Check the new
WhoseFlorida for updates
5/9/02
The Florida Chapter Sierra Club and Florida League of
Conservation Voters and Florida Consumer Action Network
support the efforts of LEAF to seek funding for public
health Community facilities.
While you are making your calls to legislators regarding the
raid on the land conservation trust funds and the
annihilation of citizen standing, perhaps you can include a
message of compassion for citizens living in communities
contaminated by toxic pollution. (Please see the LEAF alert
below.)
*********************
Rumor has it that the Governor is about to receive the
Everglades/anti-citizen standing bill. We have over 65
organizations now, who support the veto effort. We
understand there are only 5 maybe 6 organizations that have
supported the position that he sign the bill.
So, this is the last "all call" for organizations who
want to add your organization to the list that will be given
to the Governor's office soon. If the Governor receives the
bill tomorrow or Thursday, even Monday, he can turn around
and sign it in a flash.
So, make your phone calls, fax your letters,
today.
Let's see if we can cause the power in Tallahassee to shut down
because we are overloading the fax machine...(that's
supposed to be funny.) fax number:(850) 487-0801 Jeb's email: jeb@myflorida.com
fl_governor@myflorida.com
Phone number: (850) 488-4441 *****************************
ALERT TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 2002 URGENT ACTION NEEDED -
PLEASE CALL APPROPRIATIONS MEMBERS TO SAVE FUNDING FOR
COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVES
The Governor has convened a three-week special legislative
session (April 29th through May 13th), and the first item up
for business seems to be the budget. Today, both the
House and the Senate Subcommittees on Appropriations,
including the Health and Human Services Subcommittees, met and
passed their committees recommendations on the new budget.
On the Senate side, we have recurring general revenue in the
amount of $50,000 for the Greenwood Community Health
Resource Center, $100,000 for the Community Environmental
Health Advisory Board (CEHAB) and its pilot projects, and
$300,000 for the Citizens Against Toxic Exposure (CATE) clinic
(currently wrongly identified in both budgets as Communities
Against Toxic Environments we are trying to get this changed
through a technical amendment).
On the House side, we have non-recurring general revenue in the
amount of $25,000 for the Greenwood Community Health
Resource Center, $100,000 for the Community Environmental
Health Advisory Board (CEHAB) and its pilot projects, and
$300,000 for the Citizens Against Toxic Exposure (CATE) clinic.
Today, Tuesday, April 30th, and Wednesday, May 1st, the
recommendations of each subcommittee will go their
respective full committees. The House Fiscal
Responsibility Council meets Tuesday afternoon at 4:00, and the
Senate Committee on Appropriations meets Wednesday (time tba).
Please call between now and Wednesday and urge Legislators to, at
least, maintain the current positions as outlined above and,
where possible, to adopt the Senate's position of recurring
general revenue.
Also, please ask House Appropriations members to increase
Greenwood's funding back up to $50,000. We will send
an additional alert later in the week with an update and
additional actions needed. The members of each full committee and
their Tallahassee phone numbers are:
Senate Committee on Appropriations
Lisa Carlton, Chair, 487-5081
Locke Burt, 487-5033
Charlie Clary, 487-5009
Anna P. Cowin, 487-5014
M. Mandy Dawson, 487-5112
Buddy Dyer, 487-5190
Rudy Garcia, 487-5106
Betty S. Holzendorf, 487-5024
Daryl L. Jones, 487-5127
James E.Jim King, Jr., 487-5030
Jack Latvala, 487-5062
John F. Laurent, 487-5044
Alfred Al Lawson, Jr., 487-5004
Kendrick B. Meek, 487-5116
LesleyLes Miller, Jr., 487-5059
Richard Mitchell, 487-5017
Durell Peaden, Jr., 487-5000
Debby P. Sanderson, 487-5100
Burt L. Saunders, 487-5124
Ronald A. Silver, 487-5121
Donald C. Sullivan, 487-5065
J. Alex Villalobos, 487-5130
Daniel Webster, 487-5047
House Fiscal Responsibility Council
Carlos Lacasa, Chair, 488-6506
Mike Fasano, Vice Chair, 488-8528
J. D. Alexander, 488-9465
Frank Attkisson, 488-8992
Randy Ball, 488-3006
Allan Bense, 488-9696
Marsha (Marty) Bowen, 488-2721
Johnnie Byrd, 488-0807
Gaston Cantens, 488-2831
Larry Crow, 488-9240
Paula Dockery, 488-2270
Kenneth Gottlieb, 488-0145
Ron Greenstein, 488-3164
Mike Haridopolos, 488-9720
Lindsay Harrington, 488-9175
Edward Jennings, 488-5794
Randy Johnson, 488-0256
Will Kendrick, 488-7870
Suzanne Kosmas, 488-6653
Evelyn Lynn, 488-9873
Jerry Maygarden, 488-8278
Sandra Murman, 488-9910
Timothy Ryan, 488-0245
Gary Siplin, 488-0760
Rob Wallace, 488-0275
Doug Wiles, 488-2977
Frederica Wilson, 488-7088
-- Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation, Inc.
(LEAF) 1114 Thomasville Road, Suite E, Tallahassee, FL
32303-6290 (850) 681-2591 (phone), (850) 224-1275 (fax)
cvalencic@leaflaw.org
www.leaflaw.org
PROTECT YOUR HEALTH & ENVIRONMENT - JOIN LEAF!
FLORIDA TALLAHASSEE REPORT. Volume 10, Number 8, 2002
Prepared by Susie Caplowe and Tally Lobbying team, Sierra Club
Committee Week Number 9, 2002
FLORIDA LEGISLATIVE SESSION Sunday, March 17, 2002 PART I OF 3
***** Many bills died this past week, because we only
have one week left. Any bill on the House side that is left
on the calendar or on "second" reading is
supposedly dead. Only those bills read, amended and rolled over to
"third" reading are still "alive."
MANY OF THE SENATE BILLS ARE STILL IN SENATE APPROPRIATIONS
GENERAL GOVERNMENT SUB-COMMITTEE. BUT that can change in a
heart beat. The bills can be withdrawn from the committees from
the Senate floor, while the Senators are in session,
by the Chair of the Committee and the Rules and Calendar
committee. Make a call to Senator Lee, Chairman of the Rules
and Calendar Committee; he has been helpful thus far,
thank him and ask him to continue to hold up the Senate
bills we oppose as long as he canâ€|call his office at
850-487-5072.
******************** -LIST OF BAD BILLS TO OPPOSE -KUDO'S
TO CHAPTER LEADERS: CHAPTER SECRETARY STAYS OVER TO
LOBBY CONGRATS TO SUSAN KAIRYS-COURECH -ANTI-CITIZEN
PARTICIPATION/ENFORCEMENT BILLS STILL ALIVE
PART II: - MANATEES RULE - ROADZILLA BAD BILLS STILL ALIVE - OUR
ISSUES IN THE PRESS THIS WEEK - ENERGY - CAMPAIGN FINANCE -
BILLBOARDS
PART III: RECORDED VOTES ON HB257 GOOD CROW AMENDMENT: 42 YES: 64
NO: 14 NOT VOTING Correct vote is yes
HB257 BAD SPRATT STRIKE EVERYTHING, TO REPLACE OLD BILL
Correct vote is no 33 NO: 68 Yes: 19 Not Voting HB819 FRANKEL
AMENDMENT PROHIBITION OF OIL/NATURAL GAS DRILLING WITHIN 150
MILES OFF FLORIDA'S COAST LINE. FAILED 39 TO 75
*********************** THE BIG PUSH FOR THIS LAST WEEK
IS CALLS, EMAILS, FAXES TO YOUR FLORIDA HOUSE AND SENATE
LEGISLATORS TO THEIR DISTRICT OFFICES AND TALLAHASSEE OFFICES.
