The Florida Roundup - High gas prices and affordability, property tax ballot push, and environmental news

Episode Date: April 10, 2026

This week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke about the impact rising gas prices are having on Floridians with WUSF’s Gabriella Paul (00:00). Then, we were joined by Rep. Ryan Chamberlin to talk about his push for a citizens-led campaign to put the elimination of property taxes up for a vote in 2028 (20:50). Then, PolitiFact’s Samantha Putterman joined us to fact-check a recent claim from U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds on school districts driving up property taxes (38:08). Plus, environmental stories from around the state including an update on the lawsuit filed by conservationists challenging the immigration detention center (37:26), a manatee rescue and release in Melbourne (40:40), and early predictions for the 2026 Atlantic Hurricane Season (45:26).

Support for Florida Roundup comes from the Everglades Foundation, working to restore and protect Florida's $1 trillion asset that helps to bring clean water to Floridians. Learn more at Everglades Foundation.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. It's terrific to have you on board this week. Carrington Jones spends a lot of time driving around Central Florida. We drive from Lakeland, anywhere from Lakeland, to Orlando to Largo, St. Pete. We're all over.

He works for ATB carpet cleaning. It can take 200 bucks to fill up the tank of the company's Chevy truck. If I was driving my personal vehicle around, I'd be broke. I'd say if the gas go up, any higher, I'm going to get me a bioskicker. If I go to $10, I'm going to get me a bioskicking and ride around, ain't riding in no car. Jones is not alone complaining about the high price of gasoline and how fast it shot up more than a dollar a gallon in about a month,

and it adds up fast. fill up my tank? 60 or $70. I got to put at least $25 a day. It's about $60 to fill up my tank. I don't want to know. If you didn't have to pay these prices for gas, what would you be spending that money on? Maybe it's costing $15 or $20 more per fill up? About $100 a month if you fill up once a week. How is that affecting your household budget? 305-995-1800. Call us now statewide 305-995-18-00. Or send us a quick note at Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. The email address is Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. I have a Pontiac Solstice. It's very, very tiny, and it gets about 30 miles to a gallon, but it's not enough.

Jeanette Brennan was filling up this week at a local Wawa. Name another product where something can go up 30 or 40 percent overnight. Like, you would freak out if your milk went up that fast. The sharp jump in gas prices certainly gets our attention, doesn't it? It stares at us right there at the corner gas station. We feel powerless over having to open our wallets and purses more. After all, we have to get to work, take the kids to school, run errands. We probably have to take a car or truck to do it.

But, you know, it's not just gas prices that have been fueling the higher cost of living in Florida over the past several years. It's more expensive here than North Carolina and South Carolina, Georgia, to name a few. You. Jeff Kotkamp is the CEO of Florida Tax Watch, a nonpartisan research group. Issue of affordability in Florida has been that combination of mortgage rates, property tax, property insurance, and then HOA fees and condo fees. And then, of course, on top of that, if you can find child care, which is very difficult to do, it's not affordable. Kotkamp used to be lieutenant governor here in Florida. And before that, he served in the House of Representatives.

Tax Watch found Florida inflation was below 2% a year during most of the 2010s, but it has shot up to almost 6% a year this decade. We're not really going to return to the days where all of Florida was essentially affordable. There's just some places like Miami that are now really international cities with incredible demand from all over the world. And that just drives up prices. North Florida continues to have a lot of affordability. But, man, once we get south of Ocala, it's getting much more difficult. What are you seeing in your neighborhood?

What are you experiencing in your community about making your ends meet? 305-995-1800. 305-9-9-8100 live, regardless if you're north of Ocala or south of Ocala. It's the same phone number for everybody, Republican, Democrat, Independent. You are driving a car, riding a bike, walking, taking public transit, 305-995-1800. Eve is listening in Lake Mary Eve. Thanks for calling. You are on the radio.

Go ahead. Yeah, thank you. My thought is I'm really not concerned about gas prices right now because, frankly, I've been thinking for a few years about an electric car. And a lot of people told me, no, no, don't do it. It's not reliable. They're kind of going down. And I said, finally, late last year, I said, you know what? I'm just going to do it.

I'm not going to listen to anybody. I'm just going to do it. And best position I ever made, I love it. And I'm no word about God's prizes. So I'm feeling pretty smart right now about it. Yeah, you are. What about your power bill at home? Has you've seen any impact on that?

