Peter Schorsch
Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
With a “final judgment for (the) plaintiffs,” the clock now ticks for lawmakers to file an appeal in a lawsuit over how lawmakers fund environmental conservation.
The Legislature has 30 days to file a notice of appeal from June 28, the date of Circuit Judge Charles Dodson’s final order. A spokeswoman for the Senate was out of the office Monday; a House spokesman said no decision had yet been made.
But Fred Piccolo, a spokesman for outgoing Speaker Richard Corcoran, has said House leaders are “confident it will be overturned on appeal.”
Environmental advocacy groups won a summary judgment from a Tallahassee circuit judge last month. Summary judgments allow parties to win a case without a trial.
The case, filed in 2015, was over the Water and Land Legacy Amendment, also known as Amendment 1. The 2014 constitutional change, mandating state spending for land and water conservation, garnered a landslide of nearly 75 percent, or more than 4.2 million “yes” votes.
Amendment 1 requires state officials to set aside 33 percent of the money from the real estate “documentary stamp” tax to protect Florida’s environmentally sensitive areas for 20 years.
Advocates — including the Florida Wildlife Federation and Sierra Club — sued, saying lawmakers wrongly appropriated money for, among other things, “salaries and ordinary expenses of state agencies” tasked with executing the amendment’s mandate.
For example, one motion noted: “The primary function of the (Florida Forest Service) is to fight and prevent fires on private lands and to promote forestry and prescribed burning on private lands.”
But legislators appropriated $57.6 million of funds from the state’s Land Acquisition Trust Fund to the forest service for salaries, expenses and operating costs.”
Dodson agreed with the plaintiffs, declaring a laundry list of 2015 and 2016 appropriations unconstitutional.
“The clear intent was to create a trust fund to purchase new conservation lands and take care of them,” he wrote. “The conservation lands the state already owned were to be taken care of, certainly, but from non-trust money.”
Evening Reads
“Canada launches retaliatory tariffs on US goods, including Florida orange juice” via The Express Tribune
“Bill Nelson expects to oppose Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee” via Adam C. Smith of the Tampa Bay Times
“Rick Scott awards final batch of ‘job growth’ dollars” via Jim Turner of the News Service of Florida
“Sean Hannity brings star power to Florida governor’s race” via Zac Anderson of the Herald-Tribune
“Democratic IT aide says Imran Awan solicited bribe from him in exchange for contract with then-Rep. Gwen Graham” via Luke Rosiak of The Daily Caller
“George Soros’ quarter-mil benefits Andrew Gillum political committee” via A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics
“Bob Graham endorses Sean Shaw for Attorney General” via Peter Schorsch of Florida Politics
“Judge removed over campaign misconduct” via Jim Saunders of the News Service of Florida
“Teachers union sues over contentious education bill” via Florida Politics
“State finally makes progress on 32nd day of SunPass disaster” via Noah Pransky of WTSP
Quote of the Day
“He’s got a bulldog mouth, a chihuahua a —, and he doesn’t even know what the heck is going on in this state. Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, that’s the only thing he can say. At some point, you’ve got to come out and give people a Florida vision.” — GOP House Speaker Richard Corcoran, who has endorsed Republican Adam Putnam, on Republican candidate for Governor Ron DeSantis.
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Breakthrough Insights
Wake Up Early?
Staff members for U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio will hold “mobile” office hours in Lee, Brevard and Polk counties.
— 9 a.m., Southwest Florida Military Museum and Library, 4820 Leonard St., Cape Coral.
— 11 a.m., Brevard Veterans Memorial Center, 400 South Sykes Creek Parkway, Merritt Island.
— Noon, Lake Wales Chamber of Commerce and EDC, 340 West Central Ave., Lake Wales.
The Reemployment Assistance Appeals Commission will meet at 9:30 a.m., Reemployment Assistance Appeals Commission, 101 Rhyne Building, 2740 Centerview Dr., Tallahassee.
Sen. Denise Grimsley, a Sebring Republican running for Agriculture Commissioner, is slated to speak to the Tiger Bay Club of Polk County. That’s at 11:30 a.m., Bartow Civic Center, 2250 South Floral Ave., Bartow.
