Capital Watch 2008:

Week One - Ending March 7
Jay Liles, FWF Policy Consultant

Tradition has it that on the opening day of the Florida Legislative Session, the Governor and the presiding officers of both chambers give welcoming remarks to the returning members in which they set out their goals for the 60 day session. Governor Crist offered his outlook in the form of the annual State of the State Address to both chambers.

In his remarks, Governor Crist said, "We must maintain our commitment to protect Florida's natural beauty and resources. We must establish a successor to Florida Forever. To strive for natural water flow, I also propose that we fully-fund Florida's share of Everglades restoration and continue restoring Lake Okeechobee and downstream coastal estuaries.

"And in caring about our children, we must think of the Florida they will inherit. Florida's beauty is the reason why so many of us are here. We have an obligation to protect the land, the water, and the air for generations to come. Can we keep our state beautiful, protect her natural resources and lead the nation in protecting our environment? Of course we can -- We are Floridians."

Senate President Senator Ken Pruitt said, "We have made tremendous investments in our precious environment, including the Northern Everglades Act passed just last year, and we plan to continue the efforts. Our focus this year will be creating a successor program to Florida Forever, extending our environmentally sensitive land purchase program to take us into the next generation."

A common theme running through all of the speeches was the need to “invest” in Florida. We can take that to mean many things, but used in the context of budget constraints and a slumping economy, it was clear to this observer that their meaning was, “how do we balance state expenditures with reduced income and still preserve essential state services?”

From the perspective of the Florida Wildlife Federation, investing in Florida has to include preserving and protecting the last wild and biologically diverse places left in our state. We believe that can be accomplished through state land purchases or by conservation easements, both of which require additional funding for Florida Forever. With property values temporarily stagnant and willing sellers in abundance, the state has a golden opportunity to invest wisely (at perhaps the best prices we will ever see) in these unique tracts of land. We will be asking the Legislature to increase funding for land acquisition and to support a successor to Florida Forever. We will also work to stop anticipated raids on environmental trust funds because shifting funds away from the intended use breaks with the commitment taxpayers agreed to and represents a poor investment choice.

When politicians talk about investing in Florida’s future, they must consider what business leaders already know and many politicians publicly espouse – our economy is driven by clean and environmentally friendly work places. People come to this state to live and play because of the outstanding environment that we have worked so hard to protect. That is a real investment in Florida from FWF’s perspective.

When talking to your state legislators, here is how you can encourage them to “invest” in Florida’s natural beauty and clean environment:

Increase funding for Florida Forever and hold harmless funding of environmental trust funds.

Florida is experiencing the same economic down-turn affecting the rest of the nation. Thus, the state budget, driven primarily by sales tax revenues, is also being reduced. We are preparing for dramatic cuts in state budgets while making our best case in support of continued funding for conservation programs. We expect to have to ward off raids on a number of environmental trust funds as programs and policymakers vie for a shrinking pot of general revenue dollars.

Governor Crist and Senate President Ken Pruitt have both recommended that the Legislature continue funding of Florida Forever at $300 million. FWF will continue to advocate for making a greater investment in conservation lands to take advantage of the unique opportunities to acquire large tracts of biologically diverse and environmentally sensitive lands that may not be available when better economic times return. The Federation supports accelerated funding for the remaining years of Florida Forever and the creation of a successor program to Florida Forever, which will expire in 2010.

Governor Crist is also seeking renewed funding for Everglades Restoration at $100 million with an additional $100 million to be distributed between Lake Okeechobee clean-up and estuary recovery.

While the Governor’s budget recommendations are a welcome starting point for further negotiations, they should not be taken as a sure bet. Under tight budget constraints, the conservation community will be working extremely hard to hold onto critical funding for programs that foster better environmental policy.

SB 1552 by Senator Burt Saunders (R-Naples) would double Everglades restoration bonding to $200 million a year through 2020. Current bonding authority is for $100 million annually. The bill will help leverage state funds to finance important land acquisition and other projects for restoration of both the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee.

Support legislation that moves Florida toward a reduced carbon future and away from reliance on fossil fuels. Encourage the use of renewable energy options like solar and bio-fuels.

Governor Crist’s Executive Orders call for sharp cuts in greenhouse gases (GHG) and greater reliance on renewable energy. We have seen the introduction of legislation in the Senate (SB 1544) that sets the debate in motion for how we will accomplish these goals. The 2008 Legislative Session will likely produce the least expensive and non-controversial proposals. These may include incentives for energy efficiency and renewables, improved building codes, appliance standards and the removal of regulatory barriers.

FWF will work with our allies to push the Legislature further down the path to a clean, renewable and more secure energy future. We will be advocating for the removal of barriers that allow citizens to interconnect their renewable generation systems to the power grid and resell excess electricity back to the utilities. Among our goals is to see that the Rate Impact Measure, (an archaic test used by the Public Service Commission and regulated utilities to determine the cost-effectiveness of energy) is dropped in favor of a test that considers the impact of an energy conservation measure. We will also be working towards the decoupling of utility profits from the sale of electricity to include rewards for utilities that exceed energy efficiency and conservation goals.

As the Legislature convenes, its agenda on energy and climate change is being shaped by two advisory groups that have been working on these issues for the past year. The Climate and Energy Action Team (appointed by the Governor in September 2007) and the Florida Energy Commission (appointed by the Legislature) have both made recommendations to the Legislature and will continue to bring forth policy recommendations for the next year. Serving on the Climate and Energy Action team is Manley Fuller, President, Florida Wildlife Federation. Serving on the Climate Change Advisory Group to the Florida Energy Commission is Ann Vanek Dasovich, vice-chair, Board of Directors.