Negligible. Negligible. All right. Eve, thanks for listening and giving us the update on the electric car purchase in Lake Mary. You know, the national inflation rate in March, we just learned it here this morning on the Friday. It jumped to 3.3% thanks to a double-digit increase in energy prices, driven, of course, by the war in Iran. Also up bread prices, biscuit prices, and cake prices. It's not good for those of us with a sweet tooth.

Beef coffee pickles, all higher priced now compared to a year ago. The price of men's suits fell compared to a year ago. So did use cars and new televisions. So how are you getting along with the price of life here in the Sunshine State? 305-995-1800. Affordability and all its variations is consistently the number one issue for Floridians. You know, four months ago, the state legislature opened its law-writing session with the Republican leader saying affordability is a top priority. Later this hour, you will hear about an effort to eliminate all property taxes in the state.

So how are you making ends meet? Send us a quick note if you can't get through on the phone lines. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. We are monitoring the email inbox here, radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Gabriela Paul is a reporter with our partner station WUSF in Tampa. Gabby, welcome back to the program. Nice to have you again. Thanks for having me.

So how have Florida drivers been dealing with this sharp jump in gas prices? We heard from Eve and Lake Mary there that she's pretty proud of her electric car purchase earlier this year. Yeah, yeah. You know, I spent a day and a full tank of gas myself, I'll disclose. driving around the region to answer that particular question of how Florida drivers are dealing with these increases. And I got some, you know, some people who were proud of their electric vehicle purchases. I also got a range of reactions from shock at the pump to distress to indifference and annoyance, just depending on what kind of vehicle you're driving, how much disposable income you have,

you know, how much it's really hurting your budget. And this was a key to, you know, how voluntary driving your vehicle, you know, to and from work, to and from school, how voluntary that choice really feels. You know, it does depend if you are driving a personal vehicle, whether it's electric or gas fed, if it's a company vehicle, or if you're the one driving the bus. You know, there's so many different experiences there that I got to hear. Yeah, we'll hear, we'll bring some of those voices that you've shared with us to our folks here on this Friday. And also for those who have the ability to have a job to work from home, remote work. or, you know, an option to go in the opposite if they want to.

And perhaps they don't longer want to because of $4 plus gasoline. Jocelyn has been listening to this conversation for Boca Raton. Jocelyn, great to hear from me. You're on the radio. Jocelyn, can you hear us in Boca Raton? Is that me? That is you. Yes, you're on the radio. Great to hear from you. Go ahead. So from my perspective, paying a little bit more at the pumps compared to the ballistic missiles and cluster bombs that the people in Israel are experiencing. I mean, there have been attacks nonstop. We are fighting for Western civilization versus a crazy caliphate bent on imposing Sharia law on the world.

So I really don't mind paying a little bit more for gas. Jocelyn, we appreciate the feedback there from Boca Raton. I'm wondering, Gabriello, as you talk to folks filling up this week in the Tampa area, did any volunteer any thoughts or considerations about the war in Iran, the actual underlying fuel, pun intended, about these higher gas prices? Sure, yeah. I mean, Tom, you literally read my mind because, you know, the next thing I wanted to say was that, you know, when we got past the part of the conversation of, you know, what kind of car do you drive and how much is it costing you right now? That very next thing that would be offered is how people are finding themselves thinking about politics and thinking about the conflict right now in Iran and the why, you know, is the price so high.

think compared to two or three years ago, which the highest recorded average gas prices, June 2022 is at 490 nationally. A lot of people were thinking about high inflation and the economy and promises for affordability right now. And I mean, I had an economist, you know, talk to me about this yesterday. Right now, the main thing fueling, you know, quote unquote, these prices at the gas pump is pretty much the war in Iran. I mean, the economists I talked to, yesterday from USF said it's been the easiest analysis he's had to do on cast prices in about five years. Yeah, and that high price of gasoline just below $5 a gallon driven in part by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and concern about energy prices and concerned about energy supply

back then now, gosh, what, almost four years ago, believe it or not. All right, we've got a call from Miami. Nehrupa has been listening. Go ahead. You are on the radio. Thanks for calling. Hi, I'm sitting here in traffic. I'm looking at every car that is on the road, and I would say 95% of them have one person, and they are gigantic cars. They get 30 miles to a gallon, if they're lucky. I'm driving a plug-in hybrid. I haven't refilled gas in quite a while, and I just plug in. I mean, I know electric prices go up, but the fact of the matter is we have to get. it real. There's not one good reason for us to be driving these gas guzzlers all over the place. And so I think it's time for us to grow up and start thinking about how we sit in in the world. Narupah, we appreciate you spending time with us in bad traffic in South Florida here on Florida Public Radio, your local radio station. Gabrielle Paul is with us, a reporter from WUSF, our partner station in Tampa.

