Note: This is a summary of pending legislation, and is provided as a service of the Florida Conservation Coalition to our members. To date, the FCC has identified the top pieces of legislation as priorities.

SB 552 (Sen. Dean) / HB 7005 (Rep. Caldwell): FCC sent an action alert on this bill requesting amendments be made to strengthen the bill. SB 552 was passed by the Senate and the House without amendments. An FCC letter requesting a veto of the bill, signed by Senator Graham and several environmental organizations, stated that this legislation leaves the people, businesses, and environment of Florida unprepared to meet the water challenges of the 21st century. It urged Governor Scott to veto this bill, send it back to the Legislature, and ask them to send him a bill that focuses more on water conservation and providing stronger mechanisms for controlling pollution at its sources now.

Current Status: Governor Scott signed SB 552 into law on January 21, 2016.

SB 1290 (Sen. W. Simpson)/ HB 1075 (Rep. Caldwell): These bills threaten Florida’s ability to acquire, preserve and manage state conservation lands.

The following provisions in these bills are of greatest concern:

- Section 5 and Section 6 allow the State to surplus and sell state lands when it determines that the land's short-term management goals are not being met, if it is not actively managed by any state agency, or if a management plan has not been completed. Failure to meet short-term management goals, an incomplete management plan, or lack of active management may be a direct result of inadequate land management funding by the Legislature, or other temporary or avoidable situations, and should not be used as an excuse to dispose of conservation lands. Instead, the Legislature should ensure adequate funding for the management of Florida's conservation lands.

Section 6 also directs the Division of State Lands to review all state-owned conservation lands every ten years to determine whether any can be surplused. This is a duplicative and unnecessary provision since each land management plan requires a review for surplus on a roating basis when the management plan is updated.

- Section 8 allows private land owners who own land contiguous to state-owned lands to exchange it for the state-owned land, including state park land, if the state is given a permanent conservation easement over both parcels in the exchange. Conservation easements are often less protective of the environment than the management plans for state-owned land, resulting in practices that diminish the conservation values of the lands. Placing state lands in private ownership also reduces the ability of the state to comprehensively manage conservation lands. Finally, this type of exchange will often result in the loss of public access to lands that are currently owned by the state, diminishing the recreational value of the land. This daunting prospect would have a significantly negative impact on such beloved places as Paynes Prairie State Park and Myakka River State Park were they to be placed into private ownership under this provision.

- Section 14 allows money from Florida Forever, the state's premiere land acquisition program, to be used to fund all water resource development hardward, including the construction of treatment, transmission, and distribution facilities. Utilizing Florida Forever funds for the construction of water supply infrastructure is currently prohibited under state law. This change comes on the heels of Floridians overwhelmingly approving Amendment 1 in an effort to restore funding for land acquisition. With billions of dollars needed for local water infrastructure projects around the state, this provision could readily exhaust the funds set aside in the Land Acquisition Trust Fund, leaving inadequate funding available for acquiring conservation land, and negating the benefits of Amendment 1.

Section 15, 17, 21, and 22 allow state lands to be managed for conservation OR recreational purposes, deleting the requirement that state lands be managed in accordance with the purpose for which they were acquired. This could result in conservation lands being managed solely for recreational purposes, which might include converting natural lands into golf courses and other such inappropriate uses, harming the conservation value of the lands and betraying the original intent of acquiring the lands.

Current Status: HB 1075 has one committee stop left in the House. SB 1290 has not been placed on the agenda for its first Senate committee.

See link for rest of article

http://floridaconservationcoalition....901?s=b063f947


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