Groups sue over land-buy program

Legislature using Amendment 1 money for expenses

The bitter fight over a voter initiative to protect Florida’s remaining forests, fields and swamps may face an additional court battle and appears likely to spill into next year’s elections.

Environmental groups are pursuing a lawsuit challenging the state Legislature’s decisions for spending money from Amendment 1, a land-buying program overwhelmingly approved by voters last year.

In addition, a new group has formed to mobilize the thousands of volunteers who helped get the amendment on the ballot. The goal: to get them to back pro-environment candidates for state Legislature, starting in the fall 2016 elections.

Approved last November by 75 percent of voters, Amendment 1 calls for spending onethird of real estate stamp taxes, estimated at more than $700 million a year, to acquire and protect land for parks, water supplies and wildlife habitat. But the state Legislature instead voted this year to use much of the money for routine expenses, such as salaries, vehicles and insurance in agencies involved in land management.

No land has been bought yet. The land-buying process is a lengthy one, with final approval going to the governor and Cabinet, sitting as the state board of trustees. The dozens of pieces of land on the state’s priority list includes panther habitat in

southwest Florida, tropical hammocks in the Florida Keys and pine rocklands in southern Miami-Dade County.

Four environmental groups filed suit in June in Leon County Circuit Court, which covers Tallahassee, saying the Legislature “violated its duty, violated the Constitution and violated the trust to which the voters dedicated these funds when it wrongfully diverted at least $237 million in trust funds to pay for general state expenses not allowable under the amendment.” Just $50 million would go toward acquiring land, the lawsuit said.

In a response filed last week, the Legislature and its leaders asked the judge to dismiss the case. They said that while the environmental groups may “dislike and disagree with the Legislature’s spending decisions,” that does not mean that a judge should violate the separation of powers by stepping in and telling the Legislature how to do its job.

“The Florida Supreme Court has consistently held that the power to raise and appropriate funds – the power of the purse – is a core legislative function that resides within the exclusive province of the Legislature,” the Legislature’s motion stated.

David Guest, attorney for Earthjustice, the nonprofit law firm that drafted the suit, responded Monday, “Our short answer to that is the Constitution of Florida binds everybody, including the state Legislature. No one is above the law.’’

House Speaker Steve Crisafulli issued a brief statement Monday, saying, “The House filed a motion to dismiss because we faithfully implemented Article X, Section 28 of the Florida Constitution.”

Aliki Moncrief, one of the leaders of the Amendment 1 drive, said a second lawsuit is being considered that would attack in detail the Legislature’s plan for the money, singling out particular items that could not possibly be permissible with funds from the land-buying amendment.

While the challenge to the Amendment 1 spending plans makes its way through the courts, a new group called Florida Conservation Voters has been formed from the organization that led the petition drive to get the land-buying initiative 1 on the ballot. The board includes representatives of the Trust for Public Land, Florida Audubon and Florida Wildlife Federation.

Moncrief, the new group’s executive director, said the Legislature’s actions showed the need to support pro-environment candidates with endorsements, funding and volunteers.

“If what we saw on Amendment 1 is any indication, we have to get involved in the political arena more,” she said. “We passed an amendment, the voters spoke very clearly.’’

Unlike most environmental groups in Florida, the new organization is structured under the federal tax code in a way that will allow it to make political contributions and endorsements. The group plans to map out its strategy in the next two months, with its first attempt to influence races coming in the fall 2016 elections.