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2006 Florida Legislative Tracker

 THANK YOU EVERYONE:          

We want to take the opportunity to thank all the wonderful volunteers from around the state who plugged in, made trips to Tallahassee, kept up the phone calls and sent letters to their legislators in response to our detailed information in alerts and on the Tracker. Special KUDOS to Sierra Chapter leaders, especially Conservation Chair Betsy Roberts and Legislative Liaison Helen Spivey.  Thank you to the Issue Chairs and Committee members who gave of their time and energy: Water and Wetlands (Rosalie Shaffer, Karen Orr, Lesley Blackner), Energy (Brian Lupiani, George Cavros, Pedro Monteiro, Mark Oncavage) , Protecting Florida’s Native Habitat (Ben Fusaro, Sue Reske, John Hedrick); Election Reform (Mike Thompson, Alexa Ross), Citizen Participation and Toxics (Dan Hendrickson, Winnie Foster);  Greater Charlotte Harbor (Sue Reske) and Turtle Coast (Mary and Doug Sphar) Groups, for their work on Babcock Ranch and No Net Loss of Hunting lands, respectively. We apologize if we missed others, there were so many and so much going on every day, we can’t list everyone here, but:

We all owe thanks to Big Bend group members who really plugged in over and over again: Charlene Walker, Marilyn Wills, Ben Fusaro, Dan Hendrickson, Chad Hansen, Norene Chase, Linda Jamison, Gary Lloyd, Thure Caire, Sally McCabe; Same for the Northwest Florida Group members who really cranked up the grassroots activists: Rosalie Shaffer, John Hedrick, Ellen Roston, Carolyn Kolb, Frank and Ann Higgins.  FSU graduate intern Erielle Rancourt worked throughout session with us, sending out alerts, attending hearings, participating in conference calls and strategy meetings.  Our many allies were also consistent again, as we all passed info on to each other and lent our “special contacts” to one another for strategic lobbying or “reconnaissance.”  David Ludder  and the Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation (LEAF) dedicated much of their time this session stopping anti-environmental legislation.   Pat Rose and the Save the Manatee Club network generated targeted calls all session.  And unsung public employees who made invaluable contributions to all our efforts—you know who you are and how you are appreciated. Media monitor of the year again was Lloyd Brumfield whose 6 am email news clippings kept us plugged in when we otherwise couldn’t even browse the papers or return all our calls downstate.  

We are glad that many of you visited the online website all session long,  to keep pace with the legislation that we worked on and tracked for all of you. We have received a lot of positive responses from our readers and the media who found the Tracker to be a useful new tool.

            Print a copy of this issue to mark and use for reference when you need to check on the bills on the tracker that interest you and your local work (we’ll soon start forgetting the exact bill numbers of the enabling legislation that will be helping or threatening our communities in coming months and years)-- We have to remember which legislators to thank. 

SINE DIE

            The last week of session is equal to 5 weeks, as those of us who have done this for several years discuss amongst ourselves that one day is likened to one week long. And when the last minute arrives, for the official Sine Die announcement, the lobbyists are either gleeful that bad bills died or gleeful that their bills made it thru before it’s all over. Either way, some are happy and some are sad.  And this year’s session came to a close at 12:11 AM Saturday.

Actually the Senate was ready to work until 1am but House Speaker Bense surprised them all and called it quits at 12:11. He was just too tired to take up another bill. He did however introduce what was supposed to be the last bill for the session, this was the bill for the Miami Marlins stadium. The bill was only introduced and that was that. It died on the vine, even though the Senate thought they had an agreement with the House to make the stadium the last bill to vote on. Even the new incoming Speaker from Miami, Representative Marco Rubio, wanted to continue, but he had to follow the lead of Speaker Bense, and as Floor leader, Marco had to announce that there was no more business for the House and it was now, “Sine Die.”

STEPPING BACK:

When we reflect  back to the beginning of session, as usual, we had a lot of bad bills coming up at the same time, in several committees and we did what we could everyday to emphasize what was wrong with the legislation. When the legislators, agencies, and the Governor’s office are known to be supportive of legislation, you make the decision to keep fighting, or find a way to make it better. Sierra & allies did such a great job of applying grassroots pressure, and our Tallahassee lobbying team kept up pressure on our target list of bills, we made a real difference: in some cases: we killed bills, we modified bills, and we worked with the Sponsors and Committee Chairs, and Committee staff & legislators’ aides, to minimize damage. Senate President Lee and Speaker Bense, the Governor’s office and Senators Dockery, Clary, Constantine, Campbell, Smith, Miller, Argenziano and Representatives Evers, Vana, Gannon, Joyner, Richardson, Gelber, and so many other legislators were very responsive.  The dialogue was very open; and we made significant headway.

MAKING SAUSAGE (if you like to eat it, don’t watch it being made).

