Worsening water pollution. Conservation deals shrouded in secrecy. A historic Florida river in need of restoration.
These are just a fraction of the myriad environmental issues that Florida lawmakers will try to tackle over the next two months as the 2026 legislative session kicks off this week in Tallahassee.
Some lawmakers want to ban local governments from regulating pollution. Others want tighter restrictions around AI data centers. One wants to change who can sit on Florida’s top wildlife board.
Here are some of the proposals the Tampa Bay Times’ Environment Hub will be watching this year that could alter the future of Florida’s land, water and wildlife.
Clarity for conservation lands
State Rep. Kim Kendall, a Republican from St. Augustine, wants to increase transparency around state conservation land decisions.
Her bill, filed in November, would require a month’s notice when the state considers selling or trading conservation land. It would also require officials to explain why the land is no longer needed for conservation.
Kendall’s House Bill 441 would mandate that at least 30 days before the governor and the Cabinet meet to review a land sale, state environmental regulators must publish the specific parcel details and their reasoning for the proposal on their website.
The bill comes in response to a now-abandoned plan last summer to trade away 600 acres of the Guana River Wildlife Management Area, a beloved St. Johns County wilderness preserve in Kendall’s district. The rushed secrecy of the proposal “highlighted gaps in our laws,” she said. A bipartisan slate of lawmakers have joined on as co-sponsors.
Solving water pollution problems
Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith’s bill would task the Department of Environmental Protection with starting a septic tank inspection program.
Senate Bill 1386 would also call for increased monitoring to make sure Florida’s pollution control projects are working. The senator said he would consider legislation to improve the state’s oversight of water quality after reading a Times investigation, Wasting Away, last year.
He rooted his proposal in recommendations from the Blue-Green Algae Task Force, which Gov. Ron DeSantis convened shortly after taking office.
Protecting endangered marine wildlife
This bipartisan bill aims to ban the state-approved capture and transport of endangered or threatened marine species from Florida waters for aquariums and other educational exhibitions.
Known as the Marine and Aquatic Native Threatened Animal (MANTA) Protection Act, the measure outlines what lawmakers say are long overdue reforms to the state’s Special Activity Licenses program that issues permits for aquarium suppliers to capture endangered marine life, like sharks and rays, for international aquariums including SeaWorld.
The proposals, Senate Bill 988 and House Bill 1171, come after a viral video last summer showed men offshore Panama City capturing a giant manta ray, a federally threatened species, and hoisting the animal onto their boat. The footage shed light on the little-known yet long-standing capture program. State Sen. Ileana Garcia, R-Miami, and Rep. Lindsay Cross, D-St. Petersburg, have both filed measures to ban the practice.
Data centers
House Bill 1007 would impose regulations for large data centers, the sprawling facilities with huge appetites for energy and water that power tech programs like artificial intelligence. Before one could be constructed, the project would need to be approved by both local and state officials during public meetings, plus meet other requirements. The bill also takes steps toward limiting potential increases to Floridians’ electric bills as the result of these facilities.
READ MORE: DeSantis, Trump weigh impact of AI data centers as outrage builds in Palm Beach County
DeSantis has said that regulating data centers is a priority, though the industry has already come out in opposition.
Farm bill
This year’s Florida Farm Bill, the sweeping priority legislation for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, would allow Florida’s environmental regulatory agencies to determine whether state-owned conservation land acquired after Jan. 1, 2024, could be used for agricultural purposes.
Senate Bill 290, sponsored by Tavares Republican Sen. Keith Truenow, would also prohibit local governments from enforcing laws that ban gasoline-powered farm equipment.
Environmental advocacy group Friends of the Everglades wrote in its pre-session report that the bill would also “curtail the free-speech rights of Floridians who scrutinize and criticize Big Sugar” by expanding the state’s food libel law.
Who regulates water pollution?
A proposal from Rep. Randy Maggard, R-Zephyrhills, would ban counties and cities from adopting laws and regulations related to pollution control, water quality and wetlands.
Instead, the state would have control over those environmental regulations.
Environmental advocacy groups oppose House Bill 479, saying local governments are better suited to tackle pollution issues in their own backyard.
Sen. Stan McClain, R-Ocala, has introduced a similar measure on the Senate side.
Restoring the Ocklawaha
This proposal aims to bring long-awaited restoration efforts to the Ocklawaha River, a north-central Florida waterway that has seen declining water quality and habitat loss since the late 19th century.
Sponsored by Jacksonville Republican Rep. Wyman Duggan and Lake Mary Sen. Jason Brodeur, the measure requires Florida’s environmental agency to come up with a plan for restoring the river by July 2027.
House Bill 981 and Senate Bill 1066 would require a restoration plan to bolster resiliency and recreation benefits of the Ocklawaha and St. Johns Rivers, including Silver Springs. The deadline for the restoration project would be 2032.
The measure comes after DeSantis vetoed more than $6.2 million in funding to restore the Ocklawaha during last year’s legislative session. Now, a variety of nonprofit environmental advocacy groups are supporting this measure.
