Senate Bill 586 Cuts Local Housing Trust Fund by $112M/Year 

The previous year, voters from the Sunshine State has given Amendment 1 the legal approval it needed to provide a 20-year financial source for the preservation of eco-protected land areas and water quality improvement plan as was reported by the Florida Times Union's Jacksonville.com.

Michael Van Sickler of the Bradenton Herald also noted that The Act aims to generate about $300 to $500 million every year for the said environmental conservation and management projects.

But, with the recent legislative actions from the senate that would give way to the rechanneling of funds for the local housing and transportation into the projects mandated under Amendment 1, what was supposed to be a boon for the local residents of Florida, figures to be anything but.

The SB 586 bill, sponsored by Senator Charles Dean, was passed under the general government appropriations committee. According to a post by the Sunshine State News, the bill would effectively take a cut, amounting to about $100 million, each from transportation and housing funds coming from the real estate documentary stamp tax collection.

Florida Transportation Builders Association president, Bob Burleson, told Bradenton that this budget allocation change would take a significant amount of funding for the transportation's five-year work plan and would definitely have an adverse effect. "This bill sweeps over $100 million from the transportation work plan," Burleson was quoted saying. "It's a big deal.

Jaimie Ross, the head of the Florida Housing Coalition, echoed the sentiment of the transportation coalition. In his statement addressed to the panel of General Government Appropriations Subcommittee of the senate, he asserted that such unnecessary actions would take away the benefits of providing affordable housing projects for many families from the working class, the differently-abled individuals, and the veterans.

On that very same day the 586 Bill was approved, another bill from Bradenton Representative Jim Boyd, which is also related to the shift in stamp taxes revenue sharing, found its way to the House Agriculture and Natural Resources appropriations subcommittee. The HB 1291, on the other hand, does not intend to take away shares for housing and transportation purposes.

Bryan Cherry, speaking on behalf of the Florida Coalition for the Homeless, said that they like HB 1291 better than its senate counterpart because it doesn't compromise the housing fund for the needy.

In the meantime, Sen. Dean, who is also a Republican Inverness senator, stood by his approach and said that he doesn't know of any other option.