This is also a known saying for the legislative session.  Early in session, important provisions in some of our Tracker bills were obvious to us because they were actually available to read. That was not the case for the Environmental Resource Permit, or the Energy bill. Those bills had what is known as a “shell” bill or “place-holder,” or, in the case of the ERP, a  House “Proposed Committee Bill” and Senator Clary’s version of the ERP showed up in his Shell bill the same day the House PCB language changed, also late in the session. The legislative process isn’t easy with all the loopholes which leave important public policy undisclosed until the moment before a committee meeting begins (or when, in the last two weeks of session, the full House and Senate are on the Floor and the rules change, and lengthy, “Strike everything after the enacting clause” amendments begin piling up.)  But that is the way it is, and we do what we can do to make a difference.

BILL STATISTICS TRIVIA:

Total combined bills filed by House and Senate: 2480; total combined bills passed: 386; that generally means that 2094 bills died. The Senate filed 1429; 249 passed the Senate; 118 passed both chambers. The House filed 1051; 426 passed the House; 268 passed both chambers.

UPDATED SUMMARY: 

Those of you who visited the Tracker on a regular basis were able to follow the last day of session because we  posted to the website regularly when we had a break in our day (the last day is always hurry up and wait). We wanted to provide you with our live report, while we were living through the day/night. We wanted to give you the sense of what we thought would play out with regard to the bills that we were working on that were still “alive,” and being debated, discussed, voted on . Everything about the bills passing or failing comes down to the sponsors, the egos, the timing, the fights between the House and Senate and the lobbying strategies and the different paths you take to make things happen. It is amazing, it is exciting, it is dynamic, it is challenging, and it is exhausting (not to mention, disillusioning, depressing and infuriating , because we want the legislators to create good public policy to protect the environment and public health, and the majority of times, that is not the case).

Here is the list of bills on the Tracker  that passed both chambers (they are Underlined to show you which version is on the way to the Governor):

A. 4/27/06: Florida Keys Area Critical State Concern: SB2098/HB1299:oppose, then monitor

B. 4/29/06: Anti-Landscaping Billboards: SB566/HB273: oppose

C. 4/29/06: Class Action: SB2304/HB7259: oppose then monitor

D. 5/4/06: Lead Poisoning Education: SB1324/SB642/HB393: support

E. 5/4/06: Guns in State Parks: SB1546/HB1029: oppose

F. 5/4/06:  NWFWMD Environmental Resource Permit: SB2026/HB7163: support with concerns

G. 5/4/06: St. Joe Coastal Hazard Mitigation: SB2216/HB1359: oppose

H. 5/4/06: Septic Tanks: SB1874/HB749: oppose, then monitor

 I. 5/4/06: No net loss of Hunting lands: SB430/HB265: oppose

 J. 5/5/06: Pave over Farmlands: Agriculture Enclave: SB1880/HB1015: oppose

K. 5/5/06: Development of Regional Impact Exemptions: SB1020/HB683:oppose

L. 5/5/06: Energy: SB888/HB1473: oppose

M. 5/5/06: Rock Miners: No CAP: SB1306/HB1039: oppose

N. 5/5/06: Babcock Ranch money & land management: SB1226/HB1347: support with concerns

Bills on the Tracker that died:

O. SB1608/HB949: Charter counties vs City Governments: oppose

P. SB1910 and other Election Reform good bills: support

Q. SB720/SB1244/HB773: Anti-Petition Gathering bills: oppose

R. SB2544/HB1343: Wetlands delegation from Army CORP and

             Florida Forever Forward  Funding: Oppose delegation/support FF funding

S. SB26: Supreme Court Subject Filter Citizen Initiatives: oppose

T. SB1918/HB7165: Purifying (NOT) the Constitution: (factory farms are safe): oppose

U. SB1264: Clean Money Clean Elections: support

V. SB1558/HB653/HB229: Prohibit Oil and Gas Drilling: mixed

W. SB2478/HB713: Solar Energy Rebates (rolled into SB888): support

X. SB226: Surplus lands, no House companion: monitor

Y. SB2680/HB7129: Dept. of Interior Constitutional Amendment: monitor

Z. SB2484/HB7207: Water Management Districts Authorized millage rate:oppose

AA. HZB7167/HB7253: Various Growth Management/Sprawl bills: monitor

BB.SB2510/HB261: Florida Incentive (NOT) Based Permitting: oppose

CC. SB1906: Performance Based Permitting: never moved

DD. SB1302/SB2446/HB1307/SB82/HB491: Variety of bills relating to Mercury contamination: fish consumption; reduction of automobile switches into the waste stream; autism/immunizations: support.

EE. SB1436/HB7037: Fiscal Impact and Citizen Initiatives:: raising the voter numbers for passage depending on fiscal impact. OPPOSE.