WEEKLY ROUNDUP
Road to controversy
TALLAHASSEE — As he worked his way through a final batch of bills from the 2023 legislative session, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a few controversial measures this week.
That included a bill (HB 1191) directing transportation officials to determine if a waste byproduct from the fertilizer industry could be used in building roads.
The measure will trigger a study by the Florida Department of Transportation on the use of phosphogypsum in road-construction “aggregate” material. The department will have to finish the evaluation by April 1.
Phosphogypsum includes radioactive elements and is stored in huge stacks. It drew heavy attention in 2021 when about 215 million gallons of wastewater were discharged into Tampa Bay to avoid a potentially catastrophic breach at the closed Piney Point phosphate plant in Manatee County.
Senate bill sponsor Jay Trumbull, R-Panama City, cited the Piney Point issue when arguing for the measure during a May 1 floor session.
“Our goal is to hopefully identify this as a suitable road base so that we don’t continue to just stack it and have these things that could potentially become Piney Point, and that we’re able to pull out some bad stuff and use it, you know, for a road base that’s safe,” Trumbull said.
But the idea of using phosphogypsum in building roads drew heavy opposition from environmental groups. After DeSantis signed the bill Thursday, Elise Bennett, an attorney who is Florida and Caribbean director for the Center for Biological Diversity, blasted it as “reckless.”
“This opens the door for dangerous radioactive waste to be dumped in roadways across the state, under the guise of a so-called feasibility study that won’t address serious health and safety concerns,” Bennett said.
In 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency barred the use of phosphogypsum in road construction. An April state Senate staff analysis of the billl said that “until such time as the EPA approves such use” of phosphogypsum, the state transportation department would be barred from using it.
DeSantis also on Thursday signed a bill (SB 170) that could bolster legal challenges to local ordinances.
The law, in part, would require local governments to suspend enforcement of ordinances that are challenged legally. It would not apply to several types of ordinances, such as measures needed to comply with federal or state laws or regulations.
Critics of the bill, which will take effect Oct. 1, argued that it could limit local governments’ ability to address issues ranging from water quality to climate change.
Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said progressive issues could be “at risk, simply if an individual business owner doesn’t like it.”
But the measure received support from groups such as the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Associated Industries of Florida, the Florida Retail Federation and the Florida Home Builders Association.
JUST SAY NO?
Attorney General Ashley Moody is trying to stop a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow recreational use of marijuana by people 21 and older.
Lawyers in Moody’s office filed a brief Monday at the Florida Supreme Court arguing that a ballot summary for the proposal would be “misleading to voters in several key respects.”
The Smart & Safe Florida political committee, which is spearheading efforts to pass the amendment, needs the Supreme Court to sign off on the proposed ballot wording before the measure can go before voters. Under the Florida Constitution, ballot initiatives must not be confusing to voters and must address a single subject.
Voters in 2016 passed a constitutional amendment that allowed medical marijuana. The new ballot summary, in part, says the proposed amendment would allow “adults 21 years or older to possess, purchase, or use marijuana products and marijuana accessories” for non-medical consumption.
“That is incorrect and misleading,” because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the state’s brief said. “In previously approving similarly worded ballot summaries, the court erred.”
Smart & Safe Florida spokesman Steve Vancore said the company disagrees with Moody’s analysis.
“We believe the language as written clearly complies with the requirements of the Constitution. We look forward to bringing this matter to the Florida Supreme Court and are confident that the court will conclude that there is no lawful basis to set aside the ballot initiative,” Vancore said.
Trulieve, the state’s largest medical-marijuana operator, had contributed $39 million as of the end of May to the political committee. Most of that money went to gathering petition signatures to put the measure on the 2024 ballot.
SCHOOL RULES
The state Department of Education on Tuesday released a series of proposed rules that would outline restrictions on “adult live performances” at field trips and prohibit school districts from using the social-media app TikTok.
The proposal dealing with adult live performances was spurred by a new law aimed at blocking children from attending drag shows.
In part, the proposal would put guidelines on “school-sponsored events or activities” which include things such as field trips and extracurricular activities. It includes barring districts from admitting “a child to an adult live performance” and would prevent such performances from being held in buildings or properties owned or leased by districts.
Another proposed rule would put in place requirements for school-district internet safety policies.
The proposed rule also targets the popular social-media app TikTok, and would prohibit use of the app on district devices or on school internet networks. TikTok also could not be “used to communicate or promote any school district, school, school-sponsored club, extracurricular organization, or athletic team.”
STORY OF THE WEEK: Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed a controversial measure that directs transportation officials to determine if a waste byproduct from the fertilizer industry could be used in building roads.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “There’s the potential for muddying the waters, not just to create attack ads or disinformation about your opponent, but to try to clean yourself up. It’s an octopus. There’s just so many ways that I don’t think we’ve even thought about how it could be deployed.” — Janet Coats, managing director of the University of Florida’s Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology, on the use of artificial intelligence in political campaigns.