And Gabby, one of the folks you spoke to this week was Riley, who actually drives professionally as a public transit driver for the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority. But it really kind of stinks. Like, if the gas prices go up any further, then I mean, I still have to get back and forth to work regardless. And I don't have the option of using public transportation because I'll never make it to work in time. to report. Oh, the irony of that. A bus driver who does not have the option to take public transit to drive the public transit bus. Yeah, I mean, that irony was not lost on me. I think we both were able to laugh about that a little bit. You know, I caught him on, he was about to start his shift, which is from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. every night. And he was having a smoke break there and just ended up

talking to him, you know, then had to have the whole conversation again on the record. Yeah, yeah, sure. He was, he was, you know, kind of relating to what we just heard from that caller. You know, he drives a pickup truck. He wasn't sure he, you know, wishes he had a little bit better mileage, but he's stuck in a position where he can't really finance a new car, and he also can't rely on that transportation cross county to then make his shift driving the bus. Yeah, yeah. We have seen auto loan delinquents. nationwide climb over the last couple of months, about 3% of auto loans nationwide are in what's called serious delinquency, meaning those owners are at least three months

behind on those payments, and that can be a sign of really significant financial stress building in the economy. Harry is listening. Harry's from Tallahasse. He sounds like you're on the road, though, Harry. Thanks for calling. You're on the radio. Yes, sir.

I'm traveling down to Tampa. I make this trip fairly regularly. I notice there's a lot less people on the road today. And for me, that's kind of a benefit. Also, it brings to mind the fact that, you know, the impact on the environment, the potential for accidents, and the idea of why are we so strapped to our vehicles, why can't we develop a better infrastructure, have a design community with options, because, you know, in some communities, in fact, when I lived in Tampa, I could walk from my house

and get 10 or 15 different types of food groceries within a two to three block range. And I would bike to the market. But we put ourselves in a position, I believe, where we've kind of stretched ourselves so thin and the demands with our careers and with our careers and with. with the, you know, the way that our society works. We've kind of pushed ourselves into a corner. Now, I know one thing for sure. Now, I work in the oil fields in North Dakota,

and I guarantee you this, those pumps, which when I was there last year were sitting still, are pumping so hard. They're probably 24-7 out there, and those people are getting rich. But when the oil goes below $50 a barrel, then that's it. Sure.

For frack oil. Yeah, it's not economically viable. The economy is, you know, I mean, it's a, it's quite a difference there than here. But I really would like to see us try to design our cities and towns and our communities a little better. Yeah, Harry, thanks for spending some time with us as you're looking at the world through a windshield going from Tallahassee to Tampa. Gabriela, you know, he puts voice to the fact that, you know, Florida is a car-centric state. There's no doubt about it. It's on a peninsula.

It's a panhandle, right? one way in, one way out in some cases. And our communities that were developed, you know, post-invention of air conditioning, were developed with the car in mind. Yeah, I mean, the economists I talked to put it this way yesterday, we're a car-based culture. I mean, a lot of other metros that are a little bit more public transportation-friendly are seeing some consumer behavior from these high gas prices,

people able to turn to public transportation a little bit more heavily. carpooling using those motorized alternatives like e-bikes and e- scooters a little bit more. But the, yeah, the reality is it's very much a car-based culture here. And to connect this, you know, to more broader affordability issues. The last three years, I would say in particular, when you're looking at the greater Tampa Bay region, that's where I cover. I mean, we're seeing people who are working in the metros but are having to move farther and farther out from where they work. oftentimes, you know, maybe one or two counties away. So that is creating a reliance on commuting to work with a personal vehicle.