Support efforts to increase the budget and improve operations of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Among its many legislative priorities, the FWC will attempt to combine Chapters 370 and 372, Florida Statutes, dealing with regulation of marine fisheries and wildlife and freshwater fisheries. These are vestiges left from statutes under which the old Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission operated. According to staff, these were intended to be combined at the creation of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission created in 1999. FWC believes this exercise will clarify the role and scope of the Commission by organizing its jurisdiction by subject matter. No legislation is available for review at this time.

Support Commission efforts to once again remove the marine shoreline exemption.

Current law exempts all wading anglers in saltwater or on piers from having to purchase licenses. As the law reads now, if you are in a $100 jon boat, you have to buy a license, but if you are on shore in front of your $2 million beach front home, you do not. The proposed FWC bill would still exempt those who are on public assistance. Because of the exemption, Florida loses federal matching dollars (estimated in the millions) which are now spent on wildlife conservation in other states.

Support efforts to reform the state’s growth management laws to provide fair and reasonable access for citizens.

In response to what many consider a broken and unresponsive system that tends to approve any and all changes to county comprehensive growth plans, Department of Community Affairs Secretary Tom Pelham has proposed the enactment of a “Citizen's Planning Bill of Rights.” Pelham's proposal would eliminate all but half a dozen of the exceptions that now allow changing growth plans. Under his proposal, county governments would be allowed to amend their plans no more than twice a year. If the regional planning council recommends against the changes, then local government could only pass them with a supermajority vote - four votes out of five, for instance.

Before any land-use plan changes could be considered, the “Bill of Rights” would require holding a neighborhood or community meeting to talk about them. Last minute changes to the proposed plan amendments would also be eliminated. Instead, no changes could be made less than five days before the vote.

FWF supports this kind of reform as it attempts to address the frustration with growth management that has led many Floridians to support the Hometown Democracy initiative that would bring all comprehensive plan changes to a vote.

Support legislation to establish a Florida Springs Protection Act.

FWF is working with Senator Burt Saunders and many of our conservation allies to fashion meaningful legislation to protect first magnitude springsheds. The Florida Springs Protection Act (SB 2394) takes initial steps to protect Rainbow Springs and Silver Springs. We hope to see expansion of these protections to other first magnitude springs as resources become available.

Other issues which we expect to see debated this year include:

• Electric Transmission Lines on State Lands
  SB 1506 by Senator Mike Bennett (R-Bradenton) will facilitate easier access to state lands for electric transmission lines. Spurred on by a proposal to build a nuclear power plant in Levy County, Florida Progress Energy is suggesting the state allow the construction of high voltage transmission lines across state conservation lands. The proposed bill would provide compensation for lands used for power lines by offering up to twice as many acres in return. Florida Progress remains open to negotiation on the best means to mitigate impacts. However, the legislation would remove the Cabinet from the siting process, a move which FWF and our conservation allies would object to as it takes our statewide elected representatives out of the decision process.
  
  
• Wastewater Ocean Outfalls and Re-use
  FWF is working with a broad coalition of ocean conservation groups who want to see the state stop further use of ocean outfalls. The coalition favors passage of legislation to close five wastewater ocean outfalls in South Florida and require reuse of millions of gallons of wastewater per day that presently flow into the Atlantic off Florida’s southeastern coast. The Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee has indicated its desire to end the practice of discarding wastewater off the coast. The obvious sticking point is how much it may cost.
  
  Currently, more than 300 million gallons of wastewater is piped offshore in ocean outfalls from Miami-Dade and Broward counties, harming the region's coastal resources and reefs. This water could be reused for irrigation, wetlands enhancements and industrial processes if it were treated to a higher standard. Proposed legislation will likely prescribe steps to eliminate outfalls by 2025, including a prohibition on new or expanded wastewater outfalls, and eventually require advanced treatment of wastewater for reuse.
  
  

Federal Legislation

FWF is working with the National Wildlife Federation to seek support for climate change legislation, including the Warner – Lieberman, “America’s Climate Security Act” (S. 2191), and in the U.S. House the Climate Stewardship Act (HR 620) and the Safe Climate Act (HR 1590). America’s Climate Security Act is the first bipartisan bill to address climate and energy that also contains funding for states to manage wildlife impacts. Because Florida has a State Wildlife Management Plan, Florida would be among the states to receive up-front funding.

Constitutional Amendment to Grant Tax Savings for Conservation Easements

A proposal to exempt lands from property taxes that are placed under permanent conservation easements may be placed on the November ballot by the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission. If approved by voters, the amendment will provide a powerful incentive for landowners to place land with water and wildlife attributes into protected status.

FWF Vice President and General Counsel Preston Robertson and Sue Mullins, a consultant to the Federation, have been among the primary advocates for this measure.

Useful Websites for Tracking Legislation:
www.leg.state.fl.us

This is the main website for the Florida Legislature with information about bills, meeting notices and contact information regarding members of the Legislature. Look to the House and Senate links for extensive coverage of all things legislative.

www.flan.e-actionmax.com

Join the Florida Action Network! Receive updates and suggested actions you can take to influence policy decisions at the state and national level.

http://thomas.loc.gov/

For information about federal legislation and Congressional action.

Jay Liles