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Senate approves plan to fix Lake Okeechobee, end algae invasions

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Senate President Joe Negron’s $1.5 billion plan to fix Lake Okeechobee, and stop overflows of toxic “guacamole water” into the state’s rivers and streams, passed the Senate Wednesday on a vote of 36-3. Last June’s overflow of toxic algae blooms, which devastated tourism and sickened many people, and prompted Gov. Rick Scott to declare a state of emergency, is forcing the state’s hand, bill sponsor Rob Bradley argued. “I promised my constituents that we would dramatically expand southern storage by…

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Jack Latvala argues revised Lake Okeechobee project defangs its critics

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If House leaders really oppose special interests they’ll support the Lake Okeechobee plan the Senate Appropriations Committee approved Wednesday, chairman Jack Latvala said following the vote. “When you hear their stated objections that they’ve made publicly, it’s always had to do with losing jobs or the amount of bonding involved,” Latvala told reporters. “We’ve pretty much removed those stated objections. Now it’s just going to have to come down to whether they’re going to follow the will of the special…

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Joe Negron’s Lake Okeechobee plan clears Senate Appropriations Committee

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Senate President Joe Negron’s ambitious water-quality plan survived a more-than-two-hour hearing before the Appropriations Committee Wednesday, clearing the panel against only two dissents. The $1.5 billion bill would begin planning to build reservoirs and water treatment facilities south of Lake Okeechobee in hopes of avoiding repeats of June’s disastrous algae bloom in South Florida waterways. The “No” votes came from Sens. Jeff Brandes and Denise Grimsley. “I am very grateful for the input from my colleagues, constituents and fellow citizens across…

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Joe Negron’s Lake Okeechobee plan undergoing another revision

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The reservoir system that Senate President Joe Negron hopes to build south of Lake Okeechobee is about to get smaller but deeper. Negron announced plans Tuesday to possibly scale back the project’s acreage while still storing between 100 billion and 120 billion gallons of water by increasing the reservoirs’ depth to 14 feet. “An amendment has been filed to sort of address where we are,” Negron told reporters. SB 10, sponsored by Sen. Rob Bradley, will be heard Wednesday at…

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Joe Negron adds to committees’ strength during Dorothy Hukill’s recovery

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While Sen. Dorothy Hukill recovers from cervical cancer, Senate President Joe Negron has named additional members to committees on which she serves. In a memo dated Tuesday, Negron said Sen. Anitere Flores will help out in the Education Committee, which Hukill leads. “Sen. Hukill will remain the chair of the Committee on Education,” Negron aide Katie Betta said. “Under the Senate rules, the chair designates a senator on the committee to serve in her absence on a week by week basis.” Appropriations chairman Jack Latvala takes a seat on the budget Subcommittee on the Environment and Natural Resources.…

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Negron’s Lake Okeechobee plan absorbs additional water resources projects

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Senate President Joe Negron‘s plan to build reservoirs south of Lake Okeechobee got bigger Wednesday, when a budget subcommittee voted to raise the price tag from $1.2 billion to more than $3 billion and fold in water resources projects around the state. SB 10, as amended by the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Environment and Natural Resources, would also extend preferences for jobs building the reservoirs to agricultural workers displaced by taking the land out of farming. The panel passed the…

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Pam Bondi still a rock star with Florida’s GOP voters, new AIF poll shows

in 2017 by

Florida’s top lawmakers and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam are struggling with low name identification among likely Republican voters, but that isn’t the case for Attorney General Pam Bondi according to a new poll from statewide business advocate Associated Industries of Florida. The AIF poll of likely Republican voters obtained by FloridaPolitics.com found that 54 percent approve of the job the second-term Attorney General is doing, while just 12 percent have an unfavorable view and 17 percent said they had no opinion.…

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