Senate Bill 2508 takes a step in the right direction

In the fight to KILL SENATE BILL 2508, we are making progress. Our mission is to kill this bad bill. And although the bill is proceeding through a long and complicated legislative process with many stops, we have wounded it. And we will continue to weaken this bad water legislation until we defeat it altogether.

Yesterday, an amendment to SB 2508 was approved in the Senate with a 37-2 vote, but that does not mean that the bill has passed into law. The amendment has removed the worst of the worst language from the original bill.

Be assured, this amendment is a WIN for clean water. However, we have to continue to encourage our lawmakers to reject SB 2508 while chipping away at the remaining harmful language as it moves on through the legislative process.

This amendment is a direct result of YOUR efforts! It would have never happened if not for the 40,000 petition signers, 1,200 people who called their senators, and couple hundred that rallied in Tallahassee yesterday.

Your passion for our waters was noticed—they felt the pressure and responded with a step in the right direction. That’s a win! But it’s not THE FINAL win, there is still more work to do and we need you all to stay in the fight.

To learn more about the bill and yesterday’s clean-water rally in Tallahassee, check out this article in the Miami Herald.

Since this bill was tied to the overall annual Florida budget, the next step for it is the the budget conference between the House and Senate.

Up to this point, the Senate and the House have been working separately on their own proposed budgets. Now, they’ll come together to construct a combined budget for the state that will eventually be proposed to the Governor at the end of legislative session (~mid March).

So, the provisions in this bill are still going to be evaluated through that conference process. That’s why we have to keep up the pressure to oppose this bill and the harmful contents it still contains.

Legislative session goes through March 11th, and anything can happen between now and then. Stay with us, thanks for all your support! 💪