The final chapter of this year’s session is almost
over. The Florida House adjourned three
and a half days early because of a severe difference with the Senate on whether
to expand Medicaid or not, with the result that no budget was adopted (the one
thing the legislature is mandated to accomplish by the State Constitution) and,
from an environmental perspective, many bad bills died.
There will be a special session from June 1-20 to develop
and adopt a balanced budget. The joint
proclamation for the special session does not include any of the bills that
died as a result of the early House adjournment, so those bills will remain
dead absent a 2/3 vote in both chambers to take them up. However, Amendment 1 funding is still on the
table both because it is a budget issue and because it is constitutionally
mandated.
The legislature’s policy with respect to Amendment 1 so far
is disappointing to say the least.
During the regular session the House proposed to put only $8 million
into Florida Forever and the Senate proposed only $15 million. Worse, each chamber uses over $230 million to
fund existing agency operating and regulatory expenses from Amendment 1. These dollars are proposed for items like salaries
of officers who enforce hunting, boating, and fishing rules, regulating fish
farms, and funding salaries in the Division of Cultural Affairs.
The special session gives legislators one more chance to
finish the job and renew state spending on water and land conservation and
programs like Florida Forever, Everglades Restoration, Florida Communities
Trust, and Rural Family Lands.
SCF issues during the 2015 session:
Go to www.flsenate.gov and www.myfloridahouse.gov to see the
full text of bills.
Energy - Clean Power Plan – EPA's
Clean Power Plan goal of reducing carbon emissions from power plants by 35% is
one of National Sierra Club’s main goals.
It was also the subject of hostile bills filed by Sen. Gibson (D- Duval
county) and Rep. Wood (R - Polk County) requiring legislative ratification of the
State’s implementation plan (SIP) to meet the carbon emission goal before
submitting it to EPA and further, that any rules required to meet the goal
would also have to be ratified before they could become effective.
Rep. Wood’s bill, HB 849, passed its first committee by a
vote of 8-4, but Sen. Gibson agreed not to pursue a hearing for her bill, SB 1076, and it was never heard in
committee. Therefore, both bills
died. A ‘Thank You!’ is in order for
Sen. Gibson.
On a similar subject, companion
memorials (messages from the Florida Legislature) HB 949 by Rep.
Rodrigues and SB 1228 by Sen. Evers,
that urged the U.S. Congress to direct EPA to go easier on coal burning power
plants did not pass. The House bill
passed all its committee stops, but the Senate version only passed out of its
first committee.
Fracking - Bills to ban fracking in Florida.
SB 166 by Sens.
Soto and Bullard and HB 169 by Rep.
Jenne call for a ban on fracking and/or well stimulation in the state. Not surprisingly, neither bill was heard in
even its first committee. But there was
plenty of action on fracking…
Bills ‘regulating’ fracking and providing secrecy for
well operators
Rep. Rodrigues and Sen. Richter filed companion bills. HB
1205 and SB 1468 (Regulation of
Oil and Gas Resources) purported to impose regulation on the practice of
fracking in Florida. However, both used
such a narrow definition of fracking (termed ‘high-pressure well stimulation’)
that many instances where toxic chemicals are injected into the ground would
not be regulated.
The House version also included local preemption that would
prevent local jurisdictions from protecting their residents.
The bills called for well operators to disclose the
chemicals they inject into the ground to both the Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) and the national website, FracFocus, but the linked bills HB 1209 and SB 1582 grant a public records exemption to well operators making
it incredibly easy to claim the chemicals were secret and prohibiting DEP from
releasing information about the chemicals if they had been marked ‘proprietary
business information’. FracFocus does
not publish trade secrets or proprietary information.
In any event, residents or visitors near fracking sites would have no way of knowing what chemicals they and their families might be exposed to until long after any damage was done.
Rep. Rodrigues’ regulation bill, HB 1205 passed the House on a mostly party line 82-34 vote Vote [Seq# 367] but his public records exemption bill was postponed
on final passage and did not pass. The
Senate bills by Sen. Richter sailed through their early committees but ran into
stiff opposition from the public (Sierra worked with numerous groups including
ReThink Energy, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Our Santa Fe River, the
Environmental Caucus, and many anti-fracking activists - and we’ll undoubtedly
work with them again!)
