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Audubon Florida
Florida Legislative Session and Policy Update
The 2025 Florida Legislative Session starts on March 4, and committees are finishing their meetings ahead of the opening session schedule.

This week we followed:

- Progress on cleaning up Florida’s waterways. Under SB 64, passed in 2021, utilities have made plans that would remove as many as 600 million gallons of non-beneficial discharge into surface water per day.

- Audubon is closely following SB 7002, which could change the way districts are managed and funded. 

- A win in protecting the Everglades in Miami-Dade County.

Audubon also congratulates our partners inducted into the Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame!
Snowy Plover on the sand
Cleaning Up Water in the Sunshine State
The Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Sen. Anna Maria Rodriguez (R-Doral), listened to a presentation on SB 64, passed in 2021, that requires eliminating non-beneficial discharges by utilities to surface water bodies by 2032 (i.e. wastewater from homes that is discharged into water on the surface of the land, like rivers). The bill set forth a challenge to eliminate non-beneficial surface water discharges from all domestic wastewater facilities in the state.

The Result

Three and a half years into implementation, as many as 600 million gallons a day of non-beneficial discharges will be eliminated based on the plans utilities have provided.

Looking Forward

The goal is to have a minimum of 90% of utilities’ annual average flow reused, and communities are planning how they will protect their freshwater resources. With the influx of people coming to our state, the demand for water also increases. The implementation of this bill is critical for the health of our communities, environment, and economy.
Snowy Plover. Photo: Jeremy Rehm/Audubon Photography Awards.
Tricolored Heron standing on a branch with sunset in the background.
New Rules for Water Management Districts?
The Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee also considered provisions of SB 7002, Water Management Districts (its committee bill), which would make wide-ranging changes in the state’s water management districts to improve transparency and to encourage districts to refocus on their core mission.

What Would Happen?

The bill would amend laws about water management district funding, budgeting, and business practices. Recent hurricanes caused significant inland flooding in areas not typically impacted by flood waters — an increasingly frequent reminder of the need to prioritize stormwater and flood control efforts across our communities.

- The bill authorizes the districts to levy ad valorem taxes by referendum (a citizen vote) to finance the construction of capital improvement projects related to water supply, water quality, flood protection, floodplain management, and natural systems. 

- The bill would also create a revolving loan fund for districts to help pay for flooding and sea-level rise resiliency projects.

Why is Audubon Concerned?

The bill expands the authority of the Joint Legislative Budget Commission, which is made up of House and Senate members, to reject parts of district budget proposals. Guardrails are needed so projects that have already started construction or are in advanced planning stages are not rejected by the Commission.

SB 7002 will be a priority for Audubon policy staff this legislative session as we work with the bill sponsor, Senate, and House staff to avoid unintended consequences and insert more clarity into the provisions.
Tricolored Heron. Photo: Michael Lovejoy/Audubon Photography Awards
development with lots of homes and an undeveloped Everglades in the background
Urban Development Boundary Expansion Halted – For Now – In Miami-Dade County
This week, the First District Court of Appeals agreed that Miami-Dade County missed its deadline for moving the Urban Development Boundary. Audubon has worked with many partners over the years to “Hold the Line” in Miami-Dade County to prevent development into the Everglades. The ruling is a decisive win for sprawl fighters everywhere and underscores the importance of state oversight on unchecked growth!
Photo: Kenneth Carlson/iStock.
Acceptance speeches at podiums
Audubon Recognizes Partners for Hall of Fame Induction
Two long-time friends and associates of Audubon were inducted into the Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame on February 11. Both have been awarded our “Sustainable Rancher of the Year.” Cary Lightsey was awarded in 2016 and Jim Strickland in 2019. Marcia Lightsey was a co-inductee, and Madeline Mellinger was the fourth inductee of the 2025 class. Since 1980, just 182 people have been inducted.

Both Lightsey and Strickland have been pioneers in conservation easements and sustainable ranching. Audubon’s Paul Gray was able to attend and notes that both Jim and Cary talked extensively in their acceptance speeches about conserving the land, and culture, of open green and blue spaces, toward a future of saving agriculture, wildlife, and water resources in Florida. Cary and Marcia Lightsey have conserved so much land through easements they have grown into the 8th largest landowner in Florida.

For more information click here.
On left: Marcia Lightsey delivers her part of the acceptance speech. On right: Jim Strickland delivers his acceptance speech.
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