WE UNDERSTAND THAT SOME MEMBERS HAVE SHUT DOWN EMAILS, FAXES
AND ARE NOT ANSWERING PHONES here in Tallahassee. SO DON'T
GIVE UP. Keep trying, call the district offices.
********************** LAST WEEK: HERE WE GO; MAKE THOSE
CALLS: Faxes; emailsâ€| ON THE HOUSE and SENATE SIDE WE NEED
THEM TO VOTE "NO" ON THE FOLLOWING BILLS:
HB257/SB280: changes the administrative procedures process;
adds Rule 11 sanctions and will burden us with responding to
motions from the developer attorneys before we even get to
the merits of the case; will result in fewer citizen
challenges to permits. HB819/SB270: deletes 30 years of
citizen standing and now requires the petitioner in order to
challenge an agency decision to have 25 active members in
the county where the permit is among other hurdles.
HB1535; deletes development of regional impact review for marinas
and petroleum facilities; also weakens definition of
development F.S.163.3165.
HB1535 rolled over to third reading with various amendments, but
Rep.Henriquez withdrew his good amendments. Rep. Bucher
questioned some of the bad amendments. The bill got worse,
instead of better. The companion is SB2228, by Senator
Clary, which passed unanimously out of Senate Comp Planning
Committee Tuesday as a 58-pager now, loaded up with weakening
provisions for various special interests. It is now in Senate
Appropriations Gen'l Government Sub-Committee. (The bill
increases one DRI threshold from 145% to 175%, removed
certain density/intensity requirements, removed acreage
triggers for DRI review (30,40 etc), clarifies local governments
"may request" state review of amendments, etc.)
HB35: (on third reading), see alert below from Keith Schue,
Chapter Transportation Issue Chair:SB1458 is still in
Senate Appropriations General Government Sub-Committee.
Could be withdrawn and placed on Senate Calendar.
HB261; (on third reading in the House), Turnpike enterprise:
SB502 on Special Order for Monday in the Senate. HB1299: (on
third reading.) This water supply bill forces the use of
reclaimed water, reverse osmosis, desal plants and injection wells
(ASRs) as water supply alternatives.
SB2122 is the companion and is in Senate Appropriations
General Gov't Sub-Committee.
HB851: Solid Waste bill: changes the statutory requirement that
counties recycle a "majority" of certain materials
to recycle only a "significant portion" of
materials; transfers money from the Solid Waste TF
(two-tenths of one percent) to the Ecosystem Management
& Restoration Trust Fund to be used for water quality
improvement projects and water restoration projects.
TV news read this as "water supply projects"! On 3-13-02
Representative Crow and Gottlieb sponsored a Floor amendment to
HB851 to prohibit ARSENIC TREATED WOOD from being disposed of in
an unlined landfill or openly burned; nor be used in mulch
or compostâ€|and required a study by DEPâ€|the
amendment failed 49 yes/ 60 no, 11 not voting. Correct vote
was YESâ€| Apalachicola Banker, Rep.Will Kendrick (D) spoke for
the Timber & Wood Chemical Treatment industries. SENATE
companion to HB851 is: SB710 & SB1138 both are on the
Senate Floor calendar. SENATE TAKES $100 MILLION FROM DEDICATED
CONSERVATION funding to non-environmental purposes. The
money comes from a special reserve fund that is held to
secure payment of P2000 and Florida Forever bonds. Tell your
Senator to return the money back for conservation purposes.
************************** Kudo's to Florida Chapter
Sierra Club Executive Committee members who traveled to
Tallahassee last weekend. We got lots of work done, & planned
further events in targeted districts to finish out this session.
Our events have made a big difference. Senator King keeps
saying he's trying to get out of the bottom FloridaLCV
ranking (#40); Representative McGriff removed his name
from co-sponsorship of HB257; Representative Peterman has said he
would try to change his committee votes for HB819 if he
couldâ€|and 9 members did change their vote, by voting
against Spratt's bill (by voting for Crow's Amendment)
Thursday.
***************** Susan Kairys-Courech, Chapter
Secretary, stayed over a couple days & worked right
along side us, doing whatever needed to be done. We put together a
great list of organizations and civic groups opposed to the
anti-citizen participation bills. Susan also spoke to the
Senate NR Committee the day of the hearing. Susan did a
great job for the Chapter There were more than 26 speakers
for SB270 and 15 against.
********************* ANTI-CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND
ENFORCEMENT BILLS ARE STILL MOVING & STILL DISGRACEFUL:
In the House, HB257 is on third reading. This bill is the
"evil twin" to HB819 (which is also on third
reading), & attacks the Administrative Procedures
process.
The Attorney General released a position paper the day the
bill was heard on the House floor which was great for us. Their
position paper along with our press statement, with the long
list of organizations attached, stirred the
opposition.
We mustered up 42 votes for our amendment which was offered
by Representatives Crow (R) & Greenstein (D) & supported
by several D's & R's. Representatives Gannon,
Lerner, Cusack, Frankel were among those who spoke in
favor of the Crow/Greenstein Amendment.
Sierra Issue Chair Dan Hendrickson helped chronicle
the goings-on: SB280/ HB257: When Spratt's HB 257 was coming to
the House floor this week, Representative Larry Crow
sponsored the same amendment to gut the Administrative
Procedures bill which Senator Locke Burt sponsored last
week; the amendment would remove the entire Chapter 120
"reform" out of 280/257.
Too bad it didn't happen in at least one chamber. As we reported
last week, Sen. Ken Pruitt made Sen Burt withdraw his
amendment & this week Rep Crow's amendment "went to
the board" for a 64-42 roll call vote (plus 4 votes for us
after the cutoff time; a total of 16 representatives
"walked").
Larry Sellers, Frank Matthews, Chuck Littlejohn and
the Ag lobbyists were lobbying hard against the
amendment outside the House chamber with handouts, etc.
arm-twisting for hours. (So their bill isn't the piece of cake
they keep insisting: 9 Republicans voted for the Crow
amendment.
If we'd kept a more solid Democratic vote, and Argenziano,
Fiorentino, Kravitz and others who have indicated they would vote
with us HAD, but didn't, we could have ripped that bill into
two pieces, and have one fewer Bad Bill to fight next week.)
Sen Jim King's SB 270 finally won its hearing before the Senate
Natural Resources Committee which was poised to vote the
bill down. But, in a replay of the recent SNR hearing
on the Anti-Manatee bill, the Senators accepted amendments
thinking they were watering the bill down, rather than having to
vote the bill down.
And in a replay of the committee hearing on the "evil
twin" Anti-Citizen bill SB 280 a week earlier, Senator Rod
Smith led the charge against the citizen witnesses by
interrupting public interest attorney Tom Reese soon after
he began rebutting the industry/ chamber of commerce
speakers who had told stories of permit woes, some of which were
not even FEPA cases (Section 403.412, Fla Statutes).
Soon after Smith cross-examined Reese without the
opportunity to answer, Committee Chair Brown -Waite rudely
interrupted Tom accusing him of misrepresenting handwritten
amendments which only the Senators had access to read.
She then called on the next witness to support the bill.
Smith and BrownWaite double-teamed Tom like Smith and Posey
did Hendrickson in the hearing on SB 280 a week
earlier.
SB270 was amended with Audubon amendments (did you see 1000
Friends of Florida SB270 alert on their website informing
readers to not support the Audubon amendment by Charles Lee
3-11-02?
Despite our last minute warning by all enviro
lawyers not to amend the bill, it was just too tempting for them.)
We had two NO votes, Senator Ken Pruitt, who found the bill
too "offensive" and Senator Al Lawson. Voting for
the bill were: Senators King, Brown-Waite, Latvala,
Smith, Mitchell, Sullivan. (Laurent and Dawson were absent.)
