Ask governor to veto harmful growth management bill
On May 2, the full Florida Legislature passed Senate Bill 540 — Local Government Comprehensive Plans — the extremely harmful prevailing and intervening parties’ attorney’s fee bill.
This bill adds the provision of awarding the prevailing party’s attorney’s fees to local comprehensive land use challenges brought by citizens against their city or county. This means that should a citizen wish to challenge any comprehensive plan decision and they lose, they would be fully responsible for all sides of the legal costs associated with that suit. This includes any intervening party’s legal costs as well — meaning unlimited and unchecked legal costs of the developer’s attorneys would be paid by the citizen challenger.
Civic engagement is a cornerstone of a functioning democracy, and this bill will effectively end Florida citizens’ ability to participate in local land use decisions.
Current law provides for attorney’s fees to be awarded if the challenge is frivolous, therefore the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation argues that SB 540 is unnecessary, because protections for governments from illegitimate claims already exist.
Although a similar bill that passed the Legislature two years ago was vetoed by the governor, this bill is too dangerous to risk allowing it to pass again.
Together with the multiple bills that erode opportunities for growth management adopted the past few years, this bill eradicates one of the final opportunities for citizens to participate in shaping their own communities.
Our legislators must recognize that unchecked growth has a direct impact on our environment’s ability to protect us from storm surge and flooding, and also has an impact on our water quality and water supply.
Please join SCCF in asking Gov. Ron DeSantis to veto SB 540 by visiting https://p2a.co/l9zEuzi.
Another avenue to send the governor this veto message would be to call his office directly at 850-717-9337 or send him by visiting https://www.flgov.com/email-the-governor/. This is a way that those of you who do not have qualifying Florida zip codes can still make sure your voices are heard.
Thank you for joining our campaign to roll back harmful restrictions on citizens’ rights!
Founded in 1967, the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation’s mission is to protect and care for Southwest Florida’s coastal ecosystems. For more information, visit www.sccf.org.
To reach SANIBEL-CAPTIVA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION, please email