Yeah, I want to bring in a neighbor of yours. Joy is listening in Orlando having some difficulty paying all the bills because of the high gasoline prices. Joy, thanks for calling. You're on the radio. Hi. I drive at Kia Soul and proud owner. And I, you know, I didn't have to pay a whole lot to fill up my car. tank. And so, you know, it's not that we have this this extra money, but, you know, the bills might be paid late, so we might get a, you know, a late fee. We might not go out to our local, you know, eatery. So a lot of local businesses are going to, you know, lose out because we might not, you know,

go to their establishments because we had to pay extra gas for that week. So it's going to hurt local businesses, and your bills might get paid a little late. You know, I pay my bills on time. I try. And but sometimes, you know, with this extra money going towards a gas and to a war that we, no one really agrees with, it's ridiculous. Yeah, there's that cascading effect, Joy, right? You know, dollars are fungible, but they're finite in so many of our household budgets,

Gabriella. There's only so many to go around and you've got to fill. up that tank to get to work, and perhaps that's going to result in maybe a late bill, which, of course, then that cascades into a late fee. Maybe there's an interest charge on top of that, and it just affects that overall consumer attitude, consumer confidence that Joy is really talking to and addressing there. Yeah, I mean, what experts told me this week was there has been, and this is in Florida and the Tampa Metro, a spike in credit card use, short-term loans and getting behind on other bills.

So borrowing from other pockets of the budget, other bills to pay for gas because it really doesn't feel like much of a decision, right, or much of a luxury. You have to fill up to get to work to earn that money. So we are seeing people cut corners in that way. If you aren't having to borrow, perhaps you are having to, you know, cut back on that discretionary spending. And that's where it becomes a bigger local economy issue. because that money is no longer going into the local economy.

It's going, you know, into the pockets of petroleum conglomerates. So that's not unique to Tampa either. That's something that I'm sure economists are watching all over the nation. Indeed. The University of Florida does a monthly survey around consumer sentiment in the Sunshine State, and it found in March for the first time this year, consumer confidence actually fell, fell slightly, but it did fall. And, of course, that corresponds with the launching of the war in Iran

and the beginning of the spike in gasoline prices. Gabriella, thanks so much for sharing the voices and the reporting with us. Keep it up. Thank you. Gabrielle Paul, a reporter with our partner station, WUSF in Tampa. We got a lot of folks calling in, and unfortunately we just cannot get to all of you, but we do want to hear your stories. So the inbox is always open, and we do check that inbox, and we bring those emails to you here on the radio every few weeks. So send us a quick note. Radio at the Florida roundup.org.

Radio at the Florida roundup.org. I'm Tom Hudson, and you're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio Station. Support for Florida Roundup comes from the Everglades Foundation, working to restore and protect Florida's $1 trillion asset that helps to bring clean water to Floridians. Learn more at Everglades Foundation.org. This is the Florida Roundup.

I'm Tom Hudson. Great to have you along. Next week on this program, redistricting. Governor Ronda Santis has called for a special legislative session later this month to redraw Florida's congressional boundaries. Now, it's rare to do that in the middle of a decade. Barney Bishop is a Republican lobbyist in Tallahassee. It's a challenge, but I think the Republican staff will make that happen and present a solid plan.

And I think the Republican legislature will adopt it. I think the governor will sign it. Democrat Oliver Larkin is challenging incumbent Jared Moskowitz in Broward County, but knows that district's boundaries may change. We've got to know where we're going to run. I mean, this is chaos. And that's why I think, frankly, you're seeing multiple members of the Republican delegation. saying, I think the governor overstepped his bounds here. So what are the stakes

here? What happens if political lines on the map are redrawn? Well, next week, we will connect with our colleagues at Houston Public Media in Texas for a live simulcast. You see, Texas legislators okay to new congressional map earlier this year, and it's set off a cascade of events

from Texas to California. So should Florida's congressional boundaries be redrawn this year? Do you feel represented in Congress by your current representative? email us radio at the florida roundup dot org radio at the florida roundup dot org that's next week now the effort to cut or eliminate property taxes here in florida it's been a top priority for the governor but so far no official plan the governor has teased a special session to get enough lawmakers on the same page to put a proposed

constitutional amendment on the november ballot for voters to decide the fate of local property taxes but so far nothing ryan chamberlain is a repulsive member of the Florida House representing parts of Marion County. He wants to launch a campaign to collect enough signatures on a petition that would get rid of all property taxes on all properties in Florida. If he gets enough people to sign, it would be on the ballot in two years. Representative, thanks so much for joining us. Let's just start here. Do you support doing away with all property taxes in Florida? Absolutely. I support doing away with the system of property taxes that all also involves a replacement plan, which I have unveiled this past year, at least a first draft of one.

