Podcast: Recent Developments in Florida Energy and Environmental Legislation

Nathan Adams: Welcome to Holland & Knight's Florida Capital Conversations podcast series. Today our subject is energy and the environment, and our guests are Larry Sellers and Jon Steverson. My name is Nathan Adams. My co-host is Mia McKown. We are so pleased that you have joined us today to consider another interesting issue bearing on state government affecting Florida business and communities. There's none better than Larry Sellers and Jon Stevenson to kick off our discussion of energy and the environment. Let me begin by asking you both to tell us a little more about yourselves.

Jon Steverson: Thanks for that introduction, Nate. Yeah, I like to think of myself as not quite that old, but maybe a high mileage unit. You know, if you recall, I first met you years ago in Governor Bush's Administration. And I spent some 22 years inside and outside of government working these types of issues for various agencies and then also various clients in the private sector. So, happy to be here and happy to be doing this for Holland & Knight now.

Larry Sellers: Thanks, Nate. I practiced with Holland & Knight since I got out of law school and grew up in the firm as the environmental regulations and laws became quite the thing in Florida. So I've had the privilege of working with a firm with its clients through the development on the environmental laws or regulations over a number of decades, including representing clients before the Florida Legislature and the various environmental agencies.

Mia McKown: Larry, I know just having worked with you on a lot of different issues, you are so good at knowing kind of what's going around and what's happening around the environment and water issues. We've heard that there are changes coming to the state-wide stormwater rule. Can you tell us what that might mean to our clients and our listeners out there?

Larry Sellers: Sure, stormwater has long been one of the largest sources of water pollution here in Florida, particularly as Florida continues to grow. A couple of years ago, the legislature recognized this and enacted the Clean Waterways Act, which required the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to update its stormwater rules. DEP completed that rulemaking a year or so ago and adopted a new rule that includes, among other things, requirements that are intended to greatly reduce nutrient pollution. But these new reductions and improvements would come at great expense. DEP determined that the economic impacts of the new rule would be quite substantial. Over $1.2 billion, that's with a B, or about $2,600 per acre. Under Florida law, a rule that has a significant economic impact — specifically, if it's more than $1 million over five years — may become effective only if it's ratified by the Florida Legislature. This past session, the legislature enacted Senate Bill 7040, which does in fact ratify the DEP stormwater rule. However, that legislation makes some noteworthy changes to the rule to reduce the significant economic impacts, at least in the near term. Among other things, the legislature added a number of grandfather provisions that may exempt some developments from the new and more expensive requirements. So developers and others who may be subject to the new rule — which, by the way, is now in effect — will want to review these provisions carefully and properly to see if they might avoid or defer compliance with some of the more costly requirements.

Nathan Adams: Thank you, Larry. Jon, from stormwater to energy. I understand you spend a fair amount of effort on, well, energy this past session. What can you tell us about that?

Jon Steverson: Thanks, Nate. So this year, the legislature passed House Bill 1645, otherwise known as energy resources. And this is a bill that was literally about a year and a half in the works, and everyone awaited this bill with bated breath. Then when it dropped, everybody was left kind of scratching their heads at what would happen to all of our work. However, Chair Bobby Payne then did what he did best, and he went to work all while balancing many different factions and interests. The thing is, he actually knows this stuff inside and out. He grew up in the business. You can see his hand on the push to evaluate the feasibility of using advanced nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors, to meet the state's electric power needs. There's also provisions in the bill for what's known as gross capacity, and that really comes into play with solar fields just under 75MW and allows those projects to be, for lack of a better word, bundled together. The bill also does away with a lot of the Crist Era climate-friendly product list, green lodging and fleet fuel efficiency requirements. However, in a little bit of a twinge of green, it did direct DOT to evaluate the development of hydrogen fueling infrastructure. Other alternative means of transportation were explored in this bill, including electric vehicles, which are becoming a larger and larger part of the conversation of transportation and also taxing structure here in the state. It took a look at the way that utilities could actually set rates to cover the cost of electric vehicle infrastructure. And along that line, there was another bill out there, Senate Bill 1084, which was all related to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' overall agency package that preempted the regulation of electric vehicle charging stations to the state. It prohibits local governments from enforcing any local requirements on those charging stations. However, one of the most interesting or most important parts of that bill really revolved around cultivated meat. And you might have seen some recent articles about some injunctions trying to stop that. And in Florida, we ride for the brand. However, this bill ensures that the brand is on real-life hide and that real meat is hitting your plate. There's now a second degree misdemeanor to knowingly sell cultivated meat in Florida, and it specifically prohibits manufacturing, distributing, holding or offering such product. And I guess you could say we're simple folks here in Florida. And there's a simple rule, "Here in Florida it better believe before you feed."

