TALLAHASSEE — One of the Legislature’s main reasons to hold a special session was to provide additional relief for victims of Hurricane Idalia, which damaged or destroyed about 3.3 million acres of row crops, pastures and trees in the Big Bend region.
The $416 million bill that emerged contains a hodgepodge of tax breaks, refunds, reimbursements, grants and loans for the agriculture, timber and shellfishing industries in a mostly rural, sparsely populated 17-county stretch of North Florida.
“This makes a huge difference in fiscally constrained counties that can’t tax their way or fund their way out of things that come in the normal course of a year,” said bill sponsor Rep. Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe.
But Democrats and environmentalists raised concerns about part of the bill that extends a ban on county and city governments from adopting moratoriums or restrictions on development for two years.
“This is a great bill,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, but she added the ban ties the hands of city and county officials trying to prevent building in areas vulnerable to flooding and wind damage from hurricanes.
Shoaf and Senate sponsor Corey Simon, R-Quincy, said the ban allows people to rebuild and get back to normal life faster without government interference.
Orange County officials supported the legislation because it reversed the original ban on restrictive development and zoning rules approved by the Legislature in regular session last spring. It pre-empted a much larger number of counties and cities located within 100 miles of landfall of hurricanes Ian and Hurricane Nicole in 2022 from proposing changes to their comprehensive plan or land development regulations before Oct. 1, 2024.
The new ban is limited to 10 southwest Florida counties affected only by Ian: Charlotte, Collier, Desoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Lee, Manatee, and Sarasota counties.
The law could put residents of those counties in danger, environmentalists said.
“This one section helps developers in Southwest Florida,” said David Cullen of the Sierra Club. “Given recent events and rapid increase in hurricanes, I would be inclined to let counties and municipalities adopt stricter development rules. People died.”
Paul Owens of 1000 Friends of Florida said his organization also supports robust local planning. While he recognized the need for relief, he opposed the extension of the ban as “short-sighted.”
The state will suffer more frequent hurricanes with higher intensities, and local governments need to be able to pass measures to prevent development in the most vulnerable areas, he said.
Hurricane Idalia made landfall near Keaton Beach on Aug. 30 as a Category 3 hurricane with 125-mph winds and a 7- to 12-foot storm surge along 33 miles of coastline.
It caused an estimated $9.6 billion in insured losses as it tore through several counties before crossing into Georgia.
Agricultural losses in Florida from Hurricane Idalia will likely be between $78.8 million and $370.9 million, according to the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
Initial estimates put clamming industry losses at $34 million but business owners said it’s fast approaching $50 million.
The Legislature had already approved $1.4 billion in this year’s budget for hurricane preparation and recovery efforts. The Legislature added $416 million to those efforts in the special session.
The biggest piece of the new money – $181 million – targets measures to harden homes against future hurricanes is designed to clear a waiting list of 17,000 applicants for the My Safe Florida Home program. Applicants can get up to $10,000 for door, window and roofing upgrades.
As of October, the state had already approved $209 million for nearly 21,000 homeowners, with only about 12.9% of that disbursed, according to a Senate staff analysis of the bill.
The agricultural assistance approved comes out to $162.5 million for farms, timber growers and shellfishing operations.
About $75 million will create the Agriculture and Aquaculture Producers Natural Disaster Recovery Loan Program to provide long-term interest-free loans of up to $500,000 to repair or replace essential physical property and remove debris.
Another $37.5 million in grants of up to $250,000 will pay for up to 75% of the cost of site preparation and tree replanting. The bill also allocates $30 million to meet FEMA’s local match requirements for public assistance. And it provides $25 million in housing recovery loans to eligible counties.
Fifth-generation farmer Rob Land of Lafayette County said it would cost him a minimum of $200,000 to get back what he lost in the hurricane, including a $125,000 feed barn.
“It destroyed our cotton crops,” Land said. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
Timothy Solano, a board member of the Cedar Key Aquaculture Association, said the two weeks his clamming operation was out of commission cost his company $2 million, which will make it tough to fill his orders to suppliers.
The industry is on track to lose $50 million, he said, and federal funds won’t be available until March.
“This legislation is a good effort to provide the relief that we need,” Solano said.