I do believe that we can eliminate and replace. I'm a believer in the government should not have a lien on anybody's property. I want to ask about the replacement strategy here, but just to clarify for everybody to understand what you are proposing, you would include eliminating property taxes for school districts. Is that right? I would propose eliminating eventually all property taxes. Initially, homesteads. where it seems like we're going to start with. Okay. But again, if I believe that having the government have a lien on a personal home property is wrong, I also don't like the fact that we would have liens in school districts or liens on properties

in any districts. I think with a $1.8 trillion economy, Tom, we can figure out a better way to generate the revenue to absolutely not cut any funding when it comes to fire departments, our safety, our schools, we don't need to cut. We just need to figure out a different way to generate that revenue. Eliminate the property taxes, all property taxes on all property, residential, vacation homes, commercial, condominiums, school taxes, public safety taxes, all taxes. That's eventually what you'd like to get to. Is that accurate? Absolutely. I think that we should come to a place in this state, be the first state in the United States, where people can actually own their property rather than rent it from the government.

And so I just don't like the current system. I think it was designed in a time where our state was a different size, a different place. I wouldn't have agreed with it back then either, but it's gotten out of control. Property taxes have gone up over 50% in the last four years, and they're going to continue to climb. That's going to cause additional problems that I believe the system will ultimately implode, and I'd like to correct it before it does. Property taxes have been rising in Florida because the underlying asset value has been rising, and that's how property taxes are calculated.

But let's talk about your replacement strategy. If successful, how would you propose local governments and school districts, police and fire, pay for existing services and personnel? Well, I think there's several ways we can do it. I have presented a few ways based on transactions. One, we could put a one-time sales fee on property. Currently, when people buy a car, they pay a sales tax.

When they buy property, they don't. There's a real estate transaction tax in Florida, a stamp tax. Very small, doc stamp. It doesn't really go towards paying for anything to do with schools, fire, or safety. No, it goes toward environmental concerns, environmental issues. That's right. It's very small. So I believe we could rip, rather than taxing people $3,000 to $5,000 a year for the rest of their life on one purchase, we could figure out a reasonable fee when they buy their property to put some money into the system. I think we have, I know we have, 140 plus million travelers in and out of the state of Florida.

They're not helping cover any of the safety fees that are on the backs of the homeowners paying for the whole state right now. Yet when they come here, if they're in trouble, our police take care of them, our fire takes care of them. And there's just nothing that's being contributed to relieve the burden of property taxes when it comes to that. So I think we should look at that. And I think there's different ways.

Someone says, Ryan, are you open to raising the sales tax at all? If I have to make a choice between property tax and raising the sales tax one cent or two cent, every one cent in the state of Florida generates seven to eight billion billions of dollars. And we can get to the number fairly rapidly if we look at these creative transactional ways. One reason why I would lean toward a sales tax increase if we had to. I don't know that we have to. But if we had to is because, again, the 140 million people that travel to our state, then they're spending so much of that money.

It's actually relieving if we move it off of the backs of the homeowners. It would be one of the biggest tax cuts for the citizens of Florida in history. So I think we look at the numbers that we figured out. Homeowners of Florida and property owners, not just all residents would not get a tax cut, just those that own property. But on the sales tax piece. Well, even renters, even renters, though. Would you require an apartment owner to pass along the property tax savings if they're eliminated to the renters?

I don't know that I would require it. I think the free market would take care of that. They would naturally be able to lower rent for competition sake. And I think there's some benefits there. Could we incentivize that? That's all up for discussion. And that's my point here. There's a better way to generate this revenue than just to ever increase.

