Help us get several good bills moving in the legislature!

Please take a moment to email or telephone Senator Jason Brodeur and ask him to schedule a meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government to consider Senate Bills 320, 724 and 1170.

It’s important to act by April 10 because the 2023 Legislative Session is nearing its end! These bills would help advance our mission to conserve native plants and native plant communities, but they have stalled in the legislature. If not acted on soon, they will never receive a fair chance to be debated.

All 3 bills have already been debated by the Senate’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee, which passed them unanimously! These are good bills that address pressing problems that are not receiving the attention they deserve.

Senator Brodeur is Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government. As Chair, he is responsible for setting the Committee’s agenda. Phone his Tallahassee office at (850)487-5010, or his Seminole County office at (407)333-1802, or email him at Brodeur.Jason@flsenate.gov and explain you want him to give SB 320, SB 724, and SB 1170 a hearing.
  1. SB 320, entitled Land Acquisition Trust Fund, is sponsored by Senator Harrell and would provide an annual appropriation of $50 million to fund projects related to improving water quality in the Indian River Lagoon. Nutrient pollution has devastated the seagrasses and other submerged aquatic vegetation that once distinguished the “IRL” one of the most biodiverse estuaries in the World. Now its biggest “claim to fame” is starving manatees!
  2. SB 724, entitled Seagrass Restoration Technology Development Initiative, is sponsored by Senator Boyd and would fund development and implementation of new technologies for seagrass recovery statewide in partnership with the Mote Marine Lab.
  3. SB 1170, entitled Flooding and Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Studies, is sponsored by Senator Calatayud and would make improvements to the existing Resilient Florida Grants Program, and includes putting a greater emphasis on nature-based solutions, including Living Shorelines rather than just sea walls and other shoreline hardening, to address the impacts of sea level rise.

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