Did Florida lawmakers move to protect water quality? Here’s what passed and failed

Florida lawmakers passed several new bills this session that could impact the state’s water quality, for better or worse.

Florida’s water quality ranks among the worst in the U.S., largely due to nutrient pollution, according to a 2022 data analysis by the Environmental Integrity Project. The problem has manifested itself in toxic algal blooms, manatee die-offs and degraded water quality at Florida springs and beaches.

Laws aimed at addressing the crisis have generally received bipartisan support, and several new measures made it through the 2023 legislative session.

Other bills supported by water quality advocates stalled out in Florida House and Senate committees.

Here’s a look at which water quality bills made the cut and which did not. Some have already become law and others are still awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature or veto.

Seagrass Restoration

Status: Passed and signed into law

The Seagrass Restoration Technology Development Initiative will establish a program partnering Mote Marine Laboratory and the University of Florida to research methods for restoring Florida’s imperiled seagrass meadows.

The measure also requires the creation of a 10-year Florida Seagrass Restoration Plan and an advisory council of marine science and other experts to help oversee the efforts.

Sponsors: Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton; Rep. William Robinson Jr., R-Bradenton

Ban on fertilizer bans

Status: Awaiting DeSantis signature or veto

One significant source of nutrient pollution in Florida’s inland and coastal water bodies is fertilizer runoff from agriculture, business and residential use. The likelihood of runoff increases during Florida’s rainy summer months, so many municipalities have enacted rainy-season fertilizer bans.

A last-minute addition to the state budget would ban any local government that doesn’t have a fertilizer ban from enacting one for a period of one year. Water quality and local government advocates have decried the proposed regulation, arguing that it robs local governments of an important tool to reduce pollution.

This isn’t the first time legislators have taken aim at local fertilizer bans. In 2013, lawmakers passed a bill that prohibited local governments from banning the sale of problem fertilizers during the rainy season.

Gov. DeSantis has yet to sign the budget and could still line-item veto the proposed ban on fertilizer bans.

Land and Water Management

Status: Failed

This bill would have stripped counties and cities of the power to adopt local rules regarding water quality or quantity, pollution control, pollutant discharge prevention or removal and wetlands. The bill had significant opposition from environmental groups and local government advocates.

Sponsors: Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills; Rep. Randy Maggard, R-Dade City

Environmental Protection

Status: Passed by Florida legislature, not yet signed by DeSantis

This bill would implement a range of measures aimed at improving water quality, including:

▪ Basin Management Action Plans, used by governments as frameworks to improve poor water quality, would be required to include a prioritized list of projects with the best likelihood of reducing nutrient pollution

▪ Local government comprehensive plans would have new requirements aimed at reducing pollutant loads

▪ Simplifying the process for state acquisition of conservation lands under $5 million

▪ Establishing the basis for Indian River Lagoon Protection Program to fund and oversee restoration efforts.

Sponsors: Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Lake Mary; Rep. Kevin Steele, R-Dade City and Rep. Toby Overdorf, R-Palm City

Safe Waterways Act

Status: Failed

This bill would have required the Florida Department of Health to improve its public notifications about waters that do not meet health standards for swimming due to contamination with fecal bacteria.

It would have required signs at “public bathing places,” such as beaches, where high bacteria levels are present, and water testing data would have been made publicly available in a statewide database.

Sponsors: Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boynton Beach; Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman, R-Highland

Management and Storage of Surface Waters

Status: Failed

This bill would have made it easier to complete habitat creation, restoration and enhancement projects on government-owned and agricultural lands by exempting those projects from certain regulations. The reduction in red tape was meant to make it more likely for landowners to tackle projects that improve the ability of wetlands to capture and filter polluted runoff.

Sponsors: Sen. Colleen Burton, R-Lakeland; Rep. Sam Killebrew, R-Winter Haven

Implementation of the Recommendations of the Blue-Green Algae Task Force

Status: Failed

This measure would have increased the state’s oversight of pollution from large development projects.

The measure was recommended by the state’s Blue-Green Algae Task Force, created at the direction of Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2019 to provide guidance on combating toxic algal blooms. It produced 32 recommendations, but very few of them have been implemented.

Sponsors: Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando; Rep. Lindsay Cross, D-St. Petersburg

Wastewater Grant Program

Status: Failed

This bill would have expanded eligibility for Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Wastewater Grant Program to include the more than 1,800 water bodies listed as impaired around the state. That means more water bodies could have benefited from projects that reduce pollution, like retrofitting sewage treatment and disposal systems.

Sponsors: Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, R-Doral; Rep. Fabian Basabe, R-Miami Beach

Apalachicola Bay Area of Critical State Concern

Status: Passed by Florida legislature, not yet signed by DeSantis

This measure would fund restoration efforts in northwest Florida’s Apalachicola Bay estuary. The bay, formerly the home of 90% of Florida’s oyster harvest, has been in decline for over a decade due to drought, water flow issues and pollution, and oyster harvest is closed through the end of 2025.

Sponsors: Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee; Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe

Outstanding Florida Springs

Status: Failed

This bill would have given Warm Mineral Springs in Sarasota County status as an “Outstanding Florida Spring,” granting it additional protections.

Sponsors: Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota; Rep. Michael Grant, R-Port Charlotte

Biosolids

Status: Passed by Florida legislature, not yet signed by DeSantis

This measure would allow the state’s Wastewater Grant Program to fund projects that convert sewage wastewater into biosolids. Also known as sewage sludge, the treated biosolids can be used as fertilizer and to improve soil conditions.

The bill would also limit the use of certain biosolids unless the applicant can prove the use will not add to nutrient pollution.

Sponsors: Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Lake Mary; Rep. Kaylee Tuck, R-Lake Placid

Excise Tax on Water Extracted for Commercial or Industrial Use

Status: Failed

This measure would have created a tax on the commercial extraction of water from Florida’s water bodies and aquifer of $0.001 per gallon. It would have also increased record-keeping requirements for businesses that extract Florida water.

Sponsor: Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando

Sanitary Sewer Lateral Inspection Programs

Status: Failed

This measure would have given cities and counties the authority to access and repair problematic sanitary sewer connections that connect private property, such as homes, to the public sewer system.

Sponsors: Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, R-Doral; Keith Truenow, R-Tavares

Onsite Sewage Treatment and Disposal System Inspections

Status: Failed

This measure would have tasked the Florida Department of Environmental Protection with creating a septic tank inspection program, with inspections required every five years. Leaky septic tanks are a documented contributor to nutrient pollution, but inspections are currently voluntary.

Sponsors: Michael Caruso, R-Delray Beach

Flooding and Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Studies

Status: Passed by Florida legislature, not yet signed by DeSantis

This measure would require additional considerations of sea level rise for development in coastal areas, including assessments of potential environmental damage.

It also expands eligibility for state grants that fund sea level rise and flooding resiliency projects.

Sponsors: Sen. Alexis Calatayud, R-Miami; Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, D-Parkland