The bill takes away 30 years of standing, and replaces it
with Audubon's 2001 language of environmental groups
with 25 members within the county (and they must be current
members, with their name and address.) The
crowd included more than two dozen speakers' for the bill from
Chambers of Commerce from around the state, and fifteen or so from
opponents of the bill, & Tallahassee activists filled
the front rows in a block of support from LWV, Sierra, FLCV,
Coalition for Family Safety, ALA, FCAN, LEAF, and Homeowners
Associations (Gregg Patterson, (President of CONA) was
introduced by Tallahassee mayor Scott Maddox, who spoke against
the bill, as he acknowledged these citizens in these front
rows challenge us often. Citizens' rights to do just
that should be protected, not limited, he urged.
Susie had also asked CONA to consider the Anti-Citizen bills,
and, at a meeting on the evening before the hearing, 60
representatives from 52 Leon County Homeowners' Associations
voted UNANIMOUSLY to oppose the bills. FCAN interim
Executive Director Bill Newton of Tampa also spoke against the
bill, as did Susan Kairys-Courech of Central Florida and
Attorney General Bob Butterworth's office, represented by
John Rimes. 15 others of us waited to speak in opposition to
the bill.
Bill Newton read from the recent Tampa Tribune
Editorial and the harsh words from the editorial board temporarily
silenced the Committee. Susan told how she had spent hours
the day before the meeting compiling a list of all the
organizations and public interest attorneys who oppose the
four Anti-Citizen, Anti-Environment bills moving through the
legislature. (More than 50 organizations now plus the 52 member
HOAs in Leon County.)
PART II:
!!!!!!! MANATEES RULE !!!!!!!!
The House amended HB1473 this past Friday, voted on the bill,
passed it, and sent it on to the Senate. The bill changed
from the Senate version and got even better. Pat Rose, Save
the Manatee Club and Helen Spivey STM and Sierra Club worked
endlessly to use the bill SB1614, that came out of the Senate
Comprehensive Planning Committee and amended that version, with
changes, to the House version.
The following is from Helen Spivey, Chapter Manatee Issue
Chair and is her story about the March 12th meeting:
Thanks to an overwhelming number of e mails, phone calls and
personal lobbying by the fabulous grass rooters ---
Florida's and our governor's favorite marine mammal came up
a BIG and POWERFUL WINNER in a senate meeting Tuesday, March
12th, 2002.
The date should be marked on your calendar so we can all
celebrate it annually. It was that big! We'd worked for weeks
walking the Senate halls, handing out information to every
legislator who was going to hear the bill, SB 1614 by Sen. Posey.
As reported earlier, it almost died in Senate Natural
Resources but was revived with some amendments to help the
sponsor save face and get it out of committee.
Three senators voted the right "just say no" way!
Sen. Al Lawson, Sen. Richard Mitchell and Sen. Rod Smith. If
any are yours, thank them. The bill limped out with a
promise by the sponsor that he wouldn't try and change
anything else. You see some senators thought they had "fixed
it for manatees." Pat Rose, the government relations person
for Save the Manatee Club, wrote an amendment to the bad
Posey bill and we went to see Sen. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Long story short --- she ran our amendment, called a
"strike-everything" --- that took everything out of the
bill and then put it back with the addition of things
manatees needed or removed things that were bad for
manatees.
Here's the rest of the story from part of a press release
from Save the Manatee Club. "Senator Debbie
Wasserman Schultz did an amazing job defending manatees by
amending this very bad and deceptive bill in the Senate
Comprehensive Planning, Local and Military Affairs
Committee. The Committee chair, Senator Lee Constantine and
the other senators: Tom Lee, Tom Rossin and Steve Geller
also deserve our praise for their leadership in removing harmful
changes to the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act. The result was
a bill that, if necessary, we can live with," stated
Rose. Some of the improvements to the Senate
version of this bill were: - Local rule review
committees established by the proposed bill must now have
equal representation by waterway users and environmentalists. And
these committees are only optional, no longer placing a
mandate on county government. - Local
governments can adopt stronger boating regulations than the state
if they choose to do so. - The state will be
required to conduct studies to ensure that boaters are
complying with the manatee speed zones. - Many coastal
counties will be required to implement comprehensive manatee
protection plans. "Most importantly, the
Senate Committee members, led by Senator Wasserman Schultz,
removed the most critical language in the bill that would have
made it very difficult for the state to adopt site-specific
speed zones without having to show that the entire state
manatee population would be adversely affected if that one
particular zone was not adopted," said Rose. It was so good
--- a 5 to 1 vote in favor of the "strike-everything"
amendment --- then a unanimous vote to make it a committee
substitute. I wish you all could have been there. It was a
powerful show of just what grass roots support and the
simple truth could do.
**************** ROADZILLA STALKS TALLAHASSEE LEGISLATURE
Terrible sprawl-inducing transportation bills continue to move
through the Florida House and Senate.
ACTION NEEDED: Contact your state legislators and urge them to
vote NO on BOTH Turnpike Bill (HB261/SB502) and Expressway Bill
(HB35/SB1458). If your legislator is a Republican, be sure
to point out that these bills are not only bad for CONSERVATION
--they are also bad for CONSERVATIVE government!
- Both promote SPRAWL and growth MIS-MANAGEMENT by making it
easier to build unwanted, unjustified roads and
government-subsidized development in rural Florida.
- The Turnpike bill (HB261/SB502) represents IRRESPONSIBLE
ECONOMICS by wiping out any requirement that individual toll roads
EVER pay for themselves. Floridians who have already paid
off their part of the turnpike could be forced to forever
SUBSIDIZE new unwanted, unjustified road projects elsewhere in the
state, while losing funds that could have been beneficial to their
own area.
- The Turnpike bill represents BIGGER GOVERNMENT by letting the
Department of Transportation become involved in activities that
ought to remain in the PRIVATE sector (hotels, conference centers,
games of amusement.virtually ANY business opportunity) at new
sprawl-inducing roads and interchanges popping up across the
countryside.
- The Expressway bill (HB35/SB1458) recklessly abandons
important LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT of new expressway projects (except
in select areas). It also abandons FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY by
letting the Expressway Authority issue its own bonds, and bypass
prudent review by the state Division of Bond Finance, and Governor
& Cabinet.
- The Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority is presently
involved in a legal suit with the state regarding its bonding
ability. The legislature normally frowns upon passing laws
intended to CIRCUMVENT the judicial process. .Also
contact the GOVERNOR. Tell him that these transportation bills are
bad for all of the above reasons, that he should discourage their
approval and VETO them if necessary.
********************** HB 715/ SB 728 BILLBOARD ORDINANCES
LEGISLATION STILL MOVING: H715 passed out of the House
Monday 91-17 and moved to the Senate. As noted in earlier
TR's, Citizens for a Scenic Florida and its allies are mobilizing
opposition to the repeat offender from prior legislative
session which would Pre-empt local government ordinances
regulating outdoor Billboards. The Cities and Counties
are opposing the bills, and in a televised press conference this
week Leon County Commissioner Cliff Thaell blasted the bills
pushed by the Outdoor Advertising Association which will
raid local taxpayers' and local government budgets by
superseding local billboard ordinances. A dozen
newspaper editorials and numerous news stories around the state
agree. Urge "No" votes on Billboards
Preemption. H 715 by Bense, and Latvala's Transportation
bill S728 which has been stalled on Special Order on the
Senate floor since Feb 27.
******************* SB 2472: As predicted last week, the Clean
Energy bill was stripped of everything except the one
provision and passed out of its first committee Monday
unanimously. We'll see whether it gets withdrawn from the
other 3 committee assignments so it is available for floor
action. There is still no similar legislation cited in the
House. The bill is now titled: Electrical Power
Plant Siting Act. Grrr.
************************ Campaign Finance Legislation on hold:
A) Legislators still have stalled the Political Committee
redefinition for at least minimal disclosure and
contribution limits this fall.
B) Sen Debbie Wasserman
Schultz, in a budgeting amendment Thursday, tried to at
least limit state money from financing thinly-veiled
incumbents' political advertising during election season
(July-Election Day) as "public service tv ads." Senate
Republicans, led by Sen Victor Crist, voted down the
proposal 18-14, then again 23-13.
