You may recall rumblings that a legal challenge would be filed if the state legislature didn’t “fix” their mis-appropriation of Amendment 1 dollars during the special session. Well, the bad news is that state legislators avoided our collective mandate. But, we can be glad that the Florida Wildlife Federation and other conservationists have followed up their discontent by filing a legal challenge in the from of a “Legislative Compliant”. Attached is the electronic version of it, which pretty clearly spells out the legislature’s failings. The counts that we find the most egregious are:
Count #31 – Of the approximately $740 million appropriated from the Land Acquisition Trust Fund, only $88 million – less than 12% went to land acquisition.
Count #39 – However, almost half of the money appropriated from the Land Acquisition Trust Fund in the Legislature’s 2015 appropriation bill is directed for purposes that fall outside the permissible uses of that Trust Fund.
Click here to read the complaint:
intConcerningConstitutionalChallengeToStatuteOrOrdinance