Tag Archives: Local Government Comprehensive Plans

FL Gov signed sprawl bill: need Rights to Clean Water 2023-06-08

Thanks to everyone who asked the Florida Governor to veto the sprawl bill, HB 359 / SB 540. But he signed it anyway, so now anyone who sues to stop a comprehensive plan change and loses has to pay the other side’s legal bills.

And the Supreme Court drastically limited the scope of the Clean Water Act in its decision in Sackett II.

Now we really need Right to Clean Water in Florida as a constitutional amendment. Please sign the petition and ask all your Florida registered voter friends and relatives to do so.
https://www.floridarighttocleanwater.org/petition

With enough signatures, the RTCW petition can get a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2024, and there is nothing the legislature or governor can do to stop it.

[Right to Clean Water, FL SB 540]
Right to Clean Water, FL SB 540

Georgians, please encourage Floridians to sign the petition.

Here’s an explanation of why other means won’t work,
“Floridians who’ve been following along know that we are not going to achieve anything remotely resembling such protections through legislative action, which is why supporting this amendment is a no-brainer.”

Cheryl Lasse, Palm Beach Post, June 8, 2023, New Florida law and court ruling leave state’s waterways in peril, Continue reading

Veto FL SB 540 to preserve local development responsibility

Update 2023-06-08: FL Gov signed sprawl bill: need Rights to Clean Water 2023-06-08.

Citizens and nonprofits can’t afford to sue about bad development decisions if they might lose like this.

This year’s Florida legislature “session of sprawl” passed HB 359/ SB 540 entitled “Local Government Comprehensive Plans” that would allow the winning parties to recover their attorney fees from the losing parties in legal challenges to comprehensive plans and plan amendments. Developer attorneys tend to be very expensive. You probably can’t afforsd to pay for them, and we can’t, either.

[Veto SB 540]
Veto SB 540

We need local governments to be accountable to the people.

Please ask Governor DeSantis to veto HB 359 / SB 540. You can use this handy Waterkeeper Florida form:
https://waterkeepersflorida.good.do/Development_Bills/SB540_Rules-2/

For more about Waterkeepers Florida, of which Suwannee Riverkeeper is a member, see:
https://www.waterkeepersflorida.org/

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/