C) The Disabled voters' bill
draws Rally on steps of Old Capitol Friday.
"Elections/ Poll Accessibility" by Sen Mitchell and Rep
Larry Crow S1504/H1645. The Sen bill passed out of Gov
Oversight Mon and is in Appropr Subcommittee; the House
bill, however, has been stuck in Fiscal Responsibility
Council for nearly a month.
D) Common Cause ALERT! The loophole in campaign
financing laws we discussed in recent TR's has still not
been acknowledged in the House. The Senate has a
"fix" pending to reenact the law prohibiting indirect
contributions (special interests try to give money to their
employees to give on to candidates to hide whose money it
is, and to violate the $500 maximum contribution limits!).
Urge passage of SB 1350.
E) The only good news is that Alachua County's Home Rule
Amendment for Campaign Finance Reform has been filed this
week in the Senate, after the House approved the local bill
Tuesday. SB 2684/ HB 1073 Sen Smith, Reps McGriff, Kendrick
and Jennings.
OTHER ISSUES IN THE PRESS BY ENVIRONMENTALISTS THIS WEEK
INCLUDED:
*Coverage of a protest outside Sen Ken Pruitt's office Monday
afternoon, 3/11.
*More letters to the editor in several papers.
* A dynamite editorial in the Palm Beach Post Tuesday against all
4 bills (which was run in other papers later in the week as
a guest editorial).
*Ron Littlepage, opinion writer for the Jacksonville Times Union,
printed another scathing attack on Sen Jim King's bill,
quoting from other newspaper editorial boards around the
state, showing that King's "I didn't really mean
it" didn't fool the media.
*On Tues, some papers covered the Representatives' press
conference against HB 819, led by Rep Anne Gannon (Palm
Beach County), who was joined by Cindy Lerner (Miami),
Arthenia Joyner (Tampa), Ron Greenstein (Coconut Creek),
Sara Romeo (Tampa) and Susan Bucher (West Palm Beach).
*Wed, the reporters downplayed our opposition to SB 270 and
emphasized the amendments to water down the Anti-Citizen
bill; King was quoted as claiming to back down "after 3
editorials, 4 news stories, and a hanging in effigy, when
Sierra Club picketed his office" (oh well, myths have their
purpose, maybe-but there was no hanging or burning in
effigy, and the press conference/picket was outside City
Hall in Jacksonville, and there were MANY other
organizations there besides just Sierra).
* Helen and Pat and allies earned good press
from Tuesday's Senate Local Government Committee rewriting
the Anti-Manatee bill, as well as ongoing opeds and tv
visuals *(Patti Thompson's op ed ran in the Tribune Sat.).
*The passage of the Manatee bill on the House floor ran on
statewide TV, including the recognition by Amendment sponsor
Rep. Ron Greenstein of "Save the Manatee Club, Wade
Hopping, Pat Rose, and Sierra Club and others" to
indicate that the consensus bill was no longer opposed by our
allies or other major parties.
* Keith Schue and Laurie MacDonald organized a press
conference in Tally on Tuesday afternoon to Explain our
opposition to the Runaway Transportation Bills, and
*Defenders of Wildlife and Sierra co-ordinated another in Orlando
Friday co-sponsored also by: Audubon, Lake County Conservation
Council, Orange Co Audubon, and Alliance to Protect Water
Resources.
* Also on Friday, in a press conference organized by the
League of Women Voters, Sierra was recognized on statewide
radio for supporting serious Tax Reform this year, along
with allies Florida Consumer Action Network, Florida LCV,
National Organization of Women, Voices (injured workers), American
Planning Association/ Florida, Human Services Coalition of
Miami-Dade, Florida PIRG, Florida PTA, 1000 Friends of
Florida, Florida Education Association.
* And also on Friday, Sierrans in the
Bradenton area organized another coalition press event to
oppose the Anti-Citizen Enforcement bills, including:
Manatee-Sarasota Sierra, Sarasota County Green Party, Floridians
for a Sustainable Population, Growth Restraint and Environmental
Organization (GEO), Manasota-88, Environmental Confederation
of SouthWest Florida (ECOSWF), Sarasota Audubon Society,
Florida Native Plant Society- Serenoa Chapter, Save Pine
Island, Manatee Democrats in Action Club, Sarasota Alliance
for Safe Foods, Evergreen. Way to go, Arlene Sweeting!
(Chapter Conservation Chair for Sierra).
Other great quotes came from Group Conservation Chair
Elizabeth Bharucha who expressed disappointment in Rep Mike
Bennett for cosponsoring HB 257 and for winning the distinction of
scoring dead last -number 120 on the FLCV Scorecard. Also
speaking was Dan Lobeck, President of GEO: "Any
legislator voting for these billsâ€|are declaring the
developers and polluters are more important than the citizens
and the environment. If that's the loyalty they choose, then
the people will have their recourse at the polls when they
seek re-election." The event was held outside the
office of state representative Mike Bennett.
*Also on Friday, fourteen environmental groups released a
press statement blasting a last-minute Budget raid from
dedicated conservation funds for non-environmental purposes:
The Nature Conservancy, Audubon, Trust for Public Land,
Florida Wildlife Federation, Fla League of Anglers,
Defenders of Wildlife, Env & Land Use Law Center, Sierra, Fla
LCV, FCAN, 1000 Friends of Fla, Conservancy of SW Fla, Fla
PIRG, and Save the Manatee Club all decried a
"backroom" decision to transfer a total of $120 million
from conservation funds to other programs not related to the
environment.
* Everglades Press
Conference Thursday planned by Audubon, Trust for Public
Land, and The Nature Conservancy, received tv coverage
statewide, with Sen Jim King kissing a two-year old
alligator. Representatives Dockery and Lacasa also
spoke and other representatives standing behind the podium
included Ron Greenstein and, for some reason, Mark Flanagan.
