A very busy legislative session is expected for Florida agricultural interests. One of the bills making its way through the process is SB 1002, the Citrus Recovery Act.
Senator Danny Burgess introduced the bill to amend the Florida Citrus Commission (FCC). The FCC is the governing body of the Florida Department of Citrus, Southeastagnet reported .
The Citrus Recovery Act would make the FCC larger and revise the geographic coverage that each commissioner represents.
Current Florida statute requires citrus districts to be reviewed every five years to determine if redistribution is necessary to maintain “substantially equal volumes of citrus production” in the districts.
“With continued industry consolidation and urban growth trends over the past decade, it’s time to redistrict to maintain equal representation of industry growth regions on the commission,” says Burgess.
Some highlights of the Florida Citrus Recovery Act include:
Increases the number of FCC members from nine to eleven
Increases the number of citrus districts from three to six and revises the counties that make up each district
Requires certain entities to provide reports on the investigation of citrus production to the commission at specified intervals and upon request of the commission
Requires that new citrus varieties produced from state-funded research or studies be made available exclusively to certain Florida growers for licensing and purchase for a specified period of time
Requires producers who receive such exclusivity to retain it for a specified period of time and establishes price requirements for such agreements
The language regarding the new varieties is intended to serve the local growers who helped fund the breeding programs and selections potentially resistant to HLB.
