Monday, January 29, 2007

Tallahasse Talk #1 Week in Review

January 22-26 2007

The fireworks have already begun in Tallahassee and we are still a month away from the 2007 Regular Legislative Session. Governor Charlie Crist has hit the ground running..calling the Florida Legislature to convene a Special Legislative Session to focus on insurance. Under the leadership of Senate President Ken Pruitt and House Speaker Marco Rubio the Legislature developed and passed legislation which does lower every one's insurance premiums. The measure passed both chambers with a combined vote of 158- 2 and has already been signed into law by Governor Charlie Crist.

On an unrelated note.... The two dissenting votes (Rep. Don Brown, R-5) and (Rep. Dennis Ross, R-64) resigned from their respective leadership positions following the vote Monday. Hum.....makes you wonder a little?????

Preparing for the upcoming Legislative Session, Legislators have been in Tallahassee for "Committee Meetings" Lake Okeechobee is shaping up to be the primary environmental focus for the 2007 legislative session. The lake, which is the 2nd largest fresh water body in North America, is a critical component to South Florida's water resources infrastructure, providing amazing environmental habitat, an extraordinary fishery, and water supply for agricultural, environmental and urban needs. The lake system also provides flood control for the large and small communities around the lake.

The 2004 and 2005 hurricanes gave a new urgency to the focus on Lake Okeechobee! The storms created extremely high and turbid water conditions which resulted in large discharges of sediment laden water into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers (The two out flows of the lake). As a result of these discharges the fragile estuarine eco-systems on both coast were considerably damaged. Additional the coastal communities which rely on the health of the eco-system for tourism and fishing have suffered substantial economic impacts. Furthermore, the Lake Okeechobee problem has been exacerbated by a recent study which reveled the Herbert Hoover Dike surrounding the lake is in imminent danger of a severe breach in the event of future high water levels or severe hurricanes.

Understanding the current situation, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the South Florida Water Management District are greatly accelerating work in the northern Everglades and placing a greater emphasis on working with agricultural landowners to implement Best Management Practices.

Legislatively, Rep. Richard Machek (D-Delray Beach; HB0197) and Sen. Burt Saunders (R-Naples; SB0392) have filed bills in their respective chambers to "beef-up" the Lake Okeechobee Protection Plan. These bills call for increased funding for water quality projects, storm water treatment facilities and increased funding for Agricultural Best Management Practices programs. Related legislation has been filed by Rep. Trudi Williams(R-Ft. Myers) which expands the Lake Okeechobee Protection Program to include the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers and estuaries. In addition, Rep. Shelley Vana (D-West Palm Beach) has filed a bill urging Congress to authorize appropriations for the improvement of the Herbert Hoover Dike.

With all of the focus on Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades one of the themes that is resonating out of the discussion in the Federal participation (or lack there of) in the overall Lake Okeechobee/ Everglades restoration partnership. To date, the state and water management district have spent $3.1 billion dollars while Congress has invested a meager couple of hundred million....not a bad deal for Congress's part of the supposed 50-50 partnership between the state and the Federal government.


Enough talk about Lake Okeechobee! There are several other bills of interest to FNGLA members statewide. Strait out of the 100 ideas for Florida's future... Rep. Debbie Boyd (D-Alachua) has introduced HB 0297 relating to incentive-based permitting. The genesis for this bill is to reward businesses and individuals who demonstrate commitment and compliance with environmental permits. The bill provides for longer duration permits, a shorter application process and automatic renewals.

Other FNGLA legislative priorities include: Correcting a minor technical glitch in the Sales tax exemption for Electricity used for agricultural production. After the passage of this important legislation in 2006 we were all surprised to learn how different the Florida Department of Revenue's interpretation of the language was from the intent of the legislative sponsors. Secondly, FNGLA and the other agricultural interests are working on two additional sales tax exemptions. These exemption include: 1) Low-volume Irrigation systems and 2) Building Materials. (There will be additional information of these exemptions as the legislative session approaches).

Lastly, what would a Blog be without a little soapboxing....Wait the Blog is a big soap box! At any rate, one of the more concerning themes to surface already in the legislative process is the Agricultural Tax Assessment a.k.a. The Greenbelt Law. Several property appraisers have expressed an interest in changing the Green Belt Law. The interesting thing is most property appraiser say they want to strengthen the law to "protect" farmers..........Oh no we are from the government and we are here to help! Yikes

At any rate, there have been no shortage of solutions to the law only solutions which actually will protect farmers. The bottom line is the Greenbelt law lays out specific criteria by which land qualifies for the agricultural assessment. The constitutional requirement of the law states that the appraiser shall determine land use as of January 1st of each year. Individuals may appeal the decision of the property appraiser to the Value Adjustment Board and subsequently to the courts. Each year 10,o00's of parcels are reviewed by county property appraisers-of those parcel which receive the agricultural assessment there is very small group which may actually abuse the law. Realistically, we are talking about .001% of all the assessed parcels statewide. My question is: Do we jeopardize the law and subsequent precedence established by case law, which define the terms of Greenbelt, for a small, small percentage of bad actors?

MOST OUTRAGEOUS BILL FILED:

HB 0119 by Rep. Juan Zapata (R-Homestead). This bill relates to unauthorized employment. The law, as filed, would require a loss of a landowners agricultural assessment if the landowner employees, directly or indirectly, individuals who are not legal US citizens. The specifics of the bill include loss of agricultural assessment for 2 years in 5 or less illegal workers are found, 5 year loss of the assessment if 6-10 illegal workers are found and 10 year loss of assessment in 10 or more illegal workers are found. The bill also carries Civil penalties of up to $25,000 per illegal employee.

Needless to say this particular legislation will be square in the sites of FNGLA and many others from the agricultural and business communities.