The Brevard IRL Coalition (BIRLC) asks that you join us in supporting HB 7063 in the current Florida Legislature.
This specific bill and other legislation we are monitoring are opportunities for environmental restoration and protection. It’s critical that we act now, as each passing year means that more land is lost forever, and the remaining land becomes more expensive. The effective date is 7/1/2018. SB370 passed senate last week in a 37-0 vote which allocates $100M starting in 2018-2019.
These bills:
Create $50 million/year for 18 years to address IRL pollution and habitat restoration, through four categories of grant funding:
- Scientific monitoring of IRL, focusing on conditions causing harmful algal blooms (HAB’s).
- Habitat restoration.
- Mitigation of runoff from lands along the IRL that bring pollution loads into the IRL.
- Upgrade sewer systems/septic to sewer conversions to reduce pollution into IRL.
The bills also authorize funding in the amounts of:
- $200 million (M) annually to Everglades restoration
- $50M annually to springs restoration
- $5M annually to Lake Apopka restoration
- $64M annually to Everglades Trust for land acquisition
- $100M annually to Florida Forever
We encourage you and your members to support these bills by calling or emailing (or both) your state senator and representative. Contact information is below. If you don’t know your district, you can get it here: https://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/Find
You can get more information on these and other bills at https://legiscan.com/FL/
Contact info:
Senate District 17 Sen. Debbie Mayfield (321) 409-2025, debbie.mayfield@myfloridahouse.gov
Senate District 14 Sen. Dorothy Hukill, (386) 304-7630, hukill.dorothy@flsenate.gov
House District 51 Rep. Tom Goodson, (321) 449-5111, tom.goodson@myfloridahouse.gov
House District 52 Rep. Thad Altman (321) 868-2132, altman.thad@flsenate.gov
House District 53 Rep. Randy Fine (321) 409-2017, Randy.Fine@myfloridahouse.gov
House District 54 Rep. Erin Grall, (772) 778-5005, Erin.Grall@myfloridahouse.gov