HB 7005 & SB 552- Relating to Environmental Resources
On Wednesday, November 18th, HB 7005, relating to Environmental Resources, by the House State Affairs Committee  and Rep. Matt Caldwell (R-Lehigh Acres) passed through the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee with 11 yeas and 1 nay. AIF’s Senior Vice President of State and Federal Affairs spoke in support of HB 7005.

On Thursday, November 19th, SB 552 relating to Environmental Resources, by Senator Charlie Dean (R-Inverness) passed through the Senate Appropriations Committee with 15 yeas and 0 nays.  AIF’s Senior Vice President of State and Federal Affairs, Brewster Bevis, stood in support of this bill.

The Department of Environmental Protection projects a water shortage of 1.3 billion gallons of water per day by 2030. This bill comprehensively addresses this shortage and other water issues in our state. SAC1 revises policies relation to Florida’s environmental resources including, but not limited to:

• Creating the Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act to expedite protection and restoration of the water flow and water quality in the aquifer and Outstanding Florida Springs.
• Ensuring that the appropriate governmental entities continue to develop and implement uniform water supply planning, consumptive water use permitting, and resource protection programs for the area encompassed by the Central Florida Water Initiative.
• Updating and restructuring the Northern Everglades and Estuaries Act to reflect and build upon the Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) completion of basin management action plans (BMAP) for Lake Okeechobee, the Caloosahatchee Estuary, and the St. Lucie River and Estuary, DEP’s continuing development of a BMAP for the inland portion of the Caloosahatchee River watershed, and Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ implementation of best management practices in the three basins.
• Modifying water supply and resource planning documents and processes in order to provide more robust representations of the state’s water needs and goals.
• Requiring the Office of Economic and Demographic Research to conduct an annual assessment of water resources and conservation lands.
• Requiring DEP to publish an online publicly accessible database of conservation lands on which public access is compatible with conservation and recreation purposes.
• Requiring DEP to conduct a feasibility study for creating and maintaining a web-based, interactive map of the state’s waterbodies as well as regulatory information about each waterbody.

SB 552 will now head to the Senate Floor for a vote.

AIF supports efforts to address Florida’s major water challenges by developing sound, comprehensive science-based water policy.