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Legislative/Regulatory News

June 13, 2011

The Florida Coordinating Council on Mosquito Control will be meeting on June 14th, 2011 at 10:00 AM.

More information, including teleconfernce information can be found here...

May 20, 2011

Mosquito Control State Aid Funding 2011

Hope this finds everyone well under way toward NPDES compliance! The good news is that the years of hard work by those who attend FMCA Tallahassee Legislative Days and AMCA Washington DC Legislative Days and who have cultivated relationships with the legislators over the years has paid off by us not seeing a total elimination of funding. The bad news is that the funding cuts that were made are going to be severe for most. Below please find a message from FMCA President Roxanne Connelly regarding what steps were taken to secure full funding for the state aid programs.

Kellie Etherson, FMCA Executive Director

Email: ExecutiveDirector@FloridaMosquito.org

TO: FMCA Membership

FROM: Roxanne Connelly

RE: Mosquito Control State Aid Funding 2011

As a follow-up to the disappointing news that we received from the FDACS Mosquito Control Section of the Bureau of Entomology and Pest Control last week, I would like to provide you with additional information.

There was language in the budget conference documents distributed to mosquito control directors prior to the conference call on Friday, May 13, 2011, that includes the stipulation that from the mosquito control state aid $250,000 is to be used for IFAS/FMEL to conduct mosquito research. The same language has appeared in the budget from previous years, however, has never been adhered to. The FMCA was not involved in the writing of the language, never suggested such wording, and would never suggest such. It is unknown where the specific language originated.

The following is a summary provided by Chris Lyon on the series of events that occurred that led to the budget cut for mosquito control:

During the 2010 Session, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) transferred only $1.29 million from the Solid Waste Management Trust Fund to DACS General Inspection Trust Fund for mosquito control. Despite the smaller transfer, the Legislature still appropriated $2.16 million from the DACS General Inspection Trust fund to the Florida Mosquito Control Program.
During the 2011 Session, the House passed its recommended budget with a DEP transfer of $1.29 million and mosquito control funding of $1.29 million. The Senate passed its recommended budget with a DEP transfer of $1.29 million and mosquito control funding of $2.077 million. The Senate arrived at this number by reducing research funding by $50,000 and eliminating DACS 5% administrative overhead expense of $108,000.
On April 27, the House and Senate begin budget conference meetings to resolve the differences in their budget. In the first meeting of the conference meetings on Agriculture and Natural Resources issues, the Senate presented Offer #1. Because both the House and Senate had agreed on the DEP transfer of $1.29 million there was no reference of it in the offer. The only mention of mosquito control funding is to Eliminate Mosquito Control Overhead and to Reduce Mosquito Control Research. In Senate Offer #1, the Senate proposes not to eliminate the DACS overhead but still proposes to reduce research by $50,000.
On April 28, the Senate presents its Offer #2 where the Senate agrees with the House on not to reduce research funding. At this point, it appears from the public documents that there will be no reduction in mosquito control funding. I confer with a legislator on the budget conference committee who was watching the issue for us and he agreed that we were fully funded.
On May 2, Lori and I bump into Commissioner Putnam and his legislative staff who tell us “good job” getting mosquito control fully funded. We thank him for his assistance.
On May 3, the full budget is published. I review the budget and notice that mosquito control funding was reduced to $1.29 million.

In summary, we knew all along that DEP was only proposing to transfer $1.29 million, just like last year. Despite that, we continued to push for full funding just like last year. We had enlisted legislators to watch over the issue in budget conference. I attended every budget conference meeting in the Agriculture and Natural Resources area. Other than Eliminating DACS overhead and Reducing Research funding, there was never a mention of a reduction, orally or in writing. The Senate and House agreed not to take the reductions proposed and from all indications, we had been successful getting it fully funded. This was corroborated by conversations with legislators and DACS. It was not until the full budget was published that the reduction appeared. We investigated how the reduction happened and at least one Senate staffer said it was a mistake. However, recall that from early in the Session Chair Trudi Williams told us that we were likely to see a cut so it may have been intentional. We made efforts to have language included in either conforming or implementing bills that would have allowed for DACS to seek a budget amendment during the year to provide additional funding but we were not successful.
The reduction came out of the budget conference meetings and was rolled into the full budget without any public mention, whether orally or in writing. Now, that’s not to say that had we known we could have made a difference but we would have at least been able to put legislators on notice that the cut was occurring and perhaps stopped it. As it was, we never got that opportunity.
Despite what we were told, the budget cut had nothing to do with the Waste Tire Trust Fund balance. What it really has to do with is for the past few years, DACS has proposed to cut us to $1.29 million. DEP picked up on that proposed cut and made a similar reduction to the Trust Fund transfer. This year, a new Commissioner of Agriculture took office after the budget proposals were published. He put the money back in for mosquito control but DEP never did the same.