Mia McKown: Larry, everywhere — you don't pick up the paper, you don't turn on the news, you don't drive around Florida without noticing how fast and how rapidly the state of Florida is growing. So many people are coming here. Businesses are coming. We're seeing that so much of our agriculture go away due to population increases. And I don't think that's stopping. As Florida continues to grow, water is increasingly a hot topic in our state. Did the legislature pass any measures on this subject? And do you see anything coming up on this issue?

Larry Sellers: Mia, as we discussed, the stormwater rule was a big issue, principally designed to help deal with the significant nutrient pollution that's been so harmful to so many of our waters here in Florida. But in addition to passing a measure that ratified the DEP stormwater rule, the legislature passed a couple of other bills dealing with water that I thought I'd mention. One bill was designed to make sure we have enough water to drink or otherwise use. And then a second bill is intended to make sure that folks know where there is too much water. House Bill 1557 requires the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the various water management districts to adopt rules to promote reclaim water and to encourage potable water offsets that produce significant water savings. The bill provides incentives for this by authorizing extended permits for those projects that use reclaimed water. This bill became effective on July 1, 2024. A second bill, House Bill 1049, requires the seller of any residential real property to furnish to the buyer at or before the sales contract is executed a disclosure form regarding flood risk. The bill defines what flooding is subject to disclosure, and it provides the specific language of the required disclosure statement. This bill becomes effective October 1, 2024.

Mia McKown: Larry, we were talking about the water legislation and important bills that passed last session. But often as important as the bills that pass are the ones that don't, at least if you're trying to read the tea leaves for next session. Do you have any type of issues like that in mind for next year?

Larry Sellers: Got a, continuing on the water theme, a couple of issues that got a lot of attention this year, and some in prior years were water quality. For a number of years, Florida and other states and the federal government have wrestled with how to protect citizens from PFAS, the so-called forever chemicals that show up at everything and last forever. This has been a very challenging and a very expensive issue, both at the state level and the national level. During the 2024 legislative session, the legislature again considered measures that were designed to prevent contaminants or emerging concerns from discharging into wastewater treatment facilities and waters of the state. These contaminants include the so-called PFAS, as well as 1,4-Dioxane. Among other things, these proposals would require the establishment of pretreatment standards and discharge limitations for these contaminants. Separate proposals also would have established drinking water standards for 1,4-Dioxane. Although these measures didn't pass during the 2024 session, look for similar proposals to be considered again next year.

Nathan Adams: All right, Jon, what's this buzz about bears and balloons that we kept reading about during the last session?

