Ever since the passage of Amendment 1, there have been increasing concerns about how the funds will be spent. Some groups want huge percentages spent on things not emphasized in the Land Acquisition Program, such as on septic tanks and water supply. Items such as these can be addressed locally and by funding sources such as the Clean Water State Revolving Fund.

Activity has already begun in Tallahassee, as Senator Charles Dean, Chair of our Senate Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation, has convened a public meeting and is calling for citizen input. As of this writing, he has received more than 4,000 responses.

Sen. Dean has proposed six new bills to effect the re-directing of funding for existing programs. This re-directing will eliminate their trust funds, but now the dollars from the amendment will be identifiable and will remain traceable. The current co-mingling of stamp tax funds, penalties, fines, fees and taxes makes it difficult if not impossible to determine exact amounts and exact sources

The op-ed treating the clean water act and Amendment 1 was run today, Feb. 17, 2015, in the Tallahassee Democrat, appropriate timing for the rally there tomorrow.  Please go to this link for the original article.

OSFR thanks Randi Atwood and the Tallahassee Democrat for publishing the opinion piece.