Monday, March 7, 2016

Public Lands: Mobilize to fight SB 1290

Call your Senator to stop SB 1290

From: Frank Jackalone:

Sierra Club lobbyist Dave Cullen reports that the ​state lands bill, SB 1290, which threatens ​Florida's public lands, especially ​our state parks, passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday.  Its companion bill, HB 1075, also passed last week on the floor of the House of Representatives.  

Our last chance to defeat or improve SB 1290 is on the Senate floor this week.  

Sierra Club Florida will take two actions to mobilize grassroots in opposition to the bill.  First, we will distribute an alert on Sunday to all Sierra Club members in Florida asking them to call their state senators. 

Second, we will involve as many volunteers as possible in a virtual phone bank to generate calls from our members to their senators all day Monday, 9:00 am to 6 pm.  

Anyone can join our virtual phone bank from the comfort of your home, office, park -- just about anywhere!  We use a system that allows you to make calls from any location if you have a computer with an online connection and a phone.   It's the same technology we used to help beat the fracking bill last week, involving 19 volunteers who reached more than 1,000 of our members and got 200 calls transferred directly to their senators. 

Can you give us an hour or more to make calls?  All you need is a phone line and a connected computer.  We'll provide the names and phone numbers of our members and show you how to connect automatically to a live person and connect that person directly to their Senator's office.

If you are interested and available, please reply directly tophil.compton@sierraclub.org and he'll get you scheduled to participate in the phone bank.

Thanks for your help!

- Frank

photo
Frank Jackalone
Senior Organizing Manager
1990 Central Avenue
St. Petersburg, FL 33712
Office: 727-824-8813, x302;  Cell: 727-804-1317


Here is the text of the alert we are sending to all Sierra Club Florida Members tomorrow:


Cattle grazing in state parks? Call your Senator to stop it.

Dear friend,

We urgently need you to call your state Senator. A bill is headed to the Senate floor that would remove key environmental protections for Florida State Parks and threaten the use and enjoyment for all Floridians. 
SB 1290 passed out of its last committee last Thursday and ​will  be brought to the floor of the Senate​this week.
  

Please call your Senator and urge him or her to vote ‘No’ unless SB 1290 is amended to:

•      Exclude our state parks and preserves from the land exchange provision.  These important lands must not be given up to private use in exchange for conservation easements that could well eliminate public access

Require land management plans to remain consistent with the purposes for which they were acquired.  DEP’s goal of requiring land management plans to be compatible with conservation or recreation purposes or both potentially opens our parks and other conservation lands to inappropriate uses like hunting, logging, grazing, and off road vehicles. ‘Conservation’ and ‘recreation’ are broad categories and the purposes the lands were acquired for may be much narrower.  The bill’s language grants DEP too much discretion. 
This is the last real chance to impact this bill.  The House and Senate versions are the same and could be sent to the Governor next week.  Please call your Senator nowtell them where you live and that you vote.

Call your Senator now:


Sen. Joseph Abruzzo
Consists of part of Palm Beach county
Sen. Thad Altman
Consists of parts of Brevard, Indian River counties
Sen. Aaron  Bean
Consists of Nassau county and part of Duval county
Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto
Consists of parts of Charlotte, Lee counties
Sen. Rob Bradley
Consists of Alachua, Bradford, Clay counties
Sen. Jeff Brandes
Consists of parts of Hillsborough, Pinellas counties
Sen. Oscar Braynon
Consists of parts of Broward, Miami-Dade counties
Sen. Dwight Bullard
Consists of Hendry, Monroe counties and parts of Collier, Miami-Dade counties
Sen. Jeff Clemens
Consists of part of Palm Beach county
Sen. Charles Dean
Consists of Baker, Citrus, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Lafayette, Levy, Suwannee, Union counties and part of Marion county
Sen. Nancy Detert
Consists of Sarasota county and part of Charlotte county
Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla
Consists of part of Miami-Dade county
Sen. Greg Evers
Consists of Escambia, Santa Rosa counties and part of Okaloosa county
Sen. Anitere Flores
Consists of part of Miami-Dade county
Sen. Don Gaetz
Consists of Bay, Holmes, Jackson, Walton, Washington counties and part of Okaloosa county
Sen. Bill Galvano
Consists of DeSoto, Glades, Hardee counties and parts of Charlotte, Highlands, Hillsborough, Manatee counties
Sen. Rene Garcia
Consists of part of Miami-Dade county
Sen. Andy  Gardiner
Consists of parts of Brevard, Orange counties
Sen. Audrey Gibson
Consists of part of Duval county
Sen. Denise Grimsley
Consists of Okeechobee county and parts of Highlands, Martin, Osceola, Polk, St. Lucie counties
Sen. Alan Hays
Consists of parts of Lake, Marion, Orange, Sumter counties
Sen. Dorothy Hukill
Consists of parts of Lake, Marion, Volusia counties
Sen. Travis Hutson
Consists of Flagler, Putnam, St. Johns counties and part of Volusia county
Sen. Arthenia Joyner
Consists of parts of Hillsborough, Manatee, Pinellas counties
Sen. Jack Latvala
Consists of part of Pinellas county
Sen. Tom Lee
Consists of part of Hillsborough county
Sen. John Legg
Consists of parts of Hillsborough, Pasco counties
Sen. Gwen Margolis
Consists of part of Miami-Dade county
Sen. Bill Montford
Consists of Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Hamilton, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Taylor, Wakulla counties
Sen. Joe Negron
Consists of parts of Indian River, Martin, Palm Beach, St. Lucie counties
Sen. Garrett Richter
Consists of parts of Collier, Lee counties
Sen. Jeremy Ring
Consists of part of Broward county
Sen. Maria Sachs
Consists of parts of Broward, Palm Beach counties
Sen. David Simmons
Consists of Seminole county and part of Volusia county
Sen. Wilton Simpson
Consists of Hernando county and parts of Pasco, Sumter counties
Sen. Christopher Smith
Consists of part of Broward county
Sen. Eleanor Sobel
Consists of part of Broward county
Sen. Darren Soto
Consists of parts of Orange, Osceola, Polk counties
Sen. Kelli Stargel
Consists of parts of Orange, Osceola, Polk counties
Sen. Geraldine Thompson
Consists of part of Orange county

Thank you for taking action and for all you do for Florida's environment!
Dave Cullen
Lobbyist
Sierra Club Florida 


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