Topic: Land Acquisition

Lawmakers gave DEP authority to raise up to $40 million to buy land to conserve by selling state property, like five former state prisons. The department is now processing 11 land sales which could net $39 million.

Springs supporters were stymied in efforts to get more money to protect north Florida springs but a powerful ally in the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee secured funding for the Everglades and Indian River Lagoon during the 2014 Legislative Session.

House and Senate negotiators agreed to environmental spending including $167.8 million for Lake Okeechobee and Everglades restoration projects, $25 million for springs protection and $17.5 million in new revenue for conservation lands. Sen. Joe Negron, the Senate's budget chief, called the proposed budget "really strong" but some environmentalists said conservation lands and springs protection came up short.

The Senate includes no new money for conservation land buying. Appropriations Chairman Joe Negron said he's hoping to spend more to protect the Indian River Lagoon. "There's a delicate balance between Lagoon funding and the overall Florida Forever funding," said Negron.

Among the issues to be decided by the House and Senate budget conference chairmen are spending on local water projects, agricultural water programs, conservation land-buying and the Lake Okeechobee-Everglades flow system.

Sen. Alan Hays, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government, said Wednesday that 47 percent of Florida is government conservation land. But he later added some parcels were counted twice and that he also relied on other figures that were inflated. Hays' subcommittee recommended no new revenue for the state land buying program.

A critic of the land review process says the effort has helped silence legislators and others who said Florida had bought vast amounts of land that was not needed for conservation.

Some legislative leaders and pundits say there will be a focus on water in the 2014 legislative session but it looks increasingly like the focus will be on money -- for environmental protection and restoration.

Republican Allison DeFoor became chairman of Florida's Water and Land Legacy Inc., according to election papers filed this week. The political committee faces opposition from Republican leaders in the Legislature. "This is where Floridians' hearts are," DeFoor said. "It just needs to be well discussed -- exactly what is being proposed." ... Related Research: Documents, analysis and opinions on the amendment.

Gov. Rick Scott is asking the Legislature to provide $40 million from the sale of nonconservation lands to go toward land buying. But an effort by the Department of Environmental Protection to identify conservation lands that can be sold has drawn widespread criticism, and the governor's request now is being met with skepticism. ... Related Research: Jan. 29, 2014 DEP press release on bid for A.G. Holley State Hospital, and Florida Forever budget language requested by Scott.

Florida's Water and Land Legacy, the campaign organization backing the conservation measure, announced it had 685,971 voter signatures validated by county supervisors of election across the state. Meanwhile, the petition to put medical marijuana on this fall's ballot is headed for a photo finish.

The amendment proposed by environmental groups for the 2014 general election ballot would provide one-third of the state documentary stamp tax revenue for conservation spending, or nearly $1 billion a year over 20 years. "I'm troubled by writing into the constitution elements of the budget," Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said. ... Related Research: Nov. 19, 2013 Florida's Water and Land Legacy announcement of signatures gathered.

State officials had refused to buy the property rented by Stephen R. Andrews, but the Cabinet agreed to do so in 2012. Andrews called that reversal political payback for him calling Gov. Rick Scott "the corporate spawn of Satan" during the 2010 election. Scott has said the state was only exercising its right to buy. But a circuit judge said the state did that improperly. ... Related Research: Documents filed in Case No. 2012 CA 3416 before the Circuit Court of the 2nd Judicial Circuit

The department's legislative budget request includes $20 million in new revenue for the Florida Forever land-buying program and $20 million from the sale of nonconservation lands. DEP also is seeking $75 million for Everglades restoration and water quality projects, including an $18-million trust fund transfer. ... Related Research: Department of Environmental Protection's Legislative Budget Request.