Jane West, policy and planning director with 1000 Friends of Florida, spoke to the Beaches Coalition during their recent meeting about some of the decisions that were made during the latest state legislative session.
She focused on passed or failed bills that dealt with an environmental impact in some form or fashion.
According to West, the final budget agreed upon for the improvement of Everglades water quality was $1.6 billion, which West said is a lot of money toward one project, but it is good to see that a concerted effort is being made to find solutions.
The proposed final budget for land conservation was $488 million, with $300 million of it going toward the rural and family lands protection program, which delays the spending of the next agriculture commissioner to January 2023, and $100 million going to Forever Florida and its initiatives.
However, none of the money will be for the Florida Communities Trust, which provides matching grants to help create parks.
Some of the highlights included a regulation on smoking public places, which will allow counties and municipalities the option to propose laws enforcing against such actions.
West stated that such enforcement would help decline the amount of cigarette buds littering local beaches.
Although 1000 Friends of Florida thought that certain things such as the beach smoking regulation were steps in the right direction, there were also areas that left more to be desired, especially when it came to having a plan in place to handle the population growth the state has encountered in recent years.
Instead, 1000 Friends of Florida considered the community planning portion of the 2022 legislative session to be on the “light” side.
“If we do not deal with these issues at hand, this will not be a good quality of life,” West said.
One of the bills that 1000 Friends of Florida opposed, but was passed was the “Local Business Protection Act.” According to West, it creates a new cause of action for businesses that have been operating for at least three years to sue local governments for damages if an ordinance reduces profits by at least 15%.
She expects it to include certain ordinances that are in place for environmental reasons.
“I bet we will see another preemption bill this next legislative session as well,” West said.
However, one bill that 1000 Friends of Florida supported but failed to pass was a bill stating that structures that are within any area that is deemed at risk of sea level rise would be required to conduct a SLIP study before commencing construction.
“It would have not just been our coast, but all bodies of water,” West said. “That’s why we testified in support of it.”
“There’s a complete disconnect between what’s happening on the ground and what’s being voted on.”
West worked in environmental litigation for years and has seen a new way of looking at issues since becoming a lobbyist a couple of years ago.
Since being founded in 1986, 1000 Friends of Florida has been a not-for-profit organization with the goal of finding the best ways to insure a sustainable future for the state.
