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As we write this Gov. Ron DeSantis still hasn’t signed the state budget, nor has he vetoed line item 146 — which green-lights a one-year ban on new fertilizer ordinances while the University of Florida studies the matter. VoteWater has…
The Florida Legislature has taken a step to address one of the state’s nastiest and fastest-growing environmental problems. The problem is that this attempt to solve one problem may well create another. As the legislative session wound down last week,…
And so the 2023 Legislative Session has come to an end. Mercifully. Let’s be frank: It wasn’t a good year for clean water or Florida’s environment in general. While the Legislature did allot a record $1.1 billion for land acquisition…
Sneaky. Devious. Underhanded. Duplicitous. Can you think of a better word to describe the stunt just pulled by the Florida Legislature? We’d love to hear it — and we suggest you let THEM hear it, too. Tucked inside an “implementing…
VoteWater Executive Director Gil Smart was in the state capital of Tallahassee last week, speaking to key Florida legislators about clean-water issues and bills that are now under consideration in the state House and Senate. Alongside Friends of the Everglades…
Given the clout the sprawl industry wields in Florida, it’s hardly surprising the Florida Senate passed controversial Senate Bill 540 on April 19, over the objections of conservation groups (like VoteWater) and citizen advocates around Florida. The bill, which may…
Nobody likes to think about what happens after they flush the toilet. But that out-of-sight-out-of-mind waste can cause serious problems to Florida’s environmentally fragile waterways. A lot of the people who have been thinking about the problem think the state…
We hate it when we’re right. Back in February, before the Florida Legislature even convened, we predicted this would be a “Session of Sprawl.” Just as we feared, bad bills that make paving over natural Florida that much easier are…
If the federal government treated you the way it treats Big Sugar — life would be sweet indeed. Federal policy in the form of the Sugar Program — part of the Farm Bill, which is reauthorized every five or so…
You’ve heard the term “from bad to worse?” This is the story of one proposal in the Florida Legislature that’s gone from outrageous — to offensive. House Bill 359 and its companion bill, Senate Bill 540, titled “Local Government Comprehensive…