Deal Reached for State’s Environmental Spending Plan, from tcpalm.com
TALLAHASSEE — After almost 36 hours without holding a meeting, budget-writers emerged Sunday night with a deal for the state’s environmental budget, including nearly $750 million to meet a constitutional amendment passed by voters in November.
The spending plan includes the budget for Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and the Department of Environmental Protection, which will spend $55 million on land purchases.
Buying conservation land has been a flashpoint this year, as environmentalists have pushed the state to purchase more land, saying it was the will of voters who passed Amendment 1, a constitutional provision that directs real estate transaction taxes to environmental spending.
“We tried to split it up pretty evenly between springs, land acquisitions, water, to make sure everyone got a fair share,” said Senate Budget Chief Tom Lee, R-Brandon.
Environmental groups had wanted much more for land purchases, most prominently 46,800 acres from U.S. Sugar they wanted to use to store polluted water from Lake Okeechobee before sending it south to the Everglades. That plan was opposed by legislative leaders and never got momentum.
The largest single land purchase is $20 million for the Kissimmee River restoration, which will help clean water headed into Lake Okeechobee. The spending plan also gives $17.4 million to Florida Forever, the state’s chief land-buying program. Environmentalists pushed for higher levels of spending, noting that at its peak, the fund had $300 million.
From Amendment 1, $28 million will be spent for springs restorations, $26 million will be spent on Everglades restoration projects, $20 million for upgrades to state park facilities, $11 million will be given to regional water management districts to manage existing state lands.
Some of those projects, including springs restoration and the Everglades, also will be bolstered by the state’s general revenue fund on top of what they get from Amendment 1.
The Senate also sneaked a last-minute $2 million in the spending plan for Howell Creek Wetlands in Seminole County, which is in the district of powerful Senate Rules Committee Chairman David Simmons. It’s an indication of the often secretive, leadership-driven nature of the budget plan. It was the second day in a row Central Florida, which is also home to Senate President Andy Gardiner of Orlando, got a last-minute budget item.
“We have a lot of fine leaders across the I-4 corridor right now,” joked Lee, who would not specifically say who requested the spending.
Budget negotiators have completed big portions of the state budget, but still must tackled education spending and how to divvy up $50 million for much-coveted water projects.
The biggest fight over the education budget is related to policy the Senate is trying to pass in legislation tied to the budget. The House has been reluctant to make large education policy changes in the nearly $80 billion spending document.
“That has been a big puzzle to solve,” Lee said. “I think we are there … but it has taken awhile.”
To pass a budget by the end of the week, the scheduled end of a 20-day special session, lawmakers would have to print a budget by Tuesday morning. State law requires a 72-hour “cooling off period” before the Legislature can vote on the budget.
Matt Dixon covers the Florida Statehouse for Treasure Coast Newspapers, the Naples Daily News and the Tampa Tribune.