STUART — Florida lawmakers are set to return to Tallahassee on May 12 for a special legislative session to finalize the state budget, with major differences still remaining over funding for Everglades restoration and other environmental projects.
Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society, said negotiations are expected to focus heavily on competing proposals from Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Senate and the Florida House regarding restoration funding for the Everglades, Indian River Lagoon and related water quality initiatives.
“The Florida Senate has also aligned with that approach, and they’ve kind of maintained a real robust support of comprehensive Everglades restoration plan funding, and including Indian River Lagoon and other efforts,” Perry said. “However, the Florida House budget kind of has some reductions there in place, and certain restoration items, line items, might not be in there.”
DeSantis originally proposed dedicating $810 million toward Everglades restoration efforts, including $681 million for projects tied to the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, commonly known as CERP.
The Senate proposal would allocate $738 million, while the House budget recommendation includes roughly $350 million for restoration efforts.
Perry said disagreements between chambers over environmental spending are common during Florida’s budget process as lawmakers work to balance state and federal commitments tied to long-term restoration projects.
“It’s always every year this balancing act, if you will, between the state appropriations and federal appropriations and trying to get them to match up to both step up to the plate, so to say, and let’s get these projects done and keep moving forward,” he said.
He said restoration projects affecting the Treasure Coast could face delays or setbacks if funding is reduced too heavily during negotiations.
“Even up in our area, the C23-24 projects on the Treasure Coast, C44 project, that still need appropriations and funding,” Perry said.
Beyond large-scale ecosystem restoration, Perry said local infrastructure improvements tied to water quality could also be affected, including septic-to-sewer conversion programs in communities such as Indian River County.
“Funding will stop for not only these restoration projects to get more storage and treatment within the watershed, but also things like the septic to sewer conversion programs that we’re trying to connect and convert all the septic tanks to central sewer systems,” he said.
Perry encouraged residents concerned about the future of Florida waterways to remain engaged during the legislative process and take steps to reduce pollution locally.
“We can all do something internally. We can reduce and reuse and recycle our waste, our solid waste,” he said. “We can keep that out of the landfill so that pollution doesn’t enter into the water bodies. We can do whatever we can to keep trash and debris out of our marine ecosystems and out of the lagoon.”
He also urged Floridians to contact state lawmakers as budget negotiations continue through the special session, which is scheduled to end May 29.
“Contact our state legislatures. Learn how to do that. Just send them an email,” Perry said. “Tell them your personal testimony that you live here and you want to help clean the planet and we need their help to fund these big projects.”
For Perry, a successful outcome would mean lawmakers approving restoration funding levels closer to the governor’s original proposal.
“Lake Okeechobee, St. Lucie, Caloosahatchee, all of these surrounding watersheds for our estuaries and the lake and the Everglades need to have those water quality projects funded,” he said. “Success would be seeing that full funding matched by the Senate and the House in their budgets going forward.”