Lawmakers agree to finance land-buying program

By JIM SAUNDERS

Tallahassee Bureau Chief

Daytona Beach News-Journal

TALLAHASSEE -- In a victory for environmental groups, state legislative leaders agreed Thursday to funnel $300 million next year to the Florida Forever land-buying program.

The House, which earlier passed a budget proposal that did not include money for the program, went along with a Senate plan that calls for issuing $300 million in bonds.

"We are thrilled," said Janet Bowman, a lobbyist for The Nature Conservancy. "We are ecstatic."

The debate about Florida Forever came as lawmakers face massive tax shortfalls that will cause them to cut billions of dollars in spending for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

By issuing bonds -- borrowing money -- for Florida Forever, lawmakers do not have to come up with $300 million in tax dollars. Instead, they will spend about $25 million to help finance the debt.

Jay Liles, a lobbyist for the Florida Wildlife Federation, said environmental groups worried about the long-term implications if the program didn't receive money.

"It would have been a big blow to the program this (coming) year," Liles said. "But it would have set a precedent that would have been disastrous to the program."

The decision about Florida Forever came as House and Senate leaders began the formal process of negotiating the 2008-09 budget. While environmental groups were pleased, a key House lawmaker said cuts in health and human-services programs will be even deeper than he had expected.

"Nothing's pretty," Healthcare Chairman Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, told other House members during an early evening briefing.

In its earlier budget plan, House members approved cutting about $1.1 billion in state and federal money from health and human-services programs.

But Bean said they face cutting at least $83 million more during negotiations with the Senate. That total likely will grow, as the state also would lose some federal matching money that it receives for health programs.