TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Senate handed a number of payments on the ground Wednesday, together with the Division of Agriculture and Shopper Providers “Farm invoice.”
Function: SB 700 makes a wide selection of modifications to Florida legal guidelines associated to the Division of Agriculture and Shopper Providers, and is aimed toward supporting the state’s agriculture sector, together with farmers, ranchers and growers.
The invoice sponsor, Sen. Keith Truenow, stated the invoice will present “very technical updates to the statute which is able to assist the division modernize and enhance their features they’ve been tasked with.”
- The same invoice, HB 651, is being carried by Reps. Kaylee Tuck and Danny Alvarez within the Home.
What it does: The invoice will prohibit the addition of non-water high quality components, corresponding to fluoride, to the general public water provide.
- The invoice additionally defend farmers and ranchers from monetary discrimination based mostly on environmental, social and governance scores.
- It provides a brand new crime of harassing any Floridians with drones.
- The laws requires reality in labeling for meat, milk, poultry and eggs, whereas additionally defending shoppers from elevated labeling costs.
Supporting Florida’s academic future: The laws will defend 4-H and FFA applications in native colleges by making certain that agricultural amenities may be maintained on college property, stopping native governments from utilizing zoning legal guidelines to restrict these applications.
Throughout debate, some Democrats, corresponding to Sen. Barbara Sharief, expressed opposition to the invoice because of the measure that may ban fluoride from the water methods.
- “This isn’t a debate about liberty – it’s a debate about accountability. If vaccine refusal taught us something, it’s that when public well being turns into optionally available, public disaster turns into inevitable,” she stated.
Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson beforehand expressed assist for the farm invoice.
- “This laws is a powerful step ahead to defend Florida’s agricultural business and the hardworking farmers, ranchers, and growers who gasoline our economic system,” Simpson beforehand stated. “By standing as much as overreach and making certain our agricultural neighborhood thrives, we’re preserving our state’s heritage and safeguarding its future.”
Subsequent steps: The invoice handed 27-9. The Home should now move the invoice earlier than it could go to the governor’s desk.
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