Everglades wastewater – Florida Senate and House drew closer on wastewater grants and parts of Everglades restoration in budget conference talks, while flooding and sea-level-rise funding stalled.
A late-evening push in Florida’s budget conference narrowed the distance between the House and Senate on wastewater grants and several Everglades restoration components, even as talks ran into stubborn gaps on flooding and sea-level-rise spending.
By Thursday evening, negotiators aligned on wastewater grants at $350 million. The House agreed to raise its earlier offer of $175.3 million to that level, more than doubling its initial position, while the Senate trimmed its wastewater set-aside slightly from $360 million.
They also found common ground on key Everglades-related line items.. Both chambers agreed to $25.7 million combined for North and South funding for the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP). to $20 million for the Western Everglades Restoration Project. and to $77.6 million for Deepwater Horizon restoration.
Progress continued on the EAA Reservoir component of the CEPP, one of the efforts tied to the broader Everglades program.. The House moved from $0 to $249.3 million, while the Senate held its proposal at $424.7 million.. The differing figures signal that lawmakers have not fully settled the structure of the reservoir funding. even as they converge on other pieces.
Still, neither chamber shifted from its spending positions on flooding and sea-level-rise. The House remains at $160 million, while the Senate continues to hold to a proposal of $50 million.
The Ocklawaha River Restoration also remains unresolved. The Senate eased its offer slightly, moving from $69.6 million to $65.5 million, while the House continues to offer nothing.
Asked whether negotiators were targeting a single dollar figure they hoped to land on for all Everglades-related funding, Sen.. Jason Brodeur, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government, said there was no specific number.. “We keep getting a lot closer. so that’s better. ” Brodeur told reporters after meetings broke for the night. adding that if lawmakers kept trading proposals. they would eventually find a close landing point.
Rep. John Snyder, chair of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee, appeared to agree, offering a subtle nod when Brodeur spoke.
In broader budget arithmetic, spending for the Department of Environmental Protection is close to even between the chambers. The House is at $2.5 billion and the Senate at $2.49 billion.
The Thursday evening agreement marked a continuation of earlier adjustments made when Senate negotiators initially reshaped the chamber’s environmental and infrastructure priorities in the budget conference.. In the Senate’s opening offer to the House. negotiators shifted hundreds of millions of dollars among wastewater projects. Everglades restoration efforts and other water programs while keeping overall environmental spending largely intact.
That opening proposal raised statewide wastewater grants by $235 million above the Senate’s original plan, lifting total wastewater funding from $125 million to $360 million. The House was offering $175.3 million at the time.
Senate negotiators also removed a separate $154.2 million water projects line item that had appeared in the Senate’s initial budget plan, aligning that part of the configuration with the House proposal.
The changes came during a budget Special Session expected to run 18 days through May 29, after lawmakers failed to pass Florida’s required annual state spending plan during the regular Session that ended March 13.
Among the earlier Everglades-related shifts. the Senate increased proposed funding for Ocklawaha River restoration from $15 million in its original budget to nearly $69.6 million in the conference offer.. It also boosted CEPP’s EAA Reservoir component from about $365 million to nearly $424.7 million. while the House offered $0 on that line item at the time.
The Senate’s earlier approach also reduced funding sharply for CEPP North. cutting 2026-27 funding for that northern component from roughly $70.4 million to about $10.7 million.. Funding for the Western Everglades Restoration Project that broke ground in July 2024 was also lowered. dropping from about $58.6 million in the Senate’s original budget to $20 million in the latest offer.
At the same time, Senate negotiators restored full funding for projects connected to BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, raising that set-aside from roughly $19.4 million to $77.6 million.
For flood and sea-level-rise, the Senate earlier cut the category in half, reducing it from $100 million to $50 million, while the House held steady at $160 million.
By the time negotiators stepped away from the table earlier in the week. the Senate’s reallocations increased its proposed Department of Environmental Protection budget from roughly $2.3 billion to $2.46 billion.. The House had not moved from its comparatively lower $1.73 billion offer at that point. even as the chambers later converged on specific wastewater and Everglades-related lines.
Florida budget conference Everglades restoration wastewater grants flooding funding sea-level-rise Department of Environmental Protection
so they spent all night arguing about numbers and still couldnt figure it out lol typical florida
wait so the house was at zero dollars for the reservoir and now theyre at 249 million?? where is that money even coming from i feel like nobody ever explains that part and we just get these big numbers thrown at us like its nothing
this is exactly what i was saying to my neighbor last week, they keep throwing money at the everglades and it never actually gets fixed because half the money probably goes to contractors and consultants anyway and not the actual water or whatever the problem is. my cousin works in construction down near naples and he said the same thing happens every time the state gets involved, its just a big cycle of meetings and money and nothing changes on the ground. i dont know why people act surprised when flooding still happens after all these so called restoration projects.
didnt they already fix the everglades like a few years ago i remember seeing something about it on the news