The county just north of me, there are taxes have increased 82% in the last four years. That's unsustainable. We're going to see a foreclosure crisis if we don't fix the, affidavitability and then the government gets nothing. Just to be clear, is a tax revenue that's increased that's increased? So the tax revenue is revenue, revenue, which is a function of the underlying asset value. And if you're building more homes and have more properties, you know, you're going to generate more taxes by that. So it's not just the tax rate that's increased by 82%. It's the revenue, the money that's increased by 82%. The money that's increased. Of course,

the values have increased based on someone's assessment. But think about that, Tom, it's the only tax in America. We pay taxes on the equity. We're paying an ever-increasing rate on an investment we made 10 years ago that's never going to stop going up in value. Well, we hope it's not going to stop going up in value. We hope not. Through 2006, 7, and 8 in Florida, you realized, in fact, it did, right? Everything goes up and down a little bit. But overall, if you look over the 100-year, 50-year timeline, it trends generally upward. They're not making any more land anymore. That's right. Let me ask you about the replacement strategy. You talk about different strategies there. The sales tax on the transaction of a home, that would rely on a very active

home market, an increase in sales tax, for instance. Property taxes stay local. They stay in the county in which the taxes are assessed. Would you support keeping any increase in sales taxes or the transaction tax perhaps as a replacement strategy, staying local or having to go through the legislature in Tallahassee and then allocated to local governments? There's a lot of of different ideas circulating on that. You're currently with the school, the way we distribute the revenue with the school system, a per capita basis. That seems to make sense because it seems to just have some logic to it. But I'm open looking at that, working with the counties. They're all nervous about losing revenue without a replacement strategy. And so my belief is,

if we're going to get serious about property tax overhaul, we're going to have to bring in a revenue replacement strategy at some point if we want to do it all. homeowners have been able to deduct what they pay in property taxes off their federal income taxes in some cases. Would you lobby Congress to essentially allow homeowners to deduct this replacement tax or additional revenue if the property tax is eliminated in the state of Florida? I haven't been asked that question. I haven't looked at that. I do believe that once Florida moves forward in a leadership capacity here, many other states are going to follow suit. So the federal government's going to have to look at this, going to have to figure it out. There's probably going to be some talk back and forth. How would you propose to handle the billions of dollars in bonds that have been issued by local governments for all kinds of services that are backed by property taxes?

I believe as a state, we potentially have enough money in reserves and or other ways to generate to make sure that's taken care of. There could be a phasing out process here. I think that even when this makes it on the ballot, which I believe it will ultimately, it's. some point make it there. You still have to bring it back to the legislature for implementation. It doesn't happen overnight. Everybody has this idea that it's all going away in the next six months or the next year. There's a multi-year process. I predicted it would take six to eight years to unwind from the system and to graft in the new one. And so I'm all for doing this in a very responsible way. However, until we get serious about it and until the counties and cities start

actually bringing ideas, and I would love them to do that, which they haven't yet. And now there the governor. They're not going to do it until they're forced to, and that's where you've got to get a little aggressive with making sure people know this is going to happen. That's why I'm moving forward with the citizen constitutional amendment idea. If for one, it keeps the conversation extremely alive because at any point in time, the legislature, the Senate, the governor, they come together. It could certainly be on the ballot sooner, but we've got to keep the conversation alive. We know any citizen petition is not going to be on the ballot in the 2026 election cycle, this coming November cycle. We know that's the case. If an amendment's going to wind up there, it's only going to be

driven by the legislature. Is your push here an acknowledgement that the House and the Senate and the governor are not going to get on the same page to get a property tax amendment on that November ballot? It's a backup plan that secures that we have another plan if they can't get together. I would love for us to get together. I'm not overly optimistic about the fact that I think it will happen. We're just running out of time for people to get together. Now, we could have some special session on this topic, the language that would go on this ballot would be to eliminate all property taxes, which is my goal. It may just be specific to Homestead. I haven't heard the governor's plan on that yet. My plan certainly is a backup plan. It would give time to ramp this up.

It would end up on the 2028 ballot if we were able to pull it off. As you think through the citizen petition effort that you've announced here, you're going to need almost 892,000 signatures across the state and not just from one place, right? They've got to be proportioned based upon congressional district and all that. There's a new law that governs citizen-led petitions. Will you hire people to gather petition signatures? That's not necessarily part of the plan. I personally believe that the topic and the idea is overwhelmingly popular. The amount of volunteers from all counties that have raised their hand and said, we want to participate. That number keeps going up. We were working on the language now. We've got attorneys involved. We want to make sure we do it the right way.

But I believe we're going to have an overwhelming support predominantly because I'm also going to be talking about a replacement plan. So the state law that was passed in 2025 required signature gathers to be U.S. citizens and to be Florida residents to not have a felony conviction and to register with the state. How would you go about abiding by those rules with volunteers? Listen, we're putting all that system together right now. We're going to make sure that it's a very tight system so that there's nothing that can come back against that or break through it. I'm looking forward even coming back on here to be able to reveal all the different strategies where people can get the ballot, how they're going to go about it, where they're going to be sending it. And that process is being developed.

