A roundup of news items related to climate change and other environmental issues in Florida:
Florida lawmakers tee up hurricane and home improvement aid for the special session | News Service of Florida
Florida lawmakers next week will take up proposals that would boost assistance after Hurricane Idalia and provide money to ease a backlog of residents seeking to lower insurance premiums by improving their homes.
The proposals, released Thursday in advance of Monday’s start of a special legislative session, would provide about $416 million to various efforts tied to the hurricane and to the My Safe Florida Home Program.
Similar bills (SB 2C and HB 1-C) filed by Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, and Rep. Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe, include aiding farmers, ranchers and timber growers who sustained damage in Idalia, which made landfall Aug. 31 in Taylor County and tore through rural areas of the state’s Big Bend region and other parts of North Florida.
Florida’s excessive heat: Miami-Dade could be first in heat-related protections for outdoor workers | Florida Phoenix
South Florida’s Miami-Dade County could be the only local government in the nation to provide heat-related protections for outdoor workers in the construction and agriculture industries, though advocates claim the proposal has been watered down due to lobbying by business interests.
The proposal — a heat standard ordinance for outdoor workers in Miami-Dade County — is set for a final vote on Tuesday, at a time when at least two farmworkers died from excessive heat in South Florida earlier this year.
As originally proposed this summer, the ordinance would require construction and agriculture companies with five or more employees to guarantee workers access to water and give them 10-minute breaks in the shade every two hours on days when the heat index hits 90 degrees. It would also require employers to train workers to recognize the signs of heat illness, administer first aid and call for help in an emergency.
Planners, others worry more people will be in harm’s way with SWFL redevelopment after Ian | Fort Myers News-Press
Hurricane Ian literally reshaped Southwest Florida’s landscape, and it continues to do so as landowners and developers scramble for zoning changes on barrier islands like Captiva and Fort Myers Beach.
Newly designed and expanded developments are being proposed at several sites that were destroyed or heavily impacted by the Category 4 storm.
Some of the changes are simply height increases to satisfy federal requirements, but other property owners are asking for more residential or hotel units in a coastal high hazard zone.
If you have any news items of note that you think we should include in our next roundup, please email The Invading Sea Editor Nathan Crabbe at ncrabbe@fau.edu. Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here.
Nathan Crabbe we miss you in the Gainesville Community!!!