Senator Files Bill to Provide $35 Million for St. Johns River, Lakes Region
State senator Rob Bradley, a Republican from Fleming Island, has filed a bill that would provide $35 million under 2014's Amendment 1 for restoration of the St. Johns River and the Keystone Heights lake region. Read more here.
A state senator has filed a bill that would provide $35 million under 2014's Amendment 1 for restoration of the St. Johns River and the Keystone Heights lake region. Sen. Rob Bradley, a Republican from Fleming Island, is chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Environment and Natural Resources. His SB 234 also would allow the funding to be used for recreational opportunities and public access along the St. Johns River and in the lake region. “As a conservative, I believe in absolute fidelity to the state Constitution,” Bradley said in a news release. “The Constitution requires us to protect these natural resources, as we should, and this bill helps fulfill that constitutional obligation to the people of the northeast Florida.” Amendment 1 provides for one third of revenue from an excise tax on real estate and other transactions to be spent on water and land conservation. The measure is expected to provide more than $22 billion over 20 years for the state Land Acquisition Trust Fund. Bradley's bill follows the Legislature's passage in 2016 of HB 989, which annually provides $200 million of Amendment 1 funding for Everglades restoration, $50 million for springs projects and $5 million for Lake Apopka.
Download Bradley's press release here: ttp://bit.ly/2iI2S5V
