Linda Stewart files bill to stop short-handed contamination votes

Upset that the Florida Environmental Regulation Commission voted 3-2 this year to increase levels of water contaminants when it was short two members, state Sen. Linda Stewart filed a bill seeking to avoid such short-handed votes in the future.

Stewart, a Democrat from Orlando, filed a bill Wednesday that would require the governor to fill vacancies on the seven-member panel within 90 days. The bill would also require a supermajority of five votes to alter certain areas of the Florida Administrative Code that deal with things like air pollution, water quality standards, hazardous substance release notification, and drinking​ water.

Stewart filed Senate Bill 198, frustrated with the commission’s July 26 approval of a measure that increased allowable concentrations of certain contaminants in the state’s water bodies, including almost 100 known carcinogens, such as benzene.

“Three unelected and unaccountable people voted to allow these known cancer-causing chemicals into Florida’s waters. It defies belief that some folks in Tallahassee value the health and well-being of campaign accounts and corporate profits more than they do the lives of the people they were elected to serve,” Stewart stated in a news release. “I think they need a serious reminder that cancer doesn’t care whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, or rich, or poor – and I look forward to working with every one of my colleagues to see that science and not politics is what drives this decision-making process in the future.”