Florida Republicans Gut Bill Attempting To Fund Cleanup Of State's Once-Pristine Springs

[hatrack]

Ed. - That's right, folks - not only will people not bother to take care of leaking and defective septic tanks, there's no money to encourage or help those so inclined to do so. Or, to summarize - we can't even be bothered to clean up our own shit.

TALLAHASSEE -- Mired in a spat between property owners, the business lobby and local governments, a Senate panel on Tuesday gutted a proposal once hailed as a major step to protect Florida's dying springs. In a series of amendments, the Senate Appropriations Committee struck out provisions of the bill which would have provided about $380 million a year to protecting Florida's most-endangered springs, prioritizing projects, and setting hard deadlines for when local governments and polluters needed to have plans in place to clean up the waterways.

Senate sponsors Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, and David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, said the measure (SB 1576) still called for "immediate action based off science instead of emotion," including requiring the Department of Environmental Protection to create "springs management protection zones," setting minimum flow levels for springs -- but not until 2022 -- and developing recovery strategies for the most threatened springs.

But cities, counties, some environmentalists, and developers told the panel the policy reforms could not be achieved without a commitment by the state of ongoing funding each year. Both the House and Senate have included between $20 million and $55 million in one-time cash, but future lawmakers would have to keep budgeting it every year.

“The intent was we were going to commit some funding, some real funding," said Stephen James with the Florida Association of Counties. "This was what this bill was supposed to do, and up until yesterday it’s what the bill did.”

EDIT

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/blogs/political-pulse/os-senate-scraps-major-springs-bill-20140422,0,5892192.post