Electric bill affordability
Senate Bill 126 and House Bill 187 are this year’s versions of a previous proposal to reform the board that regulates Florida utilities and tamp down utility company profits. The 2025 bill was killed by fierce lobbying in opposition by utility companies including Florida Power & Light and Duke Energy.
Once again sponsored by Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Pensacola, this year’s bill would add two members to the board regulating utilities and require they have financial expertise. It would require electric companies to negotiate proposed rate hike deals “in good faith” with the legislatively appointed consumer advocate, and mandate that regulators consider how their decisions could impact Floridians’ ability to afford their bills. The proposal would also require utility companies to disclose how much money their executives make, to be included in detailed government reports.
Another proposal, sponsored by Smith, D-Orlando, also tackles energy affordability by making more dramatic changes. For instance, Senate Bill 1532 would prohibit Florida utilities from having a higher rate of shareholder profit than the national average “for comparable public utilities.” Late last year, regulators approved a rate hike for Florida Power & Light that allowed the company to earn the highest rate of shareholder profit in the lower 48 states, according to filings in the case.
Working with nature
A bill titled “Nature-based Coastal Resiliency” would promote natural solutions to hardening Florida’s coastline against sea-level rise caused by climate change and hurricanes.
Senate Bill 302, sponsored by Garcia, R-Miami, and House Bill 1035, sponsored by Rep. Jim Mooney, R-Key Largo, requires the Department of Environmental Protection to promote and create rules for permitting coastal resilience projects. Among the eligible projects are seagrass planting and beach dune, wetland and reef restoration.
Ping Wang, a University of South Florida coastal geologist, said the bill seems like a step in the right direction.
“The philosophy, the approach, has changed to that instead of really controlling nature, maybe there is a way we can live, cope with it to a certain extent,” he said. “I’m hoping that opens the door for nature-based solutions, for a more innovative approach.”
Reforming the wildlife board
Senate Bill 1364 would change who can sit on Florida’s top wildlife board.
Members of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, appointed by DeSantis, have come under intense scrutiny in recent years over their ties to the development industry.
Now, Sen. Smith wants Floridians to vote on whether to increase the board to nine appointed members and add new rules about who the governor can select to oversee the commission.
The proposal would require at least three commissioners to have a postgraduate degree in either conservation, biology or wildlife management and an occupation with “direct experience” in fish or wildlife conservation.
Last year, a separate effort to reform the wildlife board failed to gain traction.
Beach erosion
The “Beach Management” bill aims to revise the list of beaches prioritized for restoration and require local governments to create beach management plans that would make them eligible for state funding.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection designates a beach critically eroded when the shoreline is worn to “such a degree that upland development, recreational interests, wildlife habitat or important cultural resources are threatened or lost.”
The Senate bill, 636, is sponsored by Sen. Thomas Leek, R-St. Augustine. The house version, 1297, is sponsored by Rep. Sam Greco, R-St. Augustine.
More than 75% of Florida’s beaches are considered critically eroded, according to state data analyzed by the Times.
A fix for resilient planning?
Senate Bill 840 and House Bill 1465 aim to address a controversial law passed last year by undoing some areas of the legislation that have caused headaches for local governments.
During the 2025 session, legislators passed Senate Bill 180, sponsored by Sen. Nick DiCeglie, R-St. Petersburg, which sought to streamline hurricane recovery. The law bans cities and counties within 100 miles of the federal disaster declaration for the 2024 hurricanes from making zoning decisions that are “restrictive or burdensome” until October 2027, and retroactively from August 2024.
The broad language has halted resilient planning and, in some cases, undone plans.
“Unfortunately, we’ve seen across the state the paralyzation of the local governments just trying to execute and advance some changes,” DiCeglie said Tuesday during a Senate committee meeting.
This year’s legislation, also sponsored by DiCeglie, narrows the scope of building restrictions to only properties damaged by a storm, takes out most mentions of “restrictive and burdensome” and shrinks the scope from 100 miles to 50 miles for future storms, among other changes.
DiCeglie called the newest bill a “thoughtful fix” to Senate Bill 180.
“While this isn’t exactly the full repeal ... we were asking for, we’re pleased to see the bill filed in the Senate,” said Kimberleigh Dinkins, the policy & planning director of 1000 Friends of Florida.
Ag ‘enclaves’
House Bill 691 and Senate Bill 686 seek to change the definitions and expedite requirements to become an agricultural enclave, which under current Florida law is an undeveloped parcel owned by a one person used for farming at least five years prior, among other provisions.
Under the proposed legislation, property owners can bring parcels of land to local governments to be certified as an agricultural enclave. The local government has 30 days to certify the property. If it fails to do so within 90 days, the parcel is automatically certified.
If the application is approved, the owner can submit plans to develop single-family homes and receive the green light without public input.
Times investigative editor Zachary T. Sampson contributed to this report.
The Tampa Bay Times launched the Environment Hub in 2025 to focus on some of Florida’s most urgent and enduring challenges. You can contribute through our journalism fund by clicking here.
This story was originally published by The Tampa Bay Times and shared in partnership with the Florida Climate Reporting Network, a multi-newsroom initiative founded by the Miami Herald, the Sun-Sentinel, The Palm Beach Post, the Orlando Sentinel, WLRN Public Media and the Tampa Bay Times.
