SENATE:

Manatee Protection (4 votes) As originally filed, SB 1614 by Posey (and HB 1473) would have severely weakened the Manatee Sanctuary Act and protections (including speed zones) around the state developed over many years of study and regulatory rulemaking.

After two committee hearings 2/26 and 3/12 and dramatic rewriting of the bill (amendments by Wasserman Schultz) in the second Senate committee (2 separate votes), the bill became a positive one and passed on the Senate floor as part of HB 1243 33-0 on 3/21/02.

Growth Management (2 votes) SB 382 and 1906 were passed overwhelmingly with 382 strengthening intergovernmental co-ordination of planning and education; 1906 weakened various planning processes and passed after considerable watering down.

Water (1 vote) On 3/21, SB 2122 passed with several "voice vote" amendments but one roll call voted down a pro-environmental amendment by Dyer to require testing for waterborne diseases in water supplies. Most water bills kept dying, but the same amendments were resurrected to maximize water uses and reuse, including exemptions and 20 year consumptive use permits.

Transportation & Billboards (4 votes) HB 715 (including the preemption of local governments' regulation of outdoor billboards) and SB 502 were passed on the floor; SB502 and SB1458 passed committees. The omnibus transportation bills gave broad new powers to the DOT, promising sprawl and less oversight and lower feasibility thresholds for new highways and turnpikes.

Citizen Enforcement (4 votes) SB 280 and SB 270 by Pruitt and King, respectively— the "Anti-Citizen Environmental Enforcement bills" passed two committees each as Senators tried to amend away environmentalists' public attacks on the legislation which rolled back 30 years of citizens' rights under Florida's Environmental Protection Act. Stronger amendments by Senators Burt, Lawson and Wasserman Schultz tried to blunt and stop the bills.

HOUSE:

Growth Management ( 5 votes) Three split roll call votes on SB 1906 occurred on the House floor on March 21, as that bill became the "train" or "vehicle" for the other growth management bills. The committee votes on Feb 21 and 26 were split votes on HB 1535, which had earlier become a catch all for various anti-environment bills and amendments attempting to weaken growth management.

Transportation (4 votes) HB 261 by Russell was the most controversial omnibus "train" and it finally passed with very little opposition. Representative Bucher's amendment tried to preserve the economic feasibility test for new highways. Her amendment was voted down 77-40. Henriquez's amendment to HB 757 tried to stop the overhaul of the state DOT, but was also voted down.

Manatee Protection ( 4 votes) HB 1473 Representative Harrington's Anti-Manatee bill faced 3 split votes in two committees before the floor approval of the much-improved version on March 15. HB 1243 was amended to include the compromise, pro-Manatee version on the final two days of session.

Anti-Citizen Enforcement bills (11 votes) Several votes came in committees and councils as both HB 257 and HB 819, sponsored by Spratt and Cantens, respectively, were debated and passed. On the House floor, both bills passed on a split vote, and amendments by Representatives Crow, Romeo, and Greenstein to remove the Anti-Citizen provisions were debated and defeated. Even procedural tactics by House leadership resulted in clear-cut split, roll call votes. (The final version attached to the Everglades bill HB 813 was not included in the vote tabulation—see sponsorship recognition for the 31 representatives who bravely voted "no" the final night of session because of the AntiCitizen amendment.)

Water and Wetlands bills (5 votes) HB 1299 by Machek presented committee votes on amendments over water resource development including funding for facilities and pipelines from land acquisition funds. February 13, 19 and 26. On 2/26, pipelines were finally removed (Greenstein sponsored repeated amendments) from the scheme. On March 21, HB 1285 passed on the floor to supersede wetlands ordinances and rules throughout the state.

Arsenic in Playground Wood ( 3 votes) The first two votes on HB 113 were in Agriculture Committee on 11/27/01, when the bill was voted down 6-3 after the committee voted to force the bill to an early vote 5-4. The third vote was on the House floor when Representative Crow introduced an “Arsenic” amendment to HB 851 on Mar 13. The Amendment lost on a roll call 63-49.