Speak Up Titusville group with signs, courtesy of the organization.
For the second time this year, a Florida appellate court has ruled against environmentalists attempting to pass a popular local clean water measure.
The Fifth District Court of Appeal ruled Thursday that, while 83% of Titusville voters approved a 2022 initiative establishing the right to clean water, the city in Brevard County was unable to enact it due to a 2020 state law prohibiting local governments from granting rights to bodies of water, plants, and animals.
The City of Titusville had appealed a lower court decision that sided with Speak Up Titusville, the group behind the local ballot measure. The three-judge appellate panel overturned the lower court’s order to codify the clean water amendment, which allows residents to sue on behalf of the “Waters of Titusville” against any entities that violate the measure.
“Although it is an admirable goal, we know of no provision that is authorized in either general law or specifically granted in the State Constitution, nor has one been provided by Speak Up, which specifically provides a citizen the right to have a body of water that ‘flows, exists in its natural form, is free of pollution, and which maintains a healthy ecosystem,'” the ruling’s judges wrote.
Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, who was a member of the Florida House in 2020, spearheaded the preemption effort. In January, another appellate court used Florida law’s preemption clause to block an Orange County clean water measure.
Throughout the opinion, the judges appeared sympathetic to the environmentalists’ cause and attributed the decision entirely to the Republican-led Legislature’s actions.
“We recognize the overwhelming support of this charter amendment by the residents of the City of Titusville and the admirable policies of the amendment,” the court’s ruling stated.
“However, in drafting section 403.412(9)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act, the Legislature did not authorize the types of rights specified in the charter amendment. As a result, an appellate court has no authority to change or alter what the Legislature enacted.”