Jon Steverson: So two very interesting bills there. House Bill 87 related to the taking of bears was one of the most heavily reported bills of the session and, therefore, naturally one of the most misunderstood. Representatives Shoaf and Senator Simon were trying to respond to an issue that's very real to their constituents up here in the Panhandle. We have bears literally breaking into homes and raiding fridges and freezers. A lot of the folks who are having to deal with that situation, feared that they'd be in less trouble for shooting a meth-head than a bear. And this bill is not bear hunting. They can do nothing with the meat or the hide, and they must report any one of these incidents to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the commission will then handle the situation. It's really kind of a, a stand your ground for bears. And I really mention this bill because it was very interesting that all the folks who were there to speak against the bear bill shifted their attention to the energy bill when it didn't look like they were able to stop the bear bill from moving forward. Even the reporters noted the issues. I'm not sure what all was happening there, but maybe they hit some of cocaine bear's stash. If you look at House Bill 321 related to the release of balloons, there's no shortage of bans in Florida. However, this one was rare. And then it garnered support, bipartisan support. It was championed by environmentalists and sponsored by two Republican lawmakers from the Tampa Bay area, Representative Linda Chaney, and then Senator Nick DiCeglie. A big push on the bill came for the protection of aquatic animals, but discarded balloons have serious impacts on land animals as well, and they've killed many a cow. It's not often that you see surfrider and the cattlemen running hand in hand, but they were together on this issue. And anyone who knows me knows I spent a lot of time in the woods. And it's crazy to me where discarded balloons will show up, with everyone trying to get more hits for the biggest gender reveal or whatever on social media. I can say this bill was needed. However, they did put some common sense into it and exempt those 6 and under. You know, kids can't ever hang onto those things, even with them tied to their wrist. You can't get a kid a pair of overalls or a car seat, but you tie a balloon to a 4-year-old's wrist and they turn into Houdini.

Mia McKown: Larry, I think I read somewhere that Florida sells more than over a dozen specialty license plates that raise money for wildlife and other environmental causes. Is that something that you have any knowledge about? I think there's one for Margaritaville that might be one of my favorites.

Larry Sellers: Continuing with the theme of lighthearted legislation, Florida has quite a number of license plates. In fact, five of the top 10 here in Florida deal with the environment or water. We have the Endless Summer, which has a picture of a surfboard of sea turtles survive. We have a UF, which is a Gators, and then we have Save the Manatee and Protect Dolphins license plates. The legislature seems to have an endless appetite for new license plates. And this year it passed a measure that established eight new license plates. And several of these have environmental or water failures. We have the Boating Capital of the World license plate recognizing that Florida is the boating capital of the world. We also have the Margaritaville license plate that has a wonderful picture of what appears to be a waterside picture of Key West. And then we have the Recycle Florida license plate designed to recognize Florida's commitment to recycling to protect the environment. A related measure is the, and I guess I should say this, when we talk about the Margaritaville license plate, is the Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway, House Bill 91 designated AA from Fernandina Beach, to mile markers zero in the Florida Keys as the Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway.

Nathan Adams: We just had a primary election, and folks will soon be heading back to the polls for the general election. Here in Florida, we can amend the Constitution through the elections process if more than 60 percent of the electorate approve. Are there any proposed constitutional amendments with an environmental focus?

Jon Steverson: You know, actually, there is a pretty interesting one out there this year. It's a constitutional amendment related to fishing and hunting. And I guess Larry thought it'd be best to leave this issue to the resident redneck. This constitutional amendment language seeks to protect the hunting and fishing rights of Floridians. And it really stems from some of the craziness that was seen in the Pacific Northwest where they tried to make it abuse, neglect and assault against animals for a child to go fishing with their father. Some folks said we don't need that type of thinking here in Florida and the International Order of Teddy Roosevelt is out to make sure that that doesn't happen. So far, 23 states have passed a constitutional right to hunt and fish amendment. And let's think about it. In Florida, fishing alone generates a roughly $14 billion impact. And we don't even want to talk about what Osceola turkeys are fetching nowadays. This group, they've got signatures, they've got money, they've got ads on all the political blogs and they seem to be on their way to passage. So coming soon to a ballot near you.

Nathan Adams: Thanks to Larry Sellers and Jon Steverson for their informative and interesting comments on energy and the environment. To my co-host, Mia McKown, thanks as well. Most of all, thanks to you for joining us today. Please plan to join us for our next Florida Capital Conversations podcast. Have a great day.