The Senate bills also started to
run into trouble with Senators on both sides of the aisle, particularly in
Senate Appropriations where Republican Senators Hukill, Garcia, and Flores
joined Democrats Montford, Joyner, and Smith in opposing SB
1468 (the regulation bill). And SB 1582, the public records exemption
bill, was opposed by Republicans Latvala, Lee, and Hukill in addition to
Democrats Joyner, Margolis, Montford and Smith.
Sen. Ring from Broward was the only Democrat who supported both
bills.
The Senate bills were on the
Senate floor at the same time the House decided to go home early so they died
for the session. But this issue will be
back. Meet with your legislators to make
sure they know how YOU feel about fracking.
Advance Cost Recovery bills
It is notable that five bills were filed in the House to
modify or repeal advance cost recovery for nuclear plants that allow utilities
to charge customers for plants that are never built for a couple of
reasons. First, the issue was
bi-partisan. House bills 67, 353, and 473 were filed
by Republican Reps. Latvala, Burgess, and Ahearn, and 399 and 4001 were filed
by Democratic Reps. Dudley and Rehwinkel-Vasilinda. Most notable though is the sad fact that not
even one was heard in committee. That’s
an indication of how much power (no pun intended…) the utilities wield in
Tallahassee.
Utilities Regulation
SB 288 by Sen.
Latvala and HB 7109 Florida Public Service Commission did offer small
improvements in accountability of the PSC, but the early adjournment prevented
Sen. Latvala from being able to fight for the Senate version which required the
Public Counsel to be a party to settlements and for the PSC to meet in the
service territories they regulate. These
provisions were not in the version that had passed the House before it
adjourned. Sen. Latvala felt he had to
accept the weakened bill in order to reduce the amount rate payers are charged
for nuclear asset cost recovery. The
bill provides for a dedicated revenue stream from a nuclear asset recovery
charge that can be bonded at a lower interest rate.
The bill also provides for term limits for PSC members,
ethics training, a requirement that those who lobby the PSC register as
lobbyists, maximum deposit amounts, and requires utilities to help customers
get the best rates.
Ad Valorem exemption for commercial renewable energy
SB 400/402 and HB
865/867 by Sen. Brandes and Rep. Rodrigues These bills would have placed a Constitutional amendment to exempt renewable source devices from ad valorem taxation of commercial property on the 2016 ballot and the linked implementing bills would immediately go into effect if the amendment were adopted by voters. Unfortunately, these bills only passed their first committee and went no further.
Solar Constitutional Amendment
Remember, Sierra Club Florida is working with Floridians for
Solar Energy to get petitions signed for a Constitutional amendment to remove
obstacles to solar energy! –If you haven’t already, go to the website for a
petition and send it in so the coalition can track and turn in completed
petition forms to your Supervisor of Elections.
http://www.flsolarchoice.org/
Water Quality - The House and Senate took very different
approaches to he big water policy bills. The House started very quickly with a
Proposed Committee bill in the State Affairs Committee which had one hearing in
the Appropriations Committee. HB 7003 was passed by the full House on
only the third day of session by a vote of 106-9. Vote [Seq# 5] DEP said they had not even had time to fully
review the bill when it was first proposed.
Sierra Club Florida opposed the
bill because it weakened the protections from last session’s Springs bill,
removed deadlines, and relied exclusively on collaborative Basin Management
Action Plans (BMAP) and Best Management Practices to accomplish water quality
goals instead of enforceable standards.
The bill was also a major step backward for the Everglades and
Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie watersheds and estuaries because it eliminated the
enforcement leverage provided by permits (if standards aren’t met the permit
can be revoked) in favor of a Lake Okeechobee BMAP.
The Senate was more deliberate and
started with a reworking of last year’s Springs bill with a Shared Use
Non-Motorized Trails portion grafted onto it.
There were three hearings on the bill in the Environmental Protection
and Conservation Committee, but in the end, the House Water bill was amended
onto it, and the Springs protections were further weakened.
On final passage in the Senate the
House version, HB 7003, was
substituted for SB 918 and amended
to match the Senate version of the bill.
Since the House had adjourned by then, there was no way for the House to
agree to the amendment(s) and the bills died for the session.
The path taken by the water bill
between last session and this was exceedingly frustrating. The Springs bill from last year had real
promise, but it was progressively weakened and laden with bad policies until
Sierra had to oppose it.
