Fertilizer Ordinances Work

A ban on new urban fertilizer ordinances could become law. We need your help to stop it.

Late Sunday evening, budget conferees slipped a surprise provision into the General Appropriations Implementation Act (SB 2502). It prohibits local governments from adopting or amending urban fertilizer ordinances that include a blackout period during the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

As if the policy isn’t bad enough, the process that led to it is even more abhorrent. The prohibition was never filed as part of any substantive bill or amendment, which means

there was no committee meeting,
no staff analysis,
no opportunity for public comment or debate.

Instead, legislators cowardly subverted the process by sneaking the provision into the 102 page, must-pass, appropriations implementation bill on a Sunday night in the last week of Session.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT: Urban fertilizer ordinances are the most cost-effective way to improve water quality in Florida springs. Approximately 12% of local nitrogen pollution to impaired Outstanding Florida Springs is from urban fertilizer. In some basins, urban fertilizer is responsible for more than 50% of nutrient pollution.

Since 2007, over seventeen Florida counties and well over 100 municipalities have adopted “strong” ordinances that include strict (no exemption) rainy season application bans. Local governments are increasingly choosing to adopt these ordinances because they are a cheap, easy way to reduce pollution and protect local waterways.

Prohibiting local governments from adopting strong fertilizer ordinances is just the latest in a long line of recent Legislative attacks on home rule and Florida’s environment. It will delay the restoration of impaired Florida waters.

HOW TO WE STOP THIS BAN: The prohibition is tied to a $250,000 appropriation to the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), which has close ties to the fertilizer industry, at the University of Florida to study the effectiveness of seasonal fertilizer restrictions. Both the prohibition and the study need to go.

We believe our brilliant colleagues at Sierra Club Florida found a way to do just that by requesting a line-item veto of the proviso language authorizing the IFAS study in the 2023-2024 Budget.

Please use our form to send an email to Governor DeSantis asking him to veto the proviso language authorizing the IFAS study, consequently eliminating the basis for the prohibition on strong fertilizer ordinances.

Add your own subject line, like "Urban fertilizer ordinances work" "don't ban fertilizer ordinances" or "let local governments protect our water"

A ban on new urban fertilizer ordinances could become law. We need your help to stop it.

Late Sunday evening, budget conferees slipped a surprise provision into the General Appropriations Implementation Act (SB 2502). It prohibits local governments from adopting or amending urban fertilizer ordinances that include a blackout period during the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

As if the policy isn’t bad enough, the process that led to it is even more abhorrent. The prohibition was never filed as part of any substantive bill or amendment, which means

there was no committee meeting,
no staff analysis,
no opportunity for public comment or debate.

Instead, legislators cowardly subverted the process by sneaking the provision into the 102 page, must-pass, appropriations implementation bill on a Sunday night in the last week of Session.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT: Urban fertilizer ordinances are the most cost-effective way to improve water quality in Florida springs. Approximately 12% of local nitrogen pollution to impaired Outstanding Florida Springs is from urban fertilizer. In some basins, urban fertilizer is responsible for more than 50% of nutrient pollution.

Since 2007, over seventeen Florida counties and well over 100 municipalities have adopted “strong” ordinances that include strict (no exemption) rainy season application bans. Local governments are increasingly choosing to adopt these ordinances because they are a cheap, easy way to reduce pollution and protect local waterways.

Prohibiting local governments from adopting strong fertilizer ordinances is just the latest in a long line of recent Legislative attacks on home rule and Florida’s environment. It will delay the restoration of impaired Florida waters.

HOW TO WE STOP THIS BAN: The prohibition is tied to a $250,000 appropriation to the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), which has close ties to the fertilizer industry, at the University of Florida to study the effectiveness of seasonal fertilizer restrictions. Both the prohibition and the study need to go.

We believe our brilliant colleagues at Sierra Club Florida found a way to do just that by requesting a line-item veto of the proviso language authorizing the IFAS study in the 2023-2024 Budget.

Please use our form to send an email to Governor DeSantis asking him to veto the proviso language authorizing the IFAS study, consequently eliminating the basis for the prohibition on strong fertilizer ordinances.

Add your own subject line, like "Urban fertilizer ordinances work" "don't ban fertilizer ordinances" or "let local governments protect our water"

Tell Governor DeSantis not to ban Smart Fertilizer Ordinances

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Subject:

Dear Governor DeSantis,

Please veto the proviso following line item 146 in SB 2500 reading in part “...$250,000 in nonrecurring funds shall be used by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) to evaluate the effectiveness of the timing of seasonal fertilizer restrictions on urban landscapes toward achieving nutrient target objectives for waterbodies statewide.”

On Sunday, April 30th, legislators undermined the Legislative process and your policy agenda by placing a one-year prohibition on adopting local urban fertilizer ordinances with seasonal blackout periods in the General Appropriations Implementation Act. The prohibition implements the proviso language following line-item 146 described above. It was never part of any substantive Bill, never considered by a Committee, and there was never any opportunity for public testimony.

Strong local fertilizer ordinances are the most cost-effective way to reduce nutrient pollution to Florida’s waters. Further, an enormous body of research supports the effectiveness of strong local urban fertilizer ordinances with seasonal blackout periods. Since 2007, seventeen Florida counties and more than 100 municipalities have adopted local fertilizer ordinances with strict rainy season application bans.

Limiting the ability of local governments to regulate urban fertilizer will delay the restoration of Florida’s springs, rivers, coasts, and estuaries. By vetoing the proviso language following line-item 146 in SB 2500 you can save taxpayers from funding an unnecessary study and eliminate the one-year prohibition on adopting effective local urban fertilizer ordinances.

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