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Tell Your Friends Send this message to friends and family members. Tell them to help Florida's birds and wildlife too. Florida's Birds and Wildlife Need Your Help Your funds will go into an exclusive conservation fund to be used to influence decision-makers to keep our water clean and flowing and to keep our wildlife safe from the impacts of habitat loss.

Advocate: House and Senate Fund Florida Forever and Everglades

Next week is the final scheduled week of Regular Session and the bills, appropriations, and amendments are flying! We celebrated the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day on the Capitol Plaza Thursday, with Audubon board member Mike Sheridan joining DEP Secretary Mike Sole and Governor Charlie Crist to announce new recycling, renewable energy, and energy conservation initiatives. News from appropriations is encouraging for Florida’s land conservation programs, but your action is needed on behalf of Florida’s growth management agency, the Department of Community Affairs. Please read on, take action, and thank you for your persistence—one more week to go! Happy Earth Week to you all. ~ Audubon of Florida Policy Team

Everglades Gets $10 Million from Cash Starved Legislature

House and Senate Agree on Appropriation for Florida Forever and Everglades Restoration!

This morning, the House concurred with the Senate’s proposal to provide $15M in cash to Florida Forever and $10M in cash to Everglades Restoration. Any funding in this daunting budget year is a success, and Audubon thanks budget chiefs Sen. JD Alexander (R-Lake Wales) and Rep. David Rivera (R-Miami), natural resource chairs Sen. Carey Baker (R-Eustis) and Rep. Ralph Poppell (R-Titusville), as well as the leadership of both chambers, Senate President Jeff Atwater (R-Palm Beach) and Speaker Larry Cretul (R-Ocala) and Speaker-elect Dean Cannon (R-Winter Park). Nevertheless, these numbers underscore the severity of the budget situation: in previous years, Florida Forever enjoyed bonded amounts of up to $300M, and Everglades $200M. An appropriation of $50M would have been important to maintaining the current momentum of Everglades Restoration this year.  

Python Bill Takes Major Step to Becoming Law

SB318 by Sen. Eleanor Sobel (D-Hollywood) unanimously passed the Senate on third reading this afternoon, and will now move to the House where it is paired with legislation by Rep. Trudi Williams (R-Ft. Myers). This legislation would prohibit ownership and breeding of pythons, nile monitors, and several other large constrictors. Not only will it hopefully slow the introduction of additional Burmese pythons into South Florida’s wildlands, but it will prevent other large constrictors from becoming established like pythons in places like the Everglades. For more on Burmese pythons in Florida, read Audubon’s fact sheet.

SB 550—Water and Springs

SB 550 by Sen. Lee Constantine (R-Altamonte Springs) was amended and passed to third reading today in the Senate—an important move to keep this legislation alive. Problematic stormwater language was removed, and grandfathering provisions were provided for septic tanks installed pre-1983. Possible companion bills in the House, HBs 1109 and 7177, cleared special order and were bound for third reading after session this afternoon.

DCA Reauthorization Passes Senate; Will the House Do Same? TAKE ACTION!

SB 282 by Sen. Mike Bennett (R-Bradenton) reauthorizing the Department of Community Affairs passed the Senate yesterday and is now headed to the House. Yet, as we described in our alert earlier this week, the House has exhibited little appetite for reauthorizing the agency responsible for growth management oversight. Take action and write Speaker Cretul and Speaker-elect Cannon urging them to reauthorize this important agency. Without reauthorization, DCA will be especially vulnerable to abolishment, dismantling or more next year, when Senate and House leadership will be assumed by vocal critics of Florida’s growth management system.

Climate, Energy and Oil Exploration 

In appropriations, the House and Senate agreed yesterday to appropriate $250,000 for marine spatial planning, an important assessment of Florida’s marine resources that Audubon, The Nature Conservancy and our conservation partners insisted would be necessary before the Legislature could even consider nearshore oil and gas exploration.

HB 7229 House Energy Bills Set to Pass

A renewable energy bill that provides incentives to electric utilities to build and/or buy solar and other renewable energy is poised to pass the house.  The House bill allows utilities to recover costs of building and operating solar and wood burning electrical generating facilities.  A similar bill, SB 1186 by Senator Mike Bennett, is still in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

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