SCCF provides legislative update on Week 6
Opposing SB 2508 remained a top priority last week. The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation also closely monitored the full House and Senate budgets which stand at $3.3 billion apart — with the Senate coming in at $108.6 billion and the House budget totaling $105.3 billion. Most spending silos between the two chambers are similar but the large differences can be attributed to education, criminal justice and health care program funding.
With just two full weeks left to the 2022 session, some of the bills we are tracking are stalled while others are closer to the governor’s desk:
Water Quality: SB 2508 Environmental Resources passed the full Senate by a vote of 37-2 on Feb. 17. An amendment to the bill filed on Feb. 16 by the bill sponsor, Sen. Ben Albritton, was meant to clarify some of the more concerning sections of the bill. While some of the most alarming language of the bill was removed, it still contains elements that could tie the hands of the South Florida Water Management District to favor water supply for agriculture over that of the health of our ecosystems and estuaries. The tenets of the bill continue to undermine the extensive science and modeling of the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM) process and the three years of stakeholder input also invested in that process.
The bill also did not change the damaging provisions that allow private utility developers to pay the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to expedite the destruction of wetlands through dredge and fill permit processing and to bifurcate the established DEP Florida Forever land acquisition program by allowing another agency, the Florida Department of Agricultural and Consumer Services to change from preserving agricultural lands through conservation easements to buying land in inexplicable competition with another already successful state conservation land buying program.
The concern remains that there were several items of critical importance to our state’s land and water quality that should have been afforded an appropriate opportunity for public debate rather than being attached to a budget conforming bill with only one (short notice) public hearing. Major policy changes like the ones proposed in the bill deserve transparent discussion, not quick passage with late filed amendments.
The reason the bill was amended was because of the out-pouring of concern by you and the members of our partner advocacy organizations and local governments that reached out to legislators to voice opposition to the harmful legislation. Although the SCCF still opposes the bill for the reasons mentioned above, their action demonstrates that our collective voices can move the needle and our legislators are being forced to pay attention to us.
Since its passage out of the Senate, the bill will now be negotiated with the members of the House/Senate budget conference committee. We will continue to strategize and ask for your support and action to protect your interests and the health of our ecosystems.
SB 1000 — Nutrient Application Rates — allows for citrus farmers to tailor their rates of fertilizer for their crops outside of the best management practice (BMP) process. The bill has been amended to shrink the types of agriculture that can utilize this arrangement, but this could still allow for added nutrient pollution in some of the most impaired water bodies in the state, including our greater regional watershed, so for that reason the SCCF opposes this proposal. The bill was approved by the full Senate last week by a vote of 38-0 and will be taken up by the House for consideration.
Ecosystem Restoration — SB 198/HB 349 Seagrass Mitigation Banks — makes the destruction and mitigation of seagrass on publicly owned sovereign submerged land allowable for the benefit of private development. The bills were touted as leadership priorities, but in another example of public outcry having an impact on bad legislation, the bills have stalled after early session momentum and have not yet been scheduled in their second committees of reference.
Thank you for your strong advocacy on behalf of our local natural systems. We are making a difference and will continue to work together to be heard this session!
Visit the 2022 SCCF Legislative Tracker at https://www.sccf.org/our-work/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.