful discharges and help send more clean water south
– $135 million for the expanded Water Quality Improvement Grant Program for projects to construct, upgrade or expand wastewater facilities, including septic-to-sewer conversions, stormwater management projects, and agricultural nutrient reduction projects
Legislators were also been busy filing legislation and discussing bills. Some of those bills got a head start in committee during the pre-session interim committee weeks that ran from October to December. As of Jan. 12, the House had filed 1,679 bills and the Senate had filed 913 — fewer than last year for the House, but a record number in the Senate.
Growth Management SB 738 — Environmental Management
Unfortunately, the first week saw the advancement of Senate Bill 738, designed to discourage citizen legal challenges against the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Water Management Districts (WMD). The bill will require the losing party of any such challenge to pay $50,000 of prevailing and intervening parties attorney’s fees for failing to succeed in any challenge against the state agencies.
Environmental advocates have opposed similar legislative measures in recent years, specifically bills that required no limit on prevailing party’s attorneys and court fees to citizen challenges of development orders, zoning measures and comprehensive plans. The bills filed this year seek to put an end to the very last opportunity for judicial review to citizen challenges to DEP and WMD actions.
These laws have had a massive chilling effect, making it too risky to bring legitimate challenges that now have a chance of coming with potentially multimillion-dollar price tags.
SB 738 has moved next to its second committee stop in Senate Judiciary. The identical House version, HB 789, had not yet been scheduled as of Jan. 12.
WEEK 2
The second week of the Legislative Session contained several important environmental bills.
Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve — SB 1210 by Sen. Jonathan Martin passed unanimously last week in its first committee of reference. SB 1210 reduces the boundary of the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve around the southern end of San Carlos Island. The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation is working with the Estero Bay Buddies and other partner groups to diligently research this before we take a position on the bill. Our current concerns are that any contraction of the preserve must be rigorously vetted and ample evidence provided as to the reason for the change. Unfortunately, as it stands now, the bill and its staff analysis is opaque and does not provide a clear reason for the boundary change.
Estero Bay was the first Florida Aquatic Preserve established in 1966 by a group of conservation pioneers that recognized the exceptional ecological significance of the area. Reducing the boundary of the preserve could impact important shorebird habitat and reduce the ecological and economic advantages it provides. Additionally, it would set a devastating precedent without a clear reason for the change. The identical House version, HB 957 by Rep. Adam Botana, had not yet been heard in its first committee as of Jan. 19.
Mangrove Replanting — SB 32 by Sen. Ileana Garcia passed unanimously last week in its second of three committee stops. The bill was supported last year but ultimately did not pass. The identical companion bill in the House, HB 1581, had not yet been heard in any of the three assigned committees as of Jan. 19.
The 2024 Mangrove Replanting bills require the following of the DEP:
– Address significant erosion in areas of critical state concern
– Protect barrier and spoil islands
– Assist Everglades restoration and Biscayne Bay revitalization efforts
– Promote public awareness of the value of mangroves
– Identify vulnerable properties along the coastline and encourage partnerships with local governmental entities to create mangrove protection and restoration zone programs
– Protect and maintain access to the navigation of the marked channel and the right-of-way of the Florida Intracoastal Waterway
– Create permitting incentives and encourage the use of new strategies for living shorelines and nature-based features
– Encourage partnerships with local governmental entities to create projects for coastal protection through the Resilient Florida Grant Program
Local Government Coastal Protections — SB 298 by Sen. Tina Polsky was voted on favorably last week. SB 298 is similar to the saltwater intrusion vulnerability assessment bill that received bipartisan support last year but never made it over the finish line. This year, the momentum for the bill is strong and had already passed its two committees of reference in the Senate as of Jan. 19. In addition to containing saltwater intrusion assessment provisions, it also contains a local government preemption related to DEP authority of the coastal construction control lines approved after Dec. 1, 2023. The related House bill, HB 1079, had not yet been heard in any of the three committees stops as of Jan. 19.
Visit the 2024 SCCF Legislative Tracker at https://sccf.org/what-we-do/environmental-policy/.
Holly Schwartz is policy associate for the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation. 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.