Florida state parks protection bill stalls in Senate near legislative session's end
A legislative effort to ensure golf courses, pickleball courts and luxury lodges are never built in state parks has stalled in the Florida Senate.
The Florida House passed its version of the bill (HB 209) unanimously but its Senate companion (SB 80) has been bottled up and unable to get to the chamber floor despite clearing all its committees on unanimous votes.
On April 29, Senate President Ben Albritton pulled the bill from the Senate agenda for the day after gaveling the chamber to order for an eight-hour session.
The decision provides time for Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart and the bill's sponsor, to find language acceptable to park supporters and lawmakers and that is consistent with the House bill.
But she doesn't have much time. As of now, lawmakers are scheduled to end their annual session May 2.
The two chambers' proposals are interchangeable – until line 254. That's where Harrell's bill includes a phrase that provoked opposition from park supporters, including environmental groups like the Sierra Club, Friends of the Everglades, and 1000 Friends of Florida.
While the House directs the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to manage the park system by 'minimizing impacts to undisturbed habitats," the Senate bill directs management plans to use 'disturbed uplands regions to the maximum extent practicable.'
Environmentalists said that ambiguous phrase is vague enough to create loopholes that would allow the very amenities that provoked a public uproar when first announced.
Park supporters put up a website urging lawmakers to 'Strengthen SB 80' and called on supporters to tell lawmakers to rewrite it with language that specifies precisely what is prohibited at state parks.
And while Harrell worked on the bill, 1000 Friends sent out an e-mail alert to urge supporters "to contact your Senator and ask him or her to take up HB 209 in place of SB 80 to ensure that Florida's state parks are protected and preserved for future generations to enjoy."
Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, a co-sponsor of Harrell's bill, said the opposition has a point and new language is needed: 'I think there's some stuff in there that gets the camel's nose back under the tent in terms of golf courses,' he said during a lunch break.
Management of Florida's award-winning 175 state parks became an issue last summer when the Department of Environmental Protection announced a Great Outdoors Initiative.
The Initiative included construction of golf and pickleball courses and overnight luxury lodges at places like Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County, Anastasia State Park in St. Johns County and Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Walton County, along with a flying disc course at the Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park in Tallahassee.
Gov. Ron DeSantis shelved the proposal after public protest at DEP's headquarters in Tallahassee and at state parks across the state. Park advocates then sought legislation to prevent the additions.
Harrell and Rep. John Snyder, R-Stuart, filed bills that both said would prevent the projects in the Great Outdoors Initiative.
On April 29, senators OK'd a motion to allow all bills "temporarily postponed" to be available for consideration till the end of session. A stalemate over the 2025-26 state budget prompted speculation that the 2025 regular session would be extended into the following week, meaning that bills like Harrell's would still be alive.
Later in the day, however, the Senate's budget chair – Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater – suggested that the impasse would be handled by adjourning the regular session outright and returning to Tallahassee to finish the budget in a special session, meaning all bills that hadn't passed both chambers would be dead.
James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com and is on X as @CallTallahassee.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida bill to stop state park development stalls late in session
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