Tallahassee-After governments in Sarasota and Lee counties moved quickly to adopt their own rules for fertilizer application, the Florida Legislature failed to approve a statewide change before the regular session ended last week. If the state measure had been approved, local governments would have been banned from making their own rules beginning May 1. The fertilizer industry had pushed for the passage of the bill, CS/CS/HB 1197, in order to make rules uniform on a statewide basis. The bill would have established a study commission to recommend the new rules. Many local governments feared statewide rules might not go far enough to protect their waterways. Gov. Charlie Christ has called a special session, to begin June 1, to deal with property taxes and auto insurance, but the fertilizer legislation will not be considered in that session.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain