July 19, 2006
CCA FLORIDA ANNOUNCES 2006 LEGISLATIVE CONSERVATION AWARDS

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May 11, 2006
CCA FLORIDA GRASSROOTS LEGISLATIVE REPORT

MARINE FISHERIES ISSUES COME OUT WELL IN 2006 SESSION

BAD BILLS DIE ON CALENDAR

I. INTRODUCTION
Late last Friday night the 2006 Legislative Session adjourned. We are pleased to note that legislation relating to the Florida Constitution, fishing and hunting penalties, FWC authorities and constitutional status were either passed in acceptable form or died on the calendar. Although there was a lot of activity and amendments passed back and forth in the final two weeks, in the end the marine fisheries conservation issues came out fine. Key leadership members in the Senate and House helped substantially. Senator Ken Pruitt (R-Port St. Lucie) - Rules and Calendar Chairman and Representative Andy Gardiner (R-Orlando) - House Republican Majority Leader were very active in protecting important marine fisheries programs.

II. AMENDMENTS TO FLORIDA CONSTITUTION
The biggest concern of the session was the effort by Senator Daniel Webster in SJR 1918 to do a major "clean-up" of the Florida Constitution. SJR 1918 contained amendments to correct 289 typographic and other corrections that have been accumulating for many years. There were amendments to remove parts of the Constitution that were adopted by citizen initiative petition and convert them to statutes which could then be removed or modified by Legislative action. There was an amendment offered in the Senate Judiciary Committee to remove Article X, Section 16 "Limiting Marine Net Fishing" (the net ban). However, that amendment was defeated in a vote lead by Senator Carey Baker (R-Eustis). Ultimately, the final Senate bill that passed out of the Senate the next to last day of the session contained only the 289 typographic and other corrections, and an amendment which would have converted the "pregnant pigs' section to a statute. However, the House did not act on the Senate bill the last day and it simply died in messages.

III. FWC BUDGET
The FWC's top budget priority was a request for $2.5 million for Law Enforcement Retention Pay for their fish and wildlife officers. Unfortunately, the appropriation became caught up in a conflict and was not funded this year. However, other FWC budget requests fared very well. The request for $1 million for a new marine fish hatchery was increased to $2 million. The request for $700,000 for the ongoing artificial reef construction program was increased to $950,000.

IV. REVISED PENALTIES FOR HUNTING AND FISHING VIOLATIONS
One of the major bills that did pass was a reorganization and revision of the fines and penalties for recreational fishing and hunting violations. The legislation was promoted by the FWC and sponsored by Senator Carey Baker (R-Eustis) SB 2202 and Rep. Baxter Troutman (R-Winter Haven) HB 471. The legislation organizes all of the fines and penalties into four different levels. In addition, it allows Florida to participate in an interstate compact agreement with other states so that if a frequent or major violator has their licenses revoked in one of the participating states, then Florida can revoke or suspend licenses as well.

V. BILL TO ABOLISH FWC GETS NO SUPPORT
The worst bill of the session was HJR 7129, sponsored by Representative Mitch Needleman (R-Melbourne) and co-sponsored by Representative Will Kendrick (D-Carrabelle). HJR 7129 would have abolished the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and created a Florida Cabinet level elected position for a Department of Interior. By abolishing the FWC and the independent, constitution authority to manage wildlife, freshwater and saltwater fisheries, the legislature would have authority to adopt or modify size and bag limit regulations for wildlife, freshwater fisheries and saltwater fisheries including redfish, snook and spotted seatrout. The legislation was a joint resolution which would place the issue as a constitutional amendment on the ballot for public vote in November 2006. The only action taken on this bill was in the legislative committee chaired by Needleman and it was passed out. No further action was taken by any other House Committee. In addition, no action at all was taken in the Senate. The first committee of reference in the Senate was the Environmental Preservation Committee chaired by Senator Paula Dockery (R-Lakeland). Thanks to Senator Dockery the bill did not even get agended for discussion.