So give me a little of just a little bit more time to make sure that I've got things that are in ducks. But we've got a team behind the scenes right now working on this. Consider an open invitation representative to come back and speak to us in the future. Thank you. Representative Ryan Chamberlain with us. Representative, we appreciate your time. Thanks so much. Thank you. I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Rundup from your Florida Public Radio Station. Sam Putterman is with us again. She is the Florida government reporter with our partner, Politifact, every couple of weeks. Sam comes on the program and we check in for some fact checks. So we're back to property taxes here again, Sam. Let's talk about it because it's still on the agenda here in the Sunshine State. Let's start with a guy who wants to be the next governor, Representative Byron Donald's from Fort Myers.

He's running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. He sat down for an interview and recently told CBS Miami this. The biggest is, the biggest people who have actually increased property taxes on the hardworking men and women of our state are school districts. All right, Sam. So are school districts the biggest drivers of higher property taxes in Florida? Right. So we rated this claim most. false. We found that, you know, Florida's public schools do receive the lion's share of the state's collected property taxes, about 21.6 billion in 2024, around 40%. But higher property taxes are largely driven by increased property values, right, which, as we know, have skyrocketed in Florida

in the last several years. And any increases are subject to rate caps or voter approval through referendums. Yeah. How do school districts set property tax rates? Yeah. So Florida's public schools, primarily, they rely on three primary millage rates. One, is called the required local effort, and that's set annually actually by the legislature and dictates what schools must collect from taxpayers to receive state funding. So schools can't lower or raise this rate. Schools do have more control over the other two rates for discretionary spending and infrastructure improvements, but those rates are also still subject to caps under Florida law, and most districts levy those capped rates. And then there are some of those voter

approved tax rates. Like we've done, we've seen those in some counties for teacher salaries and some other things, but those expire after a certain number of years. Yeah, yeah. So when they ask voters, you know, via these referendums to improve increases, sometimes it might be for, you know, cameras and school buses or teacher salary raises. They last for a limited time. They are subject to renewal, but they have to be voter approved. And they typically are very overwhelmingly. So, you know, the governor has made this property tax reduction or elimination one of his big priorities here in his last year in office. And even with our conversation there with

Representative Chamberlain, as a Republican, he's still waiting for the governor's plan. the governor has not made any official plan yet, but he did make this claim back in mid-October during a speech in West Palm Beach. The vast, vast majority of property tax revenue is not from homestead Floridian's properties. It's second homes, investment properties, commercial properties, Airbnb, all those other things. That's about 70, 68 to 70 percent of property tax revenue statewide. So the argument there, Sam, that the governor makes is that most property tax revenue is not paid by primary homeowners, homesteaded properties, people who live in their primary home

and pay property taxes on that. How accurate is the governor's numbers? Yeah, so his estimate is close. We found studies show that around 64% of Florida's property tax revenue is collected from properties that aren't those primary residences, the second homes, vacation rentals, businesses, and the remaining 36% comes from those primary homes. Let's talk about real quick here in our final 30 seconds or so, all the ways that a ballot measure can wind up on the ballot for voters to decide. Yeah, so there are actually five ways an amendment can be, yeah, can be placed on the ballot in Florida. Give me the quick list. Yeah, you got it. But the top two is citizen-led initiative petitions that you guys were just talking about and the legislative proposals. So the legislature can

propose something on the ballot. It's much easier, obviously, in Florida, since these recent laws have passed or a citizen-led initiative petition that has to collect those signatures. And then the Supreme court has to approve the language. Very good. Those two most popular ways to do it. Sam putterman doing the fact check with our news partner, Politifact. Thanks, Sam. Thanks so much. If you've got a claim you'd like Sam to hold up to the truth, send it to us on our email. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio Station. Support for Florida Roundup comes from the Everglades Foundation, working to restore and protect Florida's $1 trillion asset

that helps to bring clean water to Floridians. Learn more at Everglades Foundation.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. We appreciate you being along today. Some Florida legal and wildlife stories for you now. 136 years after she was born, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas,

or at least one of her legacies, was in a federal court this week in Miami. Stoneman Douglas helped make the Everglades a national park in the late 1940s and went on to found friends of the Everglades to fight against a planned airport there in the late 1960s. Only one runway was built and it was turned into Alligator Alcatraz by Governor Ron DeSantis last summer. When the immigration detention facility opened, environmental advocates sued arguing it did not undergo the usual federal environmental review. A federal judge ordered the facility to be closed down, but the state appealed that decision and it has remained, Now this week, a federal appeals court heard arguments over whether Alligator Alcatraz should be shut down as the lawsuit continues. Here's Joshua Sabios from our partner station WLRN in Miami.