********************
Part III of 3:
THIS IS THE VOTE ON THE GOOD CROW/GREENSTEIN AMENDMENT
YES IS THE CORRECT VOTE
Bill Number ....: CSHB 257 Date:
3/14/2002
Amendment Number: AA1 Time: 03:22PM
Reading Number .: 2 Session Sequence No: 896
Floor Actions ..: Daily Roll Call No: 9
Yeas - 42 Nays - 64 Not Voting - 14
MEMBER MEMBER MEMBER
N Alexander CH Feeney N Machek
N Allen Y Fields N Mack
N Andrews - Fiorentino N Mahon
- Argenziano N Flanagan N Mayfield
N Arza Y Frankel N Maygarden
N Attkisson Y Gannon Y McGriff
N Atwater N Garcia Y Meadows
Y Ausley N Gardiner N Mealor
Y Baker Y Gelber N Melvin
N Ball N Gibson N Murman
- Barreiro N Goodlette Y Needelman
N Baxley Y Gottlieb Y Negron
N Bean N Green - Paul
Y Bendross-Mindingall Y Greenstein Y Peterman
N Bennett N Haridopolos Y Pickens
N Bense Y Harper N Prieguez
N Benson N Harrell Y Rich
N Berfield N Harrington Y Richardson
Y Betancourt N Hart - Ritter
N Bilirakis Y Henriquez Y Romeo
N Bowen Y Heyman N Ross
N Brown - Hogan N Rubio
Y Brummer N Holloway Y Russell
Y Brutus N Jennings Y Ryan
Y Bucher N Johnson Y Seiler
N Bullard - Jordan N Simmons
N Byrd Y Joyner - Siplin
N Cantens - Justice Y Slosberg
N Carassas N Kallinger Y Smith
N Clarke N Kendrick - Sobel
Y Crow N Kilmer - Sorensen
Y Cusack Y Kosmas N Spratt
N Davis - Kottkamp N Stansel
Y Detert N Kravitz N Trovillion
N Diaz de la Portilla - Kyle N Wallace
N Diaz-Balart - Lacasa N Waters
N Dockery Y Lee Y Weissman
N Evers Y Lerner Y Wiles
Y Farkas N Littlefield Y Wilson
N Fasano N Lynn Y Wishner
N The Chair
In the Chair: Feeney
Y=Yea N=Nay -=Not Voting
**********************
THIS IS THE BAD SPRATT STRIKE EVERYTHING AMENDMENT:
NO IS THE CORRECT VOTE
Bill Number ....: CSHB 257 Date:
3/14/2002
Amendment Number: A1 Time: 03:31PM
Reading Number .: 2 Session Sequence No: 897
Floor Actions ..: Daily Roll Call No: 10
Yeas - 68 Nays - 33 Not Voting - 19
MEMBER MEMBER MEMBER
- Alexander - Feeney Y Machek
Y Allen N Fields Y Mack
Y Andrews Y Fiorentino - Mahon
Y Argenziano Y Flanagan Y Mayfield
Y Arza N Frankel Y Maygarden
- Attkisson N Gannon N McGriff
Y Atwater N Garcia N Meadows
N Ausley - Gardiner Y Mealor
Y Baker N Gelber Y Melvin
Y Ball Y Gibson CH Murman
- Barreiro - Goodlette Y Needelman
Y Baxley N Gottlieb Y Negron
Y Bean Y Green Y Paul
N Bendross-Mindingall N Greenstein N Peterman
Y Bennett Y Haridopolos Y Pickens
Y Bense N Harper Y Prieguez
Y Benson Y Harrell N Rich
Y Berfield Y Harrington N Richardson
N Betancourt Y Hart - Ritter
Y Bilirakis N Henriquez N Romeo
Y Bowen N Heyman Y Ross
Y Brown Y Hogan Y Rubio
Y Brummer N Holloway Y Russell
- Brutus Y Jennings N Ryan
- Bucher Y Johnson N Seiler
N Bullard - Jordan Y Simmons
- Byrd N Joyner - Siplin
Y Cantens - Justice N Slosberg
Y Carassas Y Kallinger N Smith
Y Clarke Y Kendrick - Sobel
Y Crow Y Kilmer - Sorensen
N Cusack N Kosmas Y Spratt
Y Davis Y Kottkamp Y Stansel
Y Detert Y Kravitz - Trovillion
Y Diaz de la Portilla - Kyle Y Wallace
- Diaz-Balart Y Lacasa Y Waters
Y Dockery Y Lee N Weissman
Y Evers N Lerner N Wiles
Y Farkas Y Littlefield N Wilson
Y Fasano Y Lynn N Wishner
Y The
Chair
In the Chair: Murman
Y=Yea N=Nay -=Not Voting
FRANKEL AMENDMENT: STOP OIL DRILLING OFF COAST
YES IS CORRECT VOTE
Bill Number ....: CSHB 819 Date:
3/13/2002
Amendment Number: A2 Time: 12:00PM
Reading Number .: 2 Session Sequence No: 878
Floor Actions ..: Motion Daily Roll Call No: 4
Yeas - 39 Nays - 75 Not Voting - 6
MEMBER MEMBER MEMBER
N Alexander CH Feeney N Machek
N Allen Y Fields N Mack
N Andrews N Fiorentino N Mahon
- Argenziano N Flanagan N Mayfield
N Arza Y Frankel N Maygarden
N Attkisson Y Gannon Y McGriff
N Atwater N Garcia Y Meadows
Y Ausley N Gardiner N Mealor
N Baker Y Gelber N Melvin
N Ball N Gibson N Murman
N Barreiro Y Goodlette N Needelman
N Baxley Y Gottlieb N Negron
N Bean N Green N Paul
Y Bendross-Mindingall Y Greenstein Y Peterman
N Bennett N Haridopolos N Pickens
N Bense Y Harper N Prieguez
N Benson N Harrell Y Rich
N Berfield N Harrington Y Richardson
Y Betancourt N Hart N Ritter
N Bilirakis Y Henriquez Y Romeo
N Bowen Y Heyman N Ross
N Brown N Hogan N Rubio
N Brummer Y Holloway N Russell
Y Brutus Y Jennings Y Ryan
Y Bucher N Johnson Y Seiler
Y Bullard N Jordan N Simmons
N Byrd Y Joyner - Siplin
N Cantens - Justice Y Slosberg
N Carassas N Kallinger Y Smith
N Clarke N Kendrick Y Sobel
N Crow N Kilmer N Sorensen
Y Cusack Y Kosmas N Spratt
N Davis N Kottkamp N Stansel
N Detert N Kravitz N Trovillion
N Diaz de la Portilla N Kyle N Wallace
- Diaz-Balart - Lacasa - Waters
N Dockery Y Lee Y Weissman
N Evers Y Lerner Y Wiles
N Farkas N Littlefield Y Wilson
N Fasano Y Lynn Y Wishner
N The Chair
In the Chair: Feeney
Y=Yea N=Nay -=Not Voting
FLORIDA TALLAHASSEE REPORT. Volume 10, Number 5, 2002 (Part II 3/5/02)
Prepared by Susie Caplowe and Tally Lobbying team, Sierra Club
Committee Week Number 5, 2002 FLORIDA LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Saturday, February 23, 2002
Update on Anti-Manatee Legislation HB1473
SB1614 ANTI-MANATEE ALERT : part II
Update on Everglades funding
Update on Growth Management
Update on Anti-Citizen Participation Bills
***************************
ANTI-MANATEE LEGISLATION HB1473 PASSES OUT OF COUNCIL FOR Ready
Infrastructure.
We have worked against these bills since day one, even though they were
fast-tracked and many co-sponsors were recruited by the special interests
even before session began. But as we counted the votes as we walked the
hallways, the final outcome of the final vote was "No" surprise. But how
discouraging when the "manatees" can only get 3 NO Votes. And the boat
manufacturers can get 15. Voting for the Manatee: Represenatives Bob
Henriquez, Sally Heyman, David Russell, (friends of former State House
Representative Helen Spivey, FLCV Gold Star winner-twice, who is our Chapter
Issue Chair for Manatees and who is also Co-Chair with Jimmy Buffett, for the
Save the Manatee Club.) Call them, send them an email and thank them for
their vote against the anti-manatee bill.
Voting against the Manatees were: Bean, Bense, Brutus, Dockery, Goodlette,
Harrington, Hart, Holloway, Kallinger, Kosmas, Littlefield, Mahon, Smith,
Stansel
Speaking against the bill: Save the Manatee Club; Sierra Club, Florida League
of Conservation Voters, Defenders of Wildlife, Florida Consumer Action
Network, Audubon, Florida Wildlife Federation, Florida League of Anglers, The
Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
Speaking for the bill: Standing Watch, Marine Industries Association of
Collier County, Florida Council of Yacht Clubs, Association of Florida
Community Developers, SWF Marine Industries Association, Coastal Conservation
Association of Florida (the ones who pushed for the NET BAN Constitutional
amendment years ago), National Marine Manufacturers Association.
The Senate bill SB1614 by Posey, is up in Senate Natural Resources Tuesday,
see alert at the end of the updates so you know what to do to oppose this bad
bill.
*************************
EVERGLADES Funding SB684 moved ahead in the Senate: It passed out of Senate
Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government. Next stop is the Senate
Floor. The Senate budget is for $75 million and the House Budget is seeking
$100 million a year for the rest of the decade. The House bill, HB813, is now
on the House Floor.
During the Senate General Gov't Appropriations hearing, when SB684 came up,
Senator King said he needed this bill because he was number "40" in the
ranking recently released by the environmental community. He said he would
have been lower but there were "only 40 of us". He chuckled. Senator Laurent
responded you might move up a few, but in a couple of weeks, you will drop
down to the bottom because of the Senate Natural Resources meeting. (Meaning
that the anti citizen participation bill is coming up in two weeks?) The
hearing was televised statewide, so many of you saw how one enviro lobbyist
followed up those statements by stating "You're number one in our book,
Senator Kingâ€|"
**************************
GROWTH MIS-MANAGEMENT: A GOOD BILL GONE BAD. HB1535 WAS amended with the
language to delete the thresholds and development of regional impact language
for marinas and petroleum sites. We testified against it. But the votes
aren't there for us. The only no vote was Rep. Loranne Ausley.(Leon County)
House Committee Local Government and Veterans Affairs.