In summary, based on the starting Waste Tire Trust Fund balance of $23 million, that’s a transfer of 5.6% or about half what Chapter 403 dictates.

Roxanne Connelly, FMCA President

President@FloridaMosquito.org

May 15, 2011

Legislative Update

Below is an update from FMCA President Roxanne Connelly regarding the just ended Florida legislative session. Attached is a legislative summary from Legislative Committee Co-Chair Dennis Moore. Needless to say, it was an interesting legislative session with some things preserved and other things drastically changed. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Roxanne, Dennis, or Doug.

Kellie Etherson, FMCA Executive Director

Email: ExecutiveDirector@FloridaMosquito.org

The FMCA Legislative Commitee Report from April 2011 is attached here for the FMCA membership to see a summary of priorities and activities at the 2011 Tallahassee Days event.

The message below provides an update of what has occurred in the last couple of weeks:

With the State facing a budget deficit of nearly $4 billion, the Legislature reduced mosquito control funding from $2.16 million to $1.29 million. The reduction was made in budget negotiations between the House and Senate committees that deal with Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services funding. The reduction was not discussed in public and was not apparent from the documents released to the public.

The budget did preserve research funding in the amount of $250,000.

As we understand it, there was no language to change the way the state aid funds are distributed according to current FL statutes, there are just less funds to be distributed.

The question was asked: Does the mandatory 3% employee FRS contribution also apply to special taxing districts? Response: If a district participates in FRS, the answer is yes.

FMCA will continue to provide updates as we get additional information.

Sincerely,

Roxanne Connelly, FMCA President

President@FloridaMosquito.org

FMCA Legislative Report April 2011 (PDF)

February 6, 2011

FMCA’s New Plan for State Aid Distribution

FMCA’s New Plan for State Aid Distribution (PDF)

FMCA Proposed State Aid Distribution (PDF)

June 3rd, 2010

Below is the link to the EPA’s website and comment area for the NPDES permitting. AMCA will have their comments on-line on June 25th. All comments are due to the EPA by July 19th. Please DO NOT WAIT for AMCA’s comments! Draft your comments and post them as soon as possible. Also, please follow AMCA’s guidelines below to submit your comments if you want to make sure that your comments are read and posted. If you have any questions please contact Doug Carlson or Dennis Moore. The EPA will hold a webcast on June 17th from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm to provide information on the draft permit.

EPA has at last posted its proposed NPDES Federal Register Notice, Fact Sheet, and Draft Pesticide General Permit at the EPA website at http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/home.cfm?program_id=410. The formal publication via the Federal Register is slated on 4 June 2010. The FR Notice provides an overview of the permit contents, accompanying documents and means by which the public can submit comments to the Agency. Be advised that the Fact Sheet provides an extensive rationale for the permit contents and should be thoroughly reviewed before posting any comments. Comments should be submitted via the Government portal at Regulations.gov (Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-OW-2010-0257). Comments are due 19 July, 2010. AMCA is currently drafting comments and will make them available for member viewing on the AMCA website on 25 June, 2010. In the meantime, please review the requisite documents and draft your comments. Do not wait and merely copy AMCA comments. The EPA needs and wants to hear from individual mosquito control programs in their own words.

Please pay particular attention to pp 32-40 of the proposed Federal Register Notice. EPA is specifically seeking public comment on the issues raised in these pages. These represent problems that the Agency has acknowledged and that they are most likely to amend based upon comment input. Page 28 of the FR Notice also mentions that the EPA is requesting comment on appropriate measures to protect endangered and threatened species, including the possible measures discussed in the draft Permit Fact Sheet.

June 1st, 2010

Below is a legislative summary from FMCA’s Legislative Committee Co-Chairs Dennis Moore & Doug Carlson:

To FMCA members:

If you are not already aware, we have some very good news to share. On May 28th Governor Crist signed the General Appropriations Bill establishing the budget for the next fiscal year and vetoed over $371 million in projects. The funding for the Florida mosquito control programs ($2.16 M) survived. We thank those that took the time, energy and resources to help us succeed in these efforts. Congratulations!

We are currently working on issues related to NPDES, the PHEREC lab, etc, and we’ll keep you updated on any significant changes that affect mosquito control. Your Government Sustaining Dues are hard at work.