The "Northeast Florida Rivers, Springs, and Community Investment Act" - AKA Ocklawaha River restoration bills

Senator Jason Brodeur and Representative Wyman Duggan are championing a historic investment in our Northeast Florida springs, rivers and rural communities and a practical new approach to restoration, making strides in conservation and benefitting manatees and other wildlife, outdoor enthusiasts, and communities across Florida. 

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SB 1066 and HB 981 focus on reuniting the Great Florida Riverway (Silver, Ocklawaha, and St. Johns), economic development of surrounding counties from job creation to business investment, creating more outdoor recreation opportunities, reconnecting the Florida Wildlife Corridor between the Ocala and Osceola national forests, and reopening critical habitat for manatees and other wildlife.

SB 240/HB 575 will resolve the longstanding conflict over local single-use plastic and other container regulations. The bill would:

1. Allow local governments to regulate glass, polystyrene, and single-use plastic containers on public property.

2. Grandfather in existing local ordinances.

3. Prohibit the sale or distribution of certain single-use containers in State Parks.

4. Require FDEP to develop a statewide Marine Debris Reduction Plan and a uniform ordinance for single-use containers that all local governments can adopt going forward.

Opposite of the good Auxiliary Container bills (SB 240/HB 575), these bills (SB 766/HB 629) will eliminate much needed local single-use container regulations already in place across the state. These bills are similar to the bad Auxiliary Container bills we've successfully defeated in past legislative sessions. SB 766 and HB 629 are industry-backed bills that take power away from local governments without providing a solution to address plastic pollution in our communities.

The Ultimate Preemption Bill

These bills would prohibit local governments from adopting any laws related to water quality, water quantity, pollution control and more. Rep. Maggard filed a similar bill back in 2023, and Craig Pittman reported, “the real reason Rep. Maggard wants to take away from cities and counties their power to protect wetlands and combat water pollution: Because his nephew did some improper things, got caught, and yet pretty much got away with it.”

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In its first committee, HB 479 was amended and significantly narrowed, focusing now on local wetland buffers.

Filed in Response to the Guana Land Swap Issue​

These are good bills aimed at creating a more transparent process for land swaps. After news broke in May of a proposal to exchange 600 acres in the Guana River Wildlife Management Area, Representative Kendall stood by advocates in support of protecting Guana. Now, Rep. Kendall is following through on her commitment to provide more oversight in land exchanges and protect our conservation lands.

These bills increase oversight and accountability for water management districts by prohibiting water management district governing board members and employees from accepting payments from lobbyists and requiring a quorum to conduct official business. Importantly, the bills would allow water management districts to place a referendum on a general election ballot to levy additional ad valorem taxes for water quality, water supply, flood protection, and natural system restoration projects. For more than a decade, Florida’s water management districts - particularly WMDs in North Florida - have been hamstrung by insufficient funding and a lack of political will. This provision would put the decision on how much Floridians pay to protect our water resources to the voters who are most impacted by the outcome. 

Currently, the Department of Environmental Protection develops and manages the Golf Course Best Management Practices, and DEP actually enforces the golf course BMPs to protect our waterways. This bill transfers the Golf Course Best Management Practices Certification program from the Department of Environmental Protection to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services - Bad news for Florida's waters. As we've seen through the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' Agricultural Best Management Practices, the department does not effectively enforce BMPs and fails to hold polluters accountable. Best Management Practices are one tool we have in the state to reduce pollution in our springs and other water bodies, and this change in program oversight will impact the effectiveness of the state's Basin Management Action Plans to achieve water quality goals. 

These bills create a statewide program for regulating residential lawn irrigation. They also create baseline standards applicable to all local governments, but preempts local governments from enacting or enforcing more protective rules.

These are developer-backed bills to circumvent DEP rules prohibiting new conventional septic systems near impaired springs and the Indian River Lagoon. The bills provide a four-month grace period for developers after the adoption of new rules and forces local governments to allow the installation of harmful septic tanks - that will soon need to be removed at the expense of homeowners and taxpayers.

These bills require state agencies to lease publicly-owned conservation lands to private entities for cattle grazing if the agency determines that the lands would be “suitable” as part of the land management plan. As filed, the bills do not define what factors would be considered in determining which lands are suitable and could lead to large swaths of conservation lands being closed to public access and negatively impacted by cattle grazing. Moreover, additional cattle on conservation lands would have harmful water quality impacts, especially in impaired springsheds like Rainbow Springs, Silver Springs, and the Suwannee River basin. Like hotels, golf courses, and pickleball courts, intensive private agriculture is not compatible with Florida’s world-class state parks and publicly-owned conservation lands.

Under the FDEP bills, the Acquisition and Restoration Council would now oversee the Florida Communities Trust program, which is one of the state's land acquisition programs to create more public parks, increase recreational opportunities, and protect natural resources and historic areas. The bills also make changes to the makeup of the Acquisition and Restoration Council and eliminates the Environmental Regulation Commission. 

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The bills also amend Florida statutes governing Basin Management Action Plans (BMAPs). Of particular concern is a provision that delays when BMAPs go into effect until 60 days after they are adopted by DEP. This delay allows developers to submit and receive septic tank permits that would be prohibited under the BMAP, which will setback efforts to reduce pollution and achieve water quality standards. Floridians have waited long enough for clean springs, rivers, and estuaries, any further delay is unacceptable and contrary to the public’s interest.

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We are also closely watching language that eliminates the specific prohibitions within Outstanding Florida Springs Basin Management Action Plans currency found in 373.811 and transfers most, but not all, of them into the general BMAP statute. Whether or not these changes will negatively impact springs depends on the fate of other bills currently moving through the legislative process.