Senate Bill 1464 was temporarily passed (TP'd). Senator Constantine TP'd his
own bill so we could have the opportunity to work with the staff and fix some
problems. Following the meeting, we reviewed our list of issues with the
staff. We requested more public participation by civic and homeowner
organizations in the beginning of these major exemptions to local planning
requirements; we want a "sunset" to occur in 5 years not 10; we want more
criteria in the eligibility section and more state oversight when it comes to
the evaluation of the ongoing projects. The state needs to monitor and learn
from the mistakes and lessons in the pilot projects; that's why they're
called pilots.
We didn't get all that, but at the end of the day, we did get some form
of public participation; the bill is not awful, but it doesn't have all the
protections from mis-management that we would want. Thanks to Denise Layne
and Richard Grosso for their reviews of bills and amendments, phone calls and
down-home, lobbying assistance.
**********************
ANTI-CITIZEN PARTICIPATION BILL HB819 PASSES LAST COMMITTEE.
We were out in full force in this committee, speaking against the bill, but
to no avail. Not one vote against the bill.
Not a one. The bill will now move to the House Floor.
The Senate bills have not moved to their next committee "YET"
ENVIRONMENTALISTS MAINTAIN UNITY ON ANTI-CITIZEN ENFORCEMENT BILL, BUT SO
DO "HEAR-NO-EVIL" LEGISLATORS
In the final hearing Thursday February 21, the second of two controversial
Anti-Citizen Enforcement Bills was passed and packaged for expected House
floor action during the last half of this year's legislative session.
HB819, House companion to Senator Jim King's SB270, drew the largest crowd of
lobbyists yet this year, as environmental speakers strongly explained reason
after reason why the bill should be voted down. We pulled together the most
environmental unity yet against the bill, despite a last minute attempt to
substitute some alternate version of the bill. Thanks, Peter Belmont and Tom
Reese, for the quick response to help us debunk the attempt (at least for
now).
Chairman JD Alexander courteously called us one after another, without
attempting to limit or interrupt our time in opposition to the bill: Sara
Fotopolous, SW Conservancy; David Guest, Earthjustice law firm; Dan
Hendrickson, FCAN; Susie Caplowe, Sierra; David Ludder, LEAF; David Gluckman,
Florida Wildlife Federation; Terrill Arline, 1000 Friends of Florida; Jeanne
Zokovitch, LEAF's Community Environmental Justice Project; and Charles Lee,
Audubon.
Again, Frank Matthews and Larry Sellers (Hopping, Green & Sams
"environmental law firm" and Holland & Knight law firm, respectively)
presented their smokescreen against our arguments, insisting that the bill is
necessary to help businesses survive against our onslaught of frivolous and
costly legal challenges, usually by someone with no business sticking their
nose into some other community's economic development. And of course, they
stay silent on our explanation of the chilling effect of the mandatory
attorney fee scheme in the Florida Environmental Protection Act.
Spokespersons from the Homebuilders also addressed the Committee, while other
business lobbyists just waived their time in support of the bill. Again,
Matthews reminded the members of the "Council for Competitive Commerce" that
the bill was strongly supported by dozens of business groups, listing
"Florida Agriculture, Associated Industries of Florida, Homebuilders,
Association of Community Developers, Mining, Phosphate, Petroleum, and every
regulated interest in Florida."â€|â€|â€|.
Sellers had to try to outdo Matthews' rhetoric, so he told how he was an
attorney in the original Manasota 88 case twenty years ago which interpreted
broad standing for citizens. In fact, he stated, the controversial precedent
that this bill intends to overrule was in fact just "dictum" (relatively
meaningless statements that are not really a ruling by the judges). He's
also Chair of the Florida Chamber of Commerce's Environmental Committee. He
went on to repeat, as if no one was listening to our explanation of the
mandatory attorney fee scheme, that "This bill does not effect personal
ability to get involvedâ€|(nor) affect organizations (from getting
involved)â€|All it does is give "intervention" a (new) meaning. That's all
this bill does!"
After the lengthy hearing, the roll call vote incredibly was a unanimous
testimony, not to the merits of the legislation, but to the intimidating
presence of the dozens and dozens of "suits" who filled the large hearing
room and lined parts of two walls with standing room anticipation-they each
get to take credit and tell their rendition this weekend of how they whipped
us enviros and earned every penny of their lobbying fees.
Even former pro-environmental legislators asked prepared, hostile
questions of our speakers (Stacy Ritter, D, Coral Springs). When Zokovitch
directly listed environmental justice victims and organizers from specific
communities represented by at least two members of the committee, the two
rudely stood up, walked away from the committee table and talked behind a
column out of view of the most impressive testimony of the day.
When other examples showed how developer attorneys vigorously challenge
the "standing" even of intervenors in permit challenges (let alone how they
fight the original environmental plaintiffs themselves), Rep. Allen mocked
one of his city councils which had passed a motion to intervene in a permit,
because he claimed the estuary that would be affected by a fill/ expansion
into the bay was really grandfathered sovereign submerged lands and had been
adjacent to the hospital in question so many decades already that the
waterway isn't pristine anyway. (There's a causeway nearby). So we guess
water bodies near existing causeways deserve no future protection by
environmental laws?
The heroes for economic development who voted to limit citizen and
community and local government standing in environmental controversies were:
JD Alexander, James Hank Harper (vice chair), Allen, Atwater, Benson,
Flanagan, Prieguez, Spratt, Trovillion, Waters, Kendrick, Peterman, Ritter.
If you want still another point to make about lousy process, this was not
even the appropriate "Council" for the bill to be referenced to: since the
first committee review was Natural Resources/Environmental Protection, the
right council should have been Ready Infrastructure. But there are a few
moderates there, who might again express bipartisan opposition to the bill,
so House Leadership made sure the bill was sent to this "Competitive
Commerce" Council, which gets the bills from, among others, the House
Agriculture Committee (the secondary committee of reference for this bill.)
After all, Ag doesn't have much to do with the environment. The other
process point was that the staff analyses have still not been corrected after
we pointed out their misstatements and over-reliance on the overreaching
arguments given them by the corporate writers of the bills.
So, despite their apparent success at Greasing the legislation, what do we
do? We see new opponents to the bills every day, and more reporters and
letters to the editor question how the legislature can be so arrogant? It
sounds familiar, compared to what happened a year ago with other legislation
that was also flying through the process. (REMEMBER WHAT OUR GRASSROOTS
MOBILIZATION AND ACTIVISM DID TO THE WELL GREASED AQUIFER STORAGE AND
RECOVERY BILLS, LAST YEAR!!) Keep up the calls and letters to the editor.
Call your local Conservation Chair or Political chair and offer to help.
Send us copies of letters and we'll keep distributing them here. Call your
local papers. Call Joe Murphy at the Sierra Club office in St Pete 727/
824-8813. Call Nicolle in Tallahassee Sierra office 850/915-0580.
Helen Spivey and Susie Caplowe had a meeting with Senator King, at his
request, just the other day. We talked about his sponsorship and ranking on
the Florida League of Conservations Voters scorecard. We praised him for the
current Everglades bill. We scorned him for his anti-citizen participation
bills. He said this was the last time for him and that he was "tired of being
at the bottom of the scorecard." He and his staff shared with us the
ill-informed "compromise," which we warned him that our active environmental
attorneys across the state do not like at all, that the language in fact
hurts citizens' challenges to pollution, destruction of wetlands, etc.. This
consensus from attorneys, David Guest, Earthjustice; David Ludder & Jeanne
Zokovitch, Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation, Dan Hendrickson Sierra
Club Citizen Enforcement Issue Chair and FCAN & FLCV; Tom Reese and Peter
Belmont, very respected household names who make up our pro-bono lawyers many
times; and Richard Grosso, Environmental Law â€| we also told him of the
Environmental Summits we have twice a year and how this bill is always
discussed and is the at the top of the most aggregious bills there are. Over
fifty community leaders, activists/organizations have attended and all truly
despise this attempt to shut us out from protecting our communities.
