House Passes Florida Forever Bill

TALLAHASSEE, FL — April 30, 2008 — Nature Conservancy State Director Jeff Danter saluted today the Florida House of Representatives and Senate for reauthorizing Florida Forever, the state’s renowned land conservation program. House passage today of Senate Bill 542 effectively extends the Florida Forever Program for 10 years at $300 million annually. SB542 passed unanimously today in the House and unanimously in the Senate on April 23.

“Today, Florida’s leaders made an extraordinary commitment to protect the state’s most beautiful and ecologically important places for all time. This is an incredible result for conservation in Florida, and I am grateful for the courage of the leadership in both the House and Senate,” said Danter. “This is a historic day for Florida.”

“We are taking this important step today because of individual leadership in the Legislature,” said Nature Conservancy Director of External Affairs Andy McLeod. “Senate President Ken Pruitt (R- Port St. Lucie) and Sen. Burt Saunders (R-Naples) have championed the cause of land conservation for years and made this a priority issue. We thank them both sincerely.”

Janet Bowman, the Conservancy’s associate director of government relations, worked closely on the bills through the legislative process and agrees with the hearty praise for the Legislature. “Additionally, Rep. Stan Mayfield (R-Vero Beach) and Rep. Will Kendrick (R-Carrabelle) were careful stewards of this legislation, and, with the support of Speaker Marco Rubio, they have made history,” she said.

The pending $65 billion General Appropriations Act allocates $300 million to Florida Forever to come from the sale of bonds. The actual amount of Florida Forever bond authorization spent in any one year is appropriated by the Legislature each year.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. With funding from the voter approved Florida Forever program and our generous donors the Conservancy has helped protect more than 1.2 million acres in Florida since 1961. Visit us on the Web at nature.org/florida.