VI. FWC BLUE CRAB BILL
One of the bills that started out just fine was legislation to establish fees and structure for limited participation and traps in the blue crab fishery. SB 2490 sponsored by Senator Nancy Argenziano (R-Crystal River) and HB 1345 by Representative Ken Littlefield (R-Zephyrhills) were similar to existing statutes and the FWC rules for the commercial spiny lobster and stone crab programs. Unfortunately, amendments and changes started occurring on the Senate side which CCA Florida and others could not support including issues such as equitable rent payment, due process rules and FWC authority to enact limited entry programs. With three days left in the session, the Senate finally added revised amendments which resolved all of the parties concerns. The Senate then passed SB 2490 and sent it to the House for final action. Unfortunately, Representatives Needleman and Kendrick filed new and bad amendments which prevented action from being taken on the final day. So the bill died in messages.

Ted Forsgren, CCA Florida Executive Director
(850) 224-3474

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March 15, 2006

PROPOSED CHANGES TO FLORIDA'S CONSTITUTION COULD THREATEN THE NET BAN
by Ted Forsgren, CCA Florida Executive Director

The Florida Senate Judicial Committee has begun holding meetings to discuss legislation that would "Streamline the Florida Constitution" by moving some amendments into statute law.

In 1994, Florida’s citizens voted overwhelmingly, by a 72 percent margin, to approve the "Limiting Marine Net Fishing" constitutional amendment which is now contained in Article X, Section 16 of the Florida Constitution. Known as the Save Our Sealife Amendment, it prohibited the use of gill and entangling nets in all Florida coastal waters and also prohibited other large nets in nearshore and inshore waters. It was the most important marine conservation initiative in the history of Florida and reversed decades of abuse of Florida’s marine resources through waste and overfishing.

Since that time, the amendment has withstood numerous attempts to weaken its provisions from lawsuits to contrived definitions by commercial fishermen of what constitutes a gill net and how a legal net should be measured. In each case, the courts and state agencies have consistently upheld the net ban amendment. But now a new threat may be emerging in the form of legislation to "Streamline the Constitution."

A report released by the staff of the Florida Senate Judicial Committee, Options for Streamlining the Florida Constitution, identifies subjects in the state Constitution which could be considered “statutory matter” and could be adopted as statutes instead of being in the Constitution. These subjects include term limits on elected officials, the smoking ban in public places, limits on increases in property taxes, minimum cage sizes for pregnant pigs, and the net ban.

In February, the Senate Judicial Committee began discussing the issue and has prepared a Senate/House Joint Resolution (SJR 1918) that would put one or more constitutional amendments on the ballot this fall. If approved by voters, provisions would be removed from the Constitution and made into a statute. The statute could then be modified or repealed by the Legislature.

In its current form SJR 1918 contains corrections in the Constitution for 297 misspelled words, grammatical errors and other technical errors, plus a provision to remove the ?pregnant pigs? section from the Constitution and make it a statute.

Committee Chairman Senator Daniel Webster (R – Winter Garden), however, stated that his reason for putting the pregnant pigs provision in the proposed committee bill was to provide a procedure and format in the bill where committee members could offer amendments to add other constitutional provisions for repeal and conversion to statute.

CCA Florida adamantly opposes any attempts to remove Article X, Section 16 “Limiting Marine Net Fishing” from the Constitution. If the net ban were made into a statute, the Legislature would be able to modify or repeal the netting restrictions. They could vote to bring back gill nets, or let huge seine nets once again sweep the sealife wholesale from our nearshore coastal waters.

Led by the Florida Conservation Association (now CCA Florida) and Florida Sportsman magazine, the net ban constitutional amendment was proposed and supported by conservation and fishing groups after 10 years of failures by state agencies and the Legislature to control large-scale netting and restore the health of our publicly-owned fishery resources.

