Local delegation at forefront on environmental legislation

Environmental issues were at the top of the agenda last week as Florida lawmakers gathered to kick off the state’s annual 60-day legislative session.

“Given the persistent water problems we have seen over the past several years, now is the time to be bold,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in his State of the State speech on the opening day of session.

Such concerns are especially pertinent in Southwest Florida, where a red tide algae bloom devastated the region’s environment and economy throughout last year.

There may be no legislative delegation in the state that is more attuned to the water quality issue than the lawmakers representing Sarasota and Manatee counties, who have filed multiple bills aimed at fighting red tide and the blue-green algae problem.

State Rep. Will Robinson, R-Bradenton, and state Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, have been out front on the issue, sponsoring a bill that would require septic tanks to be inspected every five years to ensure they are not failing and leaching algae-feeding nutrients into waterways. Gruters also has a bill that would penalize municipalities for sewage spills and another that would set aside $15 million over five years for Mote Marine Laboratory to fight red tide.

Last week state Rep. Margaret Good, D-Siesta Key, became the latest local lawmaker to submit legislation aimed at cleaning up Florida waterways.

Good already had filed water quality legislation in February. Her earlier bill would offer incentives for reducing the amount of herbicides — which create a lot of dead plant matter that can feed algae blooms — that are sprayed to control nonnative aquatic plants. But she wanted to do more.

“This summer when Sarasota was experiencing a prolonged red tide and we were all watching the blue-green algae crisis we started doing a lot of research into water quality,” Good said.

Among the ideas that Good researched was improving how communities handle stormwater runoff, which can be loaded with lawn fertilizers and other nutrient sources.

In 2010 the Florida Department of Environmental Protection worked in conjunction with the state’s water management districts to create a new statewide stormwater management rule aimed at updating design standards for stormwater systems so they do a better job of filtering out pollution.

But former Gov. Rick Scott was elected later that year and the new stormwater rule was never adopted.

The cities of Venice, Sarasota and North Port all have passed resolutions asking state officials to adopt the rule. Former Sarasota County Commissioner Jon Thaxton also highlighted the rule in an op-ed published by the Herald-Tribune last year.

“The new standards, if adopted, would have reduced the land-based pollutants that exacerbate harmful algae blooms and bacteria-related beach closures,” Thaxton wrote.

Good’s bill (HB 1343) would restart the stormwater rulemaking process at DEP and the water management districts and make the rule’s adoption mandatory.

The environmental advocacy group Florida Conservation Voters highlighted Good’s stormwater legislation and the septic tank inspection bill sponsored by Robinson and Gruters as priority water quality measures.

“I can’t speak for the rest of the delegation, but we all experienced this exacerbated red tide and watched as our neighbors to the south had really harmful environmental and health effects from the blue-green algae,” Good said. “Dealing with that problem is the right thing to do.”

Gruters said red tide was a big issue during campaign season last year and lawmakers are trying to follow through on what local voters want.

“We were in the heart of the red tide epidemic last year,” Gruters said. “So we felt it, we heard it from voters when we were all running. Everybody is very cognizant of the overall issue and the impact it has on our local economy and environment.”

Gruters leads in bills filed

While Gruters has placed a big emphasis on water quality concerns this year, he is involved in plenty of other issues during his first year in the Senate.

In fact, Gruters has filed more bills than anyone in the chamber, according to an analysis by Fresh Take Florida.

Gruters is working 69 bills this year and they run a wide policy gamut, from expanding the ability of law enforcement to use drones to banning smoking at public beaches.

The Gruters bill that is getting the most attention is a proposal to prevent cities and counties from adopting so-called “sanctuary” policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. That bill already has cleared one committee and is scheduled to be heard in a second Senate committee this week.

Gruters has been successful in moving legislation, with five of his measures — including the drone bill — advancing through committee last week.

“You have limited time up here; I’m going to make every minute count and focus on doing as much as I can for our community and the entire state overall,” Gruters said.

Steube opposes hate speech resolution

U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, was among 23 lawmakers who voted last week against a resolution condemning “hateful expressions of intolerance.”

House Resolution 183 was sparked by comments made by U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, that many viewed as anti-Semitic. But instead of just condemning Omar’s remarks, the resolution ended up being a broad statement against anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim bias, white supremacy and other forms of bigotry and intolerance.

“Whether from the political right, center or left, bigotry, discrimination, oppression, racism and imputations of dual loyalty threaten American democracy and have no place in American political discourse,” the resolution reads.

Steube said in a statement that he voted against the resolution because it “failed to specifically condemn the remarks made by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.”

“Her vile, anti-Semitic remarks should have been specifically condemned in this resolution,” Steube added, “but instead, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle decided to look the other way. I will not be complicit in the trivializing of her behavior.”