By SCCF Policy Associate Holly Schwartz

Florida’s 2024 legislative session came to an end on March 8, with the official declaration of ‘Sine Die.’

During session, bills are crafted by our legislative bodies in Tallahassee. After each legislative session, bills that were successfully passed are sent to the governor for his signature or veto.

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Since several hundred bills are typically passed each session, the bills are not all sent to Gov. DeSantis at the same time. He has 15 days from the date a bill is presented to him in which he decides to sign or veto the bill. While the legislature has some time to determine when to send the bills, all bills must be sent to the governor by June 30 (before the new fiscal year starts on July 1).

In addition to the approximately $117 billion budget, 291 bills were passed in the 2024 legislative session. So far, only a handful of those bills have been presented to the governor, and we can expect that a steady stream of bills will flow to his office between now and the end of June. 

If you would like to monitor the list of bills that have been presented to date, visit the 2024 Bill Action Page.

The environment received a large amount of funding this session, from Everglades restoration to funds for replacing aging wastewater infrastructure. Ultimately, the state should strive to prevent water pollution from occurring at the source to alleviate the need for these required funding increases.

Although environmental advocates were successful in defeating several bad bills from making it to the finish line, SCCF will still send out veto action alerts for the harmful bills that did pass, specifically SB 1624/HB 1645 – Energy Resources, which rolled back Florida’s previously approved renewable and clean energy goals and grant programs. 

SCCF is still analyzing several bills and how they will impact the environment in our region, including SB 1532 – Mitigation, which allows local governments to establish mitigation banks on public lands.

While the governor has yet to decide on the majority of bills passed this year, SCCF’s Legislative Tracker lists the penultimate outcome of the environmental bills we followed this session. SCCF will also use the Tracker to post updates between now and the beginning of the July 1 fiscal year as the governor decides which bills and line-item budget projects will pass or fail.  

We are grateful for your involvement and action taken this year as we were successful in stopping some of the worst environmental legislation this session. We look forward to collaborating with you on more legislative success in 2025.

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