The email below was sent by the Florida Springs Council and it outlines more bad bills which will come before the 2024 legislative session.
Once again, Tallahassee wants to bully its way into squelching pushback from their power grabs by making it impossible for the DEP or the water districts to be sued by environmental groups.
Both the DEP and the five water districts ostensibly exist to protect our waters and environment when, in reality, they protect money-making industry at the expense of the environment. The recent p0litical regimes in Tallahassee have made it necessary for environmental groups to attempt to do the job the state agencies fail to do. Usually this takes the form of lawsuits against the State, hence the new bad bills.
Please note the urgency of time limits, and please send in your comments to stop the power grab.
The FSC has made it easy to send an email to the legislators if you go the the link below. It takes only a second.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
We need your help to protect access to legal action for springs.
The Florida Legislature is trying to strip FSC – and our fellow litigants like Sierra Club Florida, Save the Manatee Club, Rainbow River Conservation, Friends of Wekiva River, Our Santa Fe River, Ichetucknee Alliance, and brave individuals – of the power to go to court to enforce environmental laws.
The Florida Springs Council has the ability to fund, manage, and win legal challenges to enforce state environmental laws.
Our effectiveness in the courthouse not only impacts the cases we have fought, but the many times the credible threat of litigation has convinced state agencies to change their actions.
Now that right is in the crosshairs of the legislature. SB 738 and HB 739 would require the losing party in environmental challenges to pay the court costs and attorney fees of the other parties. Even a single loss in court would mean the end of FSC or financial ruin for an individual litigant.
Please join the nearly 1,000 springs advocates who have already sent emails to the legislators who will hear the bill:
It only takes a moment to send a pre-written, but customizable, email to members of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee and let them know that you won’t tolerate this attempt to shut non-profits and concerned citizens out of the court system. Take a moment now, and urge them to VOTE NO on SB 738.
The bill will be heard on Wednesday morning, so take action before 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9!
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BACKGROUND:
Last year we warned you about the “Session of Sprawl” and Senate Bill 540 which requires the losing party to pay attorney fees and costs for comprehensive plan amendment challenges to the prevailing party. That bill passed the Legislature and was signed into law by Governor DeSantis, effectively killing public enforcement of local comprehensive plans.
As expected, the Legislature is now back to kill all environmental legal challenges in Florida.
Senate Bill 738 by Senator Danny Burgess and House Bill 798 by Representative Toby Overdorf requires the losing party in legal challenges against the Department of Environmental Protection or a water management district to pay the court costs and attorney fees for the prevailing parties.
Much like SB 540, the sole purpose of SB 738/HB 789 is to make going to court to enforce environmental laws and rules financially impossible for individuals and non-profits. SB 738/HB 789 will turn every environmental administrative challenge into a life-or-death fight against state agencies with multi-billion dollar tax-payer funded budgets.
We only go to court as a last resort to protect Florida’s environment when our state agencies violate the law or their own rules. Legal challenges are expensive, time-consuming, and not something that anyone should enter into lightly. For those reasons, we fully support the existing sanctions on frivolous litigation.
The purpose of these bills, however, is not to stop frivolous lawsuits. The intent is to shut groups like the Florida Springs Council out of the court system entirely; stopping challenges that might have been successful, but will never be filed because of the mandatory attorney fees. The only possible impacts are more harmful development, water use permits, and pollution in Florida, and less that we can do to prevent it.
Don’t close this email without taking action. This bill is a threat to environmental advocacy. Please help us save Florida’s springs and the Florida Springs Council by contacting the members of the Senate before 5pm Tuesday.
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Thank you for taking action,
Ryan Smart
FSC Executive Director
