Florida Legislature
Every year when the Florida legislative session convenes, we can expect a barrage of bad bills destined to coddle polluters, facilitate ever-more “sprawl” and restrict citizens’ rights to participate in decision-making. The 2025 session lives up — or down —…
A bill was filed last week in the Florida Senate that could be seen as a “good government” bill. It could also be seen as an attempt to cut spending on Everglades Restoration. Senate Proposed Bill 7002 would mandate greater…
For weeks Florida legislators have been meeting in committee, filing and debating bills and preparing for the official start of the 2025 Legislative Session on March 4. This session VoteWater’s Gil Smart will travel to Tallahassee to lobby for clean-water…
Award-winning photojournalist, writer, captain and friend to the clean-water cause Rusty Chinnis gives VoteWater a shout-out in the Anna Maria Island Sun: “What better resolution to adopt this New Year? Vote Water,” writes Chinnis. “The future of fishing, Florida’s natural…
Today is Day 13 of damaging discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the northern estuaries. On Instagram, our friends at Friends of the Everglades posted video of water rushing through the St. Lucie Lock and Dam with the caption “This is…
VoteWater’s “Dirty Money Project” is making news across the Sunshine State. First, Executive Director Gil Smart’s Oct. 4 op-ed in the Miami Herald explained how “dirty money” to dirty politicians is a root cause of dirty water. Then, just this…
**UPDATED** We goofed! There’s even more Big Sugar campaign cash out there than we thought! Due to a glitch in the search process, we underreported — by more than $1 million! — the amount of money given by Florida Crystals…
If you missed the latest installment from “Seeking Rents” reporter Jason Garcia on how a big Florida homebuilder effectively wrote a new law to build subdivisions faster and cheaper, check it out here. It’s key to understanding how the “sprawl”…
The Aug. 20 Florida primary election is coming up fast. So we’ve compiled the list of candidates running at the federal, state and county level for our eight-county south Florida region; it includes congressional candidates, candidates for the Florida state…
“Dirty money” to dirty politicians means dirty water. But what happens when the “dirty money” — campaign cash from polluters — goes instead to PACs, political action committees? As part of our “Dirty Money Project” we wanted to find out;…