Various of these articles were team written by several of us here-Helen, Pat,
Dan, Susie, with input from our weekly Public Interest Forum, which meets
each Friday lunch to compare strategies and updates on the environmental
legislation (wanna know who all participates?)
***********************
WATER BILLS MOVING FORWARD:
HB1299 still has the Florida Forever language in it. Again Rep. Greenstein
tried to amend it out but did not succeed.
The next stop for this bill is the Council for Ready Infrastructure.
The description of the bill HB1299 Water Supplies, as provided by the
legislature, is as follows:
"Revises definition of 'water resource development project' in provisions re
conservation and recreation lands, to provide funding for facilities that
treat, store, transport, or distribute reclaimed water or stormwater for
reuse; provides land reclamation criteria for areas designated as water
resource caution areas; provides for low-interest loans to provide certain
water pollution control financial assistance, etc."
HB569 was received by the Senate and they have referred the bill to four
committees. Again, this bill misses the mark and does NOT address the need
for water conservation.
***************
HB261 Transportation: was Temporarily passed by the sponsor Russell. This is
another bad transportation bill up in House Council on Ready Infrastructure.
See previous alerts from Keith Schue. Rep. Russell willingly "TP'd" his bill
so there could be further work done on it. So Keith is working on it, and
appreciates any phone calls helping lobby it!
******************
Here is Part II: 3/5/02
OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL BILLS MOVING
CLEAN ENERGY BILL FINALLY SCHEDULED FOR COMMITTEE HEARING THIS WEEK
SB2472 by Senator Campbell, which is supported by the Clean Power Coalition
(and most environmental organizations), will be heard Wednesday in the
Regulated Industries Committee in the Senate. Look up the bill in Online
Sunshine and Call Sierra Issue Chair Ann Vanek; Encourage your Senators who
are members of that committee to support the bill.
HB 715/SB 728 Another Attack on Local BILLBOARD Ordinances! HB 715 passed
its last committee and is headed for the floor. SB 728 is on Special Order
in the Senate and is being argued Currently. See www.ScenicFlorida.org and
help with your Senator and Rep.
***************
TOXIC CONTAMINATION CLEAN-UP BILLS THREATEN TO WEAKEN BROWNFIELD AND
DRYCLEANING PROGRAMS NEGOTIATED SO CAREFULLY 5 YEARS AGO:
Again, Frank Matthews is pushing for new flexibility for allowing money
to carry over for Brownfield cleanups, despite the intensive budgeting and
appropriation process in the Legislature each year. SB 2352, by Silver, is
being heard in Senate Natural Resources Committee Tuesday March 5, and unless
carefully limited by amendments, could open the door to reckless future
budgeting and misappropriation of scarce state dollars within the
Contamination Cleanup programs.
In the Drycleaning Contamination Cleanup bills this year, Publix or other
owners of Shopping Centers or other contaminated properties are again
reviving their push for immunity against responsibility for off-site damages
from toxic contamination spreading from drycleaning sites to neighboring
properties. Sen Laurent's SB 2124 and Representative Dennis Ross (from
Lakeland)'s HB 1541 keep moving through committees. We won this issue
originally, but now I guess they just want No corporate accountability, no
matter the damages to third-parties, neighbors, etc. Where are the property
rights advocates when you need them? Who will end up paying?
***************
COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT BILLS TO TRY TO TRANSFER THE PROGRAM FROM DCA TO
DEP
This Tuesday, the Senate NR Committee is expected to accept the House
bill as a "strike everything" amendment on SB 1064, currently a shell bill.
Call the department(s).
*********************
Lake Okeechobee bills get last minute amendments: Sen. Pruitt added several
amendments to SB 678 as it passed the Senate Wednesday and Thursday this
week, including delays in phosphorus loading deadlines (some to 2005), and
also added best management practices to TMDL statutes, and tried to insulate
landowners from their engineers' actions on permits, illegal mangrove
trimming, etc. Spratt's HB 869 is now on the floor in the House. Our
Everglades Issue committee is reviewing these bills.
**********************
ELECTION REFORMS STILL ELUSIVE
HB 1645/ SB 1504: Representative Larry Crow and Senator Richard Mitchell
have moved their bills for the Disability Community which would make the
state of Florida finally guarantee access to the polls for voters who are
disabled. Amendments and arguments about costs to local election
supervisors threaten to delay the implementation, which may lead to more
legal action against the State for flawed elections.
Speaking of which, the flawed, if not DEVIOUS, House language from end of
last session for the new "provisional ballot" has still not been fixed. On
the Senate side, however, Senator Daryl Jones succeeded this past week in
removing the controversial "Responsibilities of Voters" posters and
instructions from the partially overhauled Florida Election laws. The
Florida House has not warmed to the idea.
Anyone who is coming to town for the Second Anniversary Rally for the
March on Tallahassee this week, call us and see how else you can plug in!
The "Arrive with Five/Election Protection Leadership Training" on Thursday
will be an invaluable experience! If you need more info, contact your local
NAACP office or People for the American Way 850/ 402-1999. The other events
include a Rally Wed. 6-8pm and Prayer Breakfast Thursday. Watch the news for
Wed's Press Conference.
***********************
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORMS:
The Florida Clean Elections Act continued to pick up new sponsors and
co-sponsors this week. If your representative hasn't signed onto HB 1833,
remind them, especially if they have previously agreed to support Clean
Money Campaign Reforms, Spending Limits, Public Financing of Elections and
Soft Money Reforms.
Incredibly, Representative Johnny Byrd has summarily dismissed any
attempt to reenact Florida's ban on giving campaign contributions in the name
of another person. In the name of full disclosure, and meaningful adherence
to our $500 campaign contribution limits, Florida has strictly prohibited
Anyone hiding a donation by giving it through someone else (lobbyists and
insurance companies have been caught doing just that through reimbursing
employees, etc.). But a recent court opinion struck that provision because
it was in a part of the statutes being declared unconstitutional. The
legislators should clearly and quickly reenact the portion prohibiting
"giving in the name of others." Hopefully, the Speaker-designate of the
Republican majority will change his mind on the issue during these final
three weeks of session.
Political committee regulation and disclosure requirements may still pass
this year, though they have been stopped just short of passage during recent
sessions. This is another re-enactment and constitutional "fix" because of a
court ruling that the language was overbroad in the previous legislative
provision. SB 230 & 1842 and HB 1261 & 1315, all 4 bills are on floor of
their respective chamber, one set is narrow to the issue and the other
includes broader Campaign Finance reforms.
********************
(input for these additions from Dan Hendrickson, Pat Rose, Helen Spivey)
2/15/02
FLORIDA TALLAHASSEE REPORT. Volume 10, Number 4,
2002
Prepared by Susie Caplowe and Tally Lobbying team, Sierra Club
Committee Week Number 4, 2002 FLORIDA LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Saturday, February 16, 2002
Update on Water and Land Bills
Update on Anti-Manatee Legislation HB1473
Update on Everglades funding
Update on Growth Management
Update on Anti-Citizen Participation Bills
Update on Clean Elections Bill
OTHER BAD BILLS: TRANSPORTATION
Electoral Reforms inching forward
**********************
**********************
HB1299 Water Supplies by Rep.Machek and Rep.Harrington. SB2122 by
Senator
Laurent:
House Natural Resources Committee passed the Water Supplies Bill that
has
language in it that will expand the definition of "water resource
development" to include the use of Forever Florida funding for
"pipelines and
other infrastructure." This is the same language that we all
objected to in
the recent outcry against the water and land link bill by Rep. Russell
HB569.
