Tomorrow, the Judiciary Committee in the Florida Senate will hear SB 540, a bill designed to weaken what's left of citizen and municipal oversight over development decisions in Florida. This bill started out bad, further tilting the playing field to deep-pocketed developers and lobbyists by awarding attorney's fees to the prevailing party and intervenors when administrative challenges are defeated. These added costs potentially lock out citizens and community organizations who could face financial ruin should their challenge fail.

A recent amendment makes this bill even worse, and it looks like it's written on behalf of one powerful constituent. This amendment is curiously structured to take effect retroactively, on January 1st 2023. By rewriting history to change the timeline for approval of applications,  it would allow the South Dade Logistics and Technology District to move forward.

It's bad enough legislators want to make the challenging plan amendments more difficult and costly for everyday people, but turning back the clock to clean up the SDLTD's mess is just another example of how legislators change the rules for powerful special interests.

This bill and amendment will be heard around 12PM tomorrow, so send a letter right now!