MARATHON, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis announced additional money for artificial reef recovery and an extra day for the mini-season for spiny lobsters exclusively for Florida residents.
At a press conference Wednesday morning in the Florida Keys, DeSantis touted last year's investment of $47 million for coral reef restoration and coastal protection before saying an additional $5 million will go toward restoration this year.
He also talked about his environmental spending over the years and how he has invested more money for restoration than the federal government.
"And they’re spending money on everything,” he said. “They spend billions of dollars to create three charging stations for electric vehicles. So we’re actually doing things that impact the state of Florida I think in a very, very big way."
He also announced that July 14 will be an additional day for the lobster mini-season but only for Florida residents. The annual season is set to start on Aug. 6 and runs through March 31, 2024, but has a two-day recreational mini-season on July 26 and 27.
The additional day will give Floridians the chance to get out on the water and make memories with their families, he said.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Executive Director Roger Young said most people who live in the Keys are usually working during the mini-season because there are a lot of visitors.
"This is just an excellent opportunity for Florida residents and for locals here in the Florida Keys to enjoy their time with our resources and to have memories with their families and their kids," he said at the conference.
The governor's press conference comes a day after he signed four bills into law. One notable one he signed was Senate Bill 1582. The bipartisan piece of legislation creates a grant program to advance research and cures for rare pediatric diseases. It also standardizes requirements for some prenatal and postnatal screenings and screenings for newborns, infants and toddlers.
Another notable aspect of this bill is that it gives more time to certain people to fix errors or omissions on their medical marijuana licensure applications. Specifically, these applicants must have ties to the Pigford v Glickman litigation. That lawsuit led to a statutory requirement that licenses must be awarded to Black farmers because the majority of the first dispensaries in Florida were not minority-owned.
The new law gives Black farmers who applied for licenses under a 2023 law another 90 days for the applications they submitted.
