Water high quality funding, reasonably priced wind insurance coverage and marine safety are amongst Monroe County’s precedence checklist for the Florida Legislature in 2025.
Not too long ago, county commissioners authorised an agenda of legislative gadgets they hope acquire traction as members within the state Home and Senate convene March 4 for a 60-day session in Tallahassee.
Funding for water high quality tasks via the Florida Keys Stewardship Act stays excessive on the county’s checklist. Lisa Tennyson, county legislative affairs director, mentioned the county will likely be seeking to safe $20 million for tasks, together with the continuing canal restorations all through Monroe County. The Stewardship Act was authorised by the Florida Legislature in 2016. Since then, the county has secured roughly $100 million for tasks to guard the Keys’ nearshore waters.
County officers are hoping the Stewardship Act will get funded via the state’s Land Acquisition Belief Fund. That would offer annual funding for this system with out the necessity to request and battle for cash within the state finances every session.
Wind insurance coverage, particularly the affordability for policyholders within the county insured via Residents, is one other key precedence for county officers in the course of the upcoming session. Residents Insurance coverage gives protection to property homeowners who’re in good religion and may’t get hold of a coverage via the personal market. With charges persevering with to extend by way of a state-approved glide path, the county will push for a ten% cap on annual will increase for Keys policyholders who’re insured via Residents. Tennyson mentioned Florida Home Speaker Danny Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton have insurance coverage excessive on their precedence lists this session.
“Hopefully it means they may contemplate actions which can be extra consumer-friendly slightly than specializing in the pursuits of the insurance coverage business,” Tennyson advised county commissioners throughout a December assembly in Key Largo. “It does give us a glimmer of hope.”
Tennyson added the county can even be supporting a push to roll again a requirement for Residents policyholders to hold flood insurance coverage regardless that their properties and properties aren’t liable to flooding.
The county additionally needs the state to make clear how native governments can deal with the removing of migrant vessels from nearshore waters in order that they don’t grow to be a detriment to the atmosphere. At the moment, the state handles the removing of grounded migrant vessels by way of an govt order signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. As soon as that order expires, Tennyson mentioned, the native governments may very well be answerable for dealing with the removing of migrant vessels. Tennyson mentioned the county’s native derelict removing program doesn’t tackle the problem of migrant boats.
“They sometimes carry diesel gasoline and require an instantaneous removing course of, which at present we don’t have pointers for,” she mentioned.
County officers additionally need the state to proceed funding highway elevation tasks in Monroe County. Tennyson mentioned the state has awarded $60 million in grants to the county for varied roads in unincorporated Monroe County.
A request for extra constructing allow allocations can even be part of the county’s legislative agenda within the upcoming session. In December, county commissioners voted 4-1 to request a change the statutes governing the Florida Keys as an Space of Crucial State Concern (ACSC) – particularly, a provision at present requiring a 24-hour clearance time for everlasting residents within the occasion of a hurricane evacuation, used to cap the variety of constructing rights all through the islands.
The decision requests a rise for the hurricane evacuation time of as much as 26 hours – a timeframe that, in response to previously-discussed hurricane evacuation fashions, might add roughly 3,550 new models to the Keys. The decision requires an excellent distribution of any new constructing rights over a 40-year interval, however permits for models to be “borrowed ahead” from future years in the event that they’re used for reasonably priced or workforce housing.