The bill’s approach to water supply
is a good example. The main focus of the bill was water supply for human use
(not natural systems.) The policy
throughout was that whenever an applicant for water is denied a Consumptive Use
Permit (CUP), the mandatory response is that taxpayers come up with whatever
water is requested. The concept of
sustainability is completely ignored.
Since the state is looking at adding another 5 million residents (and
who knows how many visitors) in the next 20 years, this is a fatally flawed
planning strategy. But that’s what the
legislature is passing. We were only
saved by the House’s adjournment. We can
be sure we’ll see these short-sighted policies again next year.
Land Application of Septage
Since July 1, 2010 the following
has been law in Florida:"381.0065 Florida Statutes
(6) LAND APPLICATION OF SEPTAGE PROHIBITED.—Effective January 1, 2016, the land application of septage from onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems is prohibited."
Septage is the stuff they pump out
of septic tanks. For years pumpers have
been applying it to the land as a way of getting rid of it despite Florida’s
water quality problems with nutrients.
Roughly 2/3 of the land application sites are in Springs Protection
Zones in karstic areas of the state where contaminated groundwater can move
quickly to springs through conduits and sinkholes.
Instead of using the past five
years to prepare to obey the law that will be effective next January, pumpers,
wastewater treatment facilities, and the counties they serve have done just
about nothing to prepare for the prohibition and have instead focused on trying
to repeal the law. That strategy may not
have panned out very well for them this year.
Rep. Brad Drake’s HB 687 passed the full House by a vote
of 99-12 Vote [Seq# 94] after it was amended
from a full repeal to pushing back the date by two years to 2018. The companion bill, SB 648 by Sen. Evers, only made it through its first committee of
reference. The issue was not included in
the call of the special session so the law will come into effect and land
application will have to stop.
Growth Management
This session started with a number
of bills dealing with different aspects of growth management from sector plans,
to the DRI process, to Regional Planning Councils, to Connected-City Corridors,
to Constrained Agricultural Parcels as well as a number of bills relating to
the Bert Harris Act. Most of them were
rolled into SB 1216 by Sen. Simpson
and HB 933 by Rep. LaRosa.
1000 Friends of Florida and Sierra
Club Florida succeeded in having the worst parts of SB 1216 amended out of the bill which passed the full Senate 39-0
and the House by a vote of 83-31 Vote [Seq# 284]
Of greatest concern was the
Constrained Agricultural Parcels section that preempted local control and would
have forced West Palm Beach to approve up to 10 square miles of development
right next to the EAA. That section was
removed from the bill.
The DRI process is eliminated for
future amendments to sector plans in favor of the coordinated state review
process. Language was also clarified to
ensure that localities are not prohibited from requesting information about
aspects of a sector plan if they choose to do so.
The bill also made numerous changes
to Regional Planning Council statutes.
The number of RPCs is reduced from eleven to ten, and the Councils’ role
is eliminated in planning for transportation, electrical power plant facilities
and transmission lines, and natural gas pipelines. SB
1216 was sent to Governor Scott on May 7.
Freedom of Speech bill
SB 1312 Strategic
Lawsuits Against Public Participation
by Sen. Simmons/ HB 1041 by Rep. Moskowitz/ anti-SLAPP suit bill on the basis of protecting right of citizen
to petition government free speech passed both chambers and was delivered to
Gov. Scott on May 7. (SLAPP suits have
been used to discourage citizens from opposing development and land use
decisions. Sen. Simmons and Rep.
Moskowitz deserve a big ‘Thank You!’)
Recycling
SB 966 Disposable
Plastic Bags by Sen. Bullard passed out of its first committee this session
which puts it in play for next year. The
companion bill, HB 661 by Rep.
Richardson, was not heard in its first committee. Committee chairs tend not to take up time
with bills whose companions in the opposite chamber are not moving, so we’ll
have to work very hard to get the House version heard next year.
Toxics
SB 374 by Sen.
Sobel and HB 607 by Rep. Cruz – Chemicals in Consumer Products
would have required the Department of Health to publish a list of chemicals of
high concern and their presence in products intended for use by pregnant women
and children. The bills were not heard
in any committees.
GMOs
HB
351 by Rep. Rehwinkel-Vasilinda and SB 416 by Sen. Ring - Labeling of
Genetically Engineered Foods would
have mandated labeling requirements for genetically engineered raw foods and
for foods made with genetically engineered ingredients. Neither bill was heard in committee.