The petition drive to place the amendment on the ballot was a true grassroots campaign from start to finish. An army of citizen volunteers gathered every single one of the required 540,000 petitions. In fact, not a single petition was collected by a paid petition gatherer. We know of no other citizen constitutional amendment initiative, in Florida or anywhere in the United States, where every single petition was collected by a volunteer.

On November 8, 1994, the Constitutional Amendment "Limiting Marine Net Fishing" was approved with a "yes" vote from 2.8 million Floridians. It was an overwhelming victory that created a significant, and permanent mandate for marine conservation in Florida.


LEND YOUR SUPPORT
CCA Florida urges its members and others who support strong marine conservation to oppose any attempt by the Florida Legislature to remove the net ban from the Florida Constitution. For updates on the progress of legislation to "Streamline the Constitution" visit www.ccaflorida.org. and CCA Florida Advocacy Articles and Publications on Illegal Netting and Net Ban Enforcement.)

Anyone interested in receiving E-mailed updates on the legislation can send your name and E-mail address to info@ccaflorida.org.

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January 31, 2006
CCA FLORIDA GRASSROOTS ALERT:
GET READY FOR THE 2006 LEGISLATIVE SESSION!

BE PREPARED TO FIGHT TO KEEP THE NET BAN RESTICTIONS IN THE FLORIDA CONSTITUTION!

A. WHAT TO DO: All CCA Florida Chapters, fishing clubs and other Grassroots Network members should update their e-mail alert networks and prepare for the session.

B. CURRENT STATUS: The Florida Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Judiciary Committee are discussing issues and legislation regarding Florida's Constitution. Questions are being raised about what subjects should, or should not, be in the Constitution. Last week, a Senate Judiciary Committee staff report entitled "Options for Streamlining the Florida Constitution" was released and discussed by the Committee. The report identifies numerous subjects in the Constitution which could be adopted as statutes instead of being in the Constitution. The subjects include term limits on elected officials, smoking ban in public places, the net ban and the pregnant pig's amendment. Legislators are talking about removing "statutory matter" from the Constitution by passing a Senate/House Joint Resolution to put one or more constitutional amendments on the ballot this fall. If approved by voters, those provisions would be removed from the Constitution and made into a statute. The statute could then be modified or repealed by the Legislature.

The next step of the Senate Judiciary Committee will be to review and vote on a proposed committee bill which will contain 1) corrections for 297 misspelled words, grammatical errors and other technical corrections and 2) a provision to remove the "pregnant pigs" section from the Constitution and make it a statute. Committee Chairman Senator Daniel Webster (R - Winter Garden) stated that his reason for putting the pregnant pigs provision in the proposed Committee bill was to provide a procedure and format in the bill where committee members could offer amendments to add other provisions for repeal and conversion to statute.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are:

Senator Daniel Webster (R - Winter Garden) - Chairman
Senator Alex Villalobos (R - Miami)
Senator Carey Baker (R - Eustis)
Senator Charlie Clary (R - Destin)
Senator Bill Posey (R - Rockledge)
Senator Dave Aronberg (D - Greenacres)
Senator Skip Campbell (D - Tamarac)
Senator Steve Geller (D - Hallandale Beach)

In 1994, 72% of Florida voters voted yes to approve the citizen initiative constitutional amendment to limit marine net fishing. The overwhelming favorable vote was called the most significant mandate for marine conservation in Florida's history.

All of Florida's saltwater anglers and other conservationists need to get ready to send a strong message to legislators that Article X, Section 16 - "Limiting Marine Net Fishing," known as the net ban amendment, must remain untouched in the Constitution. The Constitutional provision clearly allows the Legislature and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to adopt more stringent netting regulations. The only reason to remove it and make it a statute would be to weaken it.

GET READY - THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE COULD SCHEDULE THE ISSUE FOR A VOTE AS EARLY AS NEXT WEEK, WEDNESDAY - FEBRUARY 8!

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