(Which, by the way, Rep. Goodlette did do an amendment to remove that
language he had added the other day.) This week,
the Committee debate was very testy at times. The proponents of the
"expanded
definition" kept referring to the 1999 compromise during the
session where
the follow on program for P2000 was hatched-- now known as
"Florida Forever."
They argued that the "definition of water resource
development" DID include
pipelines. Several of the groups who agreed to the compromise in 1999
argued
that the definition only meant that Florida Forever funds could only
be used
for the building of water supply facilities or water storage systems
on water
conservation lands (the water resource development definition that
passed in
the 1999 legislation Florida Forever follow on program to
"P2000".) This
provision allowed for the use of 50% of the funding for building
facilities
that can now be expanded for the use of the building of the PIPES to
pipe it.
In a heated debate over HB1299 by Representative Machek (parts
of Highlands,
Martin, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie Counties), Rep.
Greenstein
(part of Broward County) offered an amendment to delete the language
that
would expand the "1999 compromised water resource
development" language. Our
allies Audubon, TPL and TNC spoke in support of the amendment but felt
bound
by the compromise in 1999 that would allow for the "building of
facilities."
So, we were in the position to support the Greenstein amendment, but
at the
same time say that "we opposed the water resource definition in
1999, and we
still do." With that, Rep.Greenstein said something like, and. in
a very nice
way, "we kiss him on one side of the face and smack him on the
other." In
1999, the Sierra Club, Florida League of Conservation Voters, Florida
Consumer Action Network and others, were holding on to the goals of
the
original land buying program, which was to use the public's money for
buying
land, to protect, preserve and recreate. As asked by our allies
to keep up
that fight, while they had to be in the middle, we did. But the
proponents
won and the definition is in the Florida Forever statute that up to
50% of
the WMD $ can be used for water supply facilities. And it is now
haunting
all of us!
The description of the bill HB1299 Water Supplies, as provided by the
legislature, is as follows:
"Revises definition of "water resource development
project" in provisions re
conservation and recreation lands, to provide funding for facilities
that
treat, store, transport, or distribute reclaimed water or stormwater
for
reuse; provides land reclamation criteria for areas designated as
water
resource caution areas; provides for low-interest loans to provide
certain
water pollution control financial assistance, etc."
There was a roll call vote on Rep. Greenstein's very good amendment
that
would have deleted the language that would have allowed for the
inappropriate
use Florida Forever funds for these pipes. The correct vote on
Greenstein's
amendment was "yes":
Voting "yes" for the amendment were Argenziano,
Bendross-Mindingall,
Greenstein, Peterman, Seiler, and Sorensen. Be sure to
thank them.
Voting against the good amendment was Arza, Baxley, Brummer, Kravitz,
Machek,
Needleman, and Harrington.
The good amendment failed (7-6). If you see your legislator on
this list,
depending on their vote on the Greenstein amendment, tell them thank
you for
supporting Greenstein's amendment that would prohibit the use of
Florida
Forever funding for inappropriate use.
The final vote on HB1299 was a vote of 8 to 5 to pass the bill.
Voting yes for the bill were: Representatives Arza (parts of
Collier and
Dade Counties), Baxley (part of Marion County), Bendross-Mindingall
(part of
Dade County), Brummer (parts of Lake and Orange Counties), Kravitz
(parts of
Clay, Duval, and St. Johns Counties), Machek (parts of Highlands,
Martin,
Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St.Lucie Counties), Needleman (part of
Brevard
County), and Harrington (DeSoto, Hardee and parts of Charlotte and Lee
Counties).
Voting no (the correct vote) on this bill were: Representatives
Argenziano
(Citrus and parts of Hernando and Marion Counties), Greenstein (part
of
Broward County), Peterman (parts of Hillsborough, Manatee, &
Pinellas
Counties), Seiler (part of Broward County), and Sorensen (Monroe and
part of
Dade County)
HB1299 next stop is General Government Appropriations Committee. This
is a
bad bill. Say no to using Florida Forever Funds for pipelines! Call
the
members of that committee and tell them noâ€|
*******************************
Next is the Anti-Manatee Bill HB 1473 by Rep. Harrington / SB1614 by
Senator
Posey. The House version passed in the House Natural Resources
Committtee
this week by a vote of 8-5: Voting yes and against the manatees were:
Representatives Arza (parts of Collier and Dade Counties), Baxley
(part of
Marion County), Brummer (parts of Lake and Orange Counties), Machek
(parts of
Highlands, Martin, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie Counties),
Needleman
(part of Brevard County), Seiler (part of Broward County), Harrington
(DeSoto, Hardee, and parts of Charlotte and Lee Counties), and Bense
(Bay
County) came in jut to add an extra vote for this bill, representing
the
House leadership.
Voting no (the correct vote) were:
Representatives Argenziano (Citrus and parts of Hernando and Marion
Counties), Greenstein (part of Broward), Kravitz (parts of Clay,
Duval, and
St. Johns Counties), Peterman (parts of Hillsborough, Manatee, and
Pinellas
Counties), Sorenson (Monroe and part of Dade County)
So Chairman Harrington, who had just pushed Machek's bad water bill
through
the committee, then turned the Chair over to the Vice Chair- none
other than
Machek, who then returned the favor for Chairman Harrington. Wade
Hopping the
creator of this legislation, knows how to pick his bill sponsors.
This House
Natural Resources Committee meeting was the most exciting thus far
this
session because there was a lot of debate on both HB1299 and HB
1473. What
was disturbing was that when it came to the debate on this very
important
"Manatee" bill, the acting Chairman Machek limited each
speaker to 2 minutes
per person, with the exception of Wade Hopping who was given more
time. Even
the members of the committee raised their voices that they wanted more
time
to ask questions of both sides. We need to realize that the boat
manufacturers and the leaders of recreational boaters are promoting
this
legislation, but in the long run it is going to undo all the current
manatee
protections that we have in place today.
Ask Representatives Seiler and Needleman why they didn't vote right
and stop
this bill in its tracks before it consumes the next month with rancor
and
propaganda from the $$$ special interests?
Manatee speakers Wed included:
Pat Rose, Helen Spivey, Jeff Sharkey, Susie Caplowe, Sara Fototopolus
(SW
Conservancy), and David Gluckman. For the Boat
Manufacturers were Wade
Hopping ("The Chamber and Marine Manufacturing"), Ted
Forgsren ("CCA of
Florida"), Bonnie Basham ("Standing Watch"), Coleen
Barton (Marine Industries
Assn), Jim Calvin (Marina Construction), etcâ€|.Unfortunately,
the Chair was
so determined to pass the bill, he kept limiting and cutting off the
speakers
and proclaiming -incorrectly-that the bill had already been talked to
death
in previous meetings (where only one or two legislators were even
present) .
Most of the questions and input from the Save the Manatee Club were
not
allowed, and as a result some legislators voted no because of the
process (or
lack of). The remaining half of the speakers only had their
names read from
their appearance cards. Some environmental groups were noticeably
absent-not
even a card.
Summary: Pat asked for scientific verification
of the need for the bill,
Susie read from the Daytona Beach Editorial 2/8/02 "Massacre the
Sea Cows
Act" and presented resolutions from three additional
organizations opposing
the bill, Helen pointed out the flawed "Committee Staff
Analysis" on several
pages, and Jeff, as clean-up batter, pointed to the poll which
shows that
two-thirds of all boaters in Florida SUPPORT strong protection of
manatees.
Wade presented an unusual leadoff speech for the bill (he was politely
asked
to speak first by the Chair) in which he -for the one thousandth time-
admonished everyone in listening distance to "read the bill"
and then
misstepped by stating "We've been fooling around with the
manatees since
1981â€|." Calvin was prepped to quote Pat from the
NYTimes stating that the
Ma |
