1000 Friends of Florida
Legislative Update
By Thomas Hawkins, JD, AICP
Policy and Planning Director
January 29, 2018 11:00 a.m.
With the 2018 Legislative session now in its fourth week, 1000 Friends continues to weigh in on critical legislation related to Florida Forever funding, tree protection, impact fees and more. Here are some of the highlights:
New Florida Forever bill in House
The Government Accountability Committee in the House proposed a bill-PCB GAC 18-02 Natural Resources-last week that makes changes to Florida Forever. Representative Matt Caldwell is a champion for PCB GAC 18-02. The bill dedicates $57 million to land conservation and divides this funding equally between Florida Forever, the Florida Communities Trust and the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program.
Another Florida Forever bill, Senate Bill 370, dedicates $100 million per year to Florida Forever and has passed all of its Senate committees. But that bill’s House companion, HB 1353, has yet to be scheduled for any of the committees to which it is assigned.
Pending bill undermines requirement that new development pay its way.
Two bills deceptively titled “Affordable Housing” would prohibit local governments from charging developers of certain housing the cost to the local government for providing infrastructure to serve that new development including the cost of roads, schools, parks, water, and sewer.
The two bills, SB 1328 and HB 987 in the House and Senate respectively, ostensibly seek to lower the cost of housing. However, they accomplish this by exempting some residential developments from impact fees. Local governments charge impact fees to developers so that the growth of public infrastructure keeps pace with development. Without impact fees, existing residents must pay for the new infrastructure growth requires-or suffer the inevitable congestion if they do not.
This exemption is significant because the Florida Supreme Court requires impact fees to be charged to all developers fairly. Exempting favored developers from paying impact fees is likely to invalidate impact fee ordinances altogether.
Tree bill gets proposed committee substitute
The House Local, Federal & Veterans Affairs Subcommittee has proposed a committee substitute for House Bill 521. The originally filled bill is a proposal to preempt to the state all tree protections. The proposed committee substitute says the following.
Where the state or a water management district, a water control district created under chapter 298, a neighborhood improvement district created under chapter 163, an independent special district, or a community development district created under chapter 190, has a duty to maintain any rights-of-way, no municipality, county, or other political subdivision of the state may prohibit, restrict, condition, or require a permit, fee, or mitigation for the trimming or removal of trees or vegetation.
While this language is far less restrictive than HB 521, it still preempts local governments from protecting some trees. 1000 Friends remains opposed and continues to follow this legislation. Please take a moment to sign 1000 Friends of Florida’s Tree Petition to express your opposition.
For more information on these and other bills, visit 1000 Friends’ legislative webpage, and check out our upcoming webinars, below.