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DeSantis signs bill that directs gambling revenues to fund environmental projects • Florida Phoenix [1]

['Mitch Perry', 'More From Author', '- April']

Date: 2024-04-04  

Gov. Ron DeSantis was in Broward County on Thursday, where he signed legislation that will allocate hundreds of millions of dollars from the state’s gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida for land acquisition, preserving wildlife and protecting waterways.

“The compact is in place, and we’re getting revenue share, and that’s good,” DeSantis said at a news conference held at the headquarters of the South Florida Water Management District. “So what are we going to do with that? We are going to dedicate the bulk of the revenue to these restoration programs. So we are looking at about $750 million a year to the state just from the Seminole Tribe gaming compact. That’s a lot of resources.”

The measure (SB 1638) was passed unanimously in both chambers of the Legislature this year and was a priority of Senate President Kathleen Passidomo. It calls for 96% of the revenues from the 2021 gaming compact between the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the State of Florida to go to a number of environmental projects in 2024-2025, including:

$150 million to the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) for operations and maintenance.

$100 million for the management of uplands and the removal of invasive species.

$100 million for land acquisitions to support the wildlife corridor.

$100 million to the DEP to the Resilient Florida Trust Fund.

$79 million for the Water Quality Improvement Grant Program.

The 2021 Gaming Compact established that the Seminole Tribe is required to make a guaranteed minimum payment for the first five years of the agreement, to total $2.5 billion.

“A lot of people have asked the Tribe – myself included – how was that money going to be spent with the gaming compact?” Seminole Tribe of Florida Chairman Marcellus W. Osceola, Jr. said at the news conference in Broward.

“Tell the state ‘they need to do this, they need to do that.’ I think that the state and the Tribe have worked together because we’re not going anywhere. The Tribe is always going to be part of the state. This is our home. This is where we grew up. This is where we’ll be buried. And the state is always going to be here. Myself and the governor may not be in these elected positions, but the Tribe and the state will always be a great partner and be the only partners that each other should have. Going forward to protect all of the natural resources.”

Speaking to reporters after he signed the legislation, the governor praised his own work on the environment since being elected in 2019.

The governor used the phrase “so-called climate change” in his remarks on Thursday. He also referenced “Democrats,” though he didn’t specify whether he meant those in Florida or in Washington, D.C.

He continued: “They’ve gone down the direction of saying everything is tied to so-called climate change to where they want you out of your car, they don’t want normal gas vehicles anymore,” he said. “They want to impose a lot of burdens on people that I don’t think – do you want to pay more for things right now? With everything that’s happening? That’s ultimately a very expensive agenda, where some people are going to make a lot of money off this. But working people are going to get hammered on that.”

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[1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/04/04/desantis-signs-bill-that-directs-gambling-revenues-to-fund-environmental-projects/

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