Guest Commentary: SCCF salutes HB 711 veto, calls for action on one more bill
The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation commends the decision taken by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to veto House Bill 771 on May 10.
If let stand, HB 771 would have banned actions by local governments, such as the city of Sanibel’s Ordinance 18-008, prohibiting the sale and distribution of single-use plastic straws.
“SCCF thanks the governor for upholding our right to set local environmental policies that exceed those set by the State,” SCCF Chief Executive Officer Ryan Orgera said. “Municipalities like Sanibel are setting standards of excellence that benefit and should be embraced by all Floridians.”
A link to the governor’s letter is on SCCF’s Legislative Tracker at www.sccf.org and can also be found at www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads /2019/05/05.103.pdf.
The letter includes the governor’s observation that: “In fact, the DEP (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) has encouraged Florida residents, schools and businesses to reduce plastic straw use.”
“We applaud Gov. DeSantis’s action late Friday to veto House Bill 771, including its moratorium on the local regulation of single-use plastic straws until 2024,” SCCF Natural Resource Policy Director Rae Ann Wessel said on May 10. “SCCF thanks our members and everyone who used our Action Alerts to communicate with the Legislature and governor during the recently concluded session.”
In addition, SCCF is grateful for the governor and Legislature’s focus on Everglades restoration funding this session, but one very bad bill threatens that commitment to protect, preserve and restore the health of our environment.
Please call and email Gov. DeSantis to veto this harmful bill:
Veto CS/CS/HB 7103 – Community Development and Housing
– This bill contains harmful growth management amendments that were not debated in the committee process and were added to this bill on the last day of session, providing no transparency for citizen participation.
– The provisions of this bill undermine the rules that citizens use to hold governments accountable for their own growth management plans. It mandates any citizen or group that challenges and loses be required to pay the prevailing local government and developer’s attorney’s fees. Florida Statutes currently address frivolous lawsuits so the punitive action in this bill serves no purpose other than to freeze out citizen involvement in the local planning process.
– Other bad provisions in this bill put up obstacles to addressing the workforce housing needs of individual communities further impacting our local government’s ability to provide for the local needs of their constituents and impacting our quality of life.
Contact Gov. DeSantis and urge him to veto the bill by calling 850-717-9337 or the governor’s Legislative Affairs Office at 850-488-5000. To email your message to Gov. DeSantis, visit https://p2a.co/w9gkPOq. Also thank him for his veto on HB 771.
The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation is dedicated to the conservation of coastal habitats and aquatic resources on Sanibel and Captiva and in the surrounding watershed. For more information, visit www.sccf.org.