Environmentalists say alligator Alcatraz poses a major threat to Florida's wildlife and that the government didn't bother to verify that before building the facility. We're hopeful and eager to stop the harm in the Everglades. That's Eve Samples, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of the Everglades. The group sued Florida and the federal government last year. We are committed to the long haul. The people of Florida have demonstrated they do not want an ICE prison in the middle of Big Cyprus National Preserve. Last August, a lower court ordered operations at Alcatraz be paused

while the lawsuit was ongoing, but the government's appealed and kept the facility running. Now the appeals judges have to decide whether to uphold the lower court's decision. Should Alligator Alcatraz close down, or can Florida keep detaining migrants during the case. I'm Joshua Sabayos in Miami. The Everglades is Florida Panther Territory, and this week, conservation groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect the endangered Florida Panther from a new development within the Panthers' occupied breeding habitat in Collier County. The Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to take a hard look

at how this particular project would impact both. with the survival and the recovery of the Florida Panther. That's Jason Tatoyu with the Center for Biological Diversity. The lawsuit argues the federal agencies violated the Endangered Species Act when they authorized a residential and commercial development project known as rural lands west. That's more than 10,000 acres. This project undoubtedly will put thousands of new cars on the road, which will substantially increase the risk of Panther vehicle collisions within the area.

The presence of thousands of new homes and thousands of new drivers and trips on the road undoubtedly will put this species in greater peril. Now, three panthers have been killed so far this year in Collier County. Seven were hit and killed by traffic last year. There has been one new panther this year, a female born in February. On the other side of the peninsula, there's this good news. A teenage manatee named Melby is back in. In the Wild, he was released this week in Melbourne about two months after he was trapped inside a storm drain. Reporter Molly Durek has the story from our partner, Central Florida Public Media.

Melby splashed back into the wild to applause and cheers from a big crowd. Utility surveyors found Melby in the storm drain back in February, and getting him out of there safely was a community effort. Brevard County Fire Rescue's Fergus Kelly was there, helping shield Melby from the heavy equipment used to excavate the road, and lift him out of the drain. Kelly says it's not a call the fire department gets every day.

I'd say very uncommon. That's the fun part about our job is you never know. When you show up to work, you never know what it's going to be. Animal caretakers with SeaWorld Orlando think Melby the Manatee was likely seeking refuge from the cold

when he got stuck in the drain. As of March 27th, 39 manatees have died in Florida this year due to cold stress. That's more than twice the average number for that time period. In Melbourne, I'm Molly Dury. Melby may run across some new friends out in the water, including Amelie.

Amelie is a Kemp's Ridley Turtle that lost her right forelim to a shark bite. She was patched up at the Loggerhead Marine Life Center in Juneau Beach and released back into the water about two weeks ago. She's being tracked thanks to help from outer space. Yeah, the center collaborated with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute to track Amelie. A satellite device was glued to her shell before she returned to the Atlantic ocean. We really want to understand their dive behaviors, how they're migrating once they're back in the wild. Sarah Hirsch is the center's research director. The center is now tracking four amputee turtles in the water. Another was released back in January and it has traveled almost 700 miles so far.

Now, Amalie the Turtle and Melby the Manatee may see some new Caribbean king crabs out on Florida's coral reef. The crabs were raised. in a hatchery as part of an effort to restore the massive underwater ecosystem. Jessica Mazzaros has the story from partner station WUSF in Tampa. Florida's coral reef has been in decline for 75 years. Jason Spadaro with Mote Marine Laboratory says that's due to overfishing, coral diseases, water quality, and extreme weather. Increasing CO2 in our atmosphere has led to an increased incidence and magnitude of things

like heat waves, hurricanes. Moat scientists are now releasing Caribbean king crabs onto the reef because they eat algae, which would otherwise block the needed sunlight. It eats algae that are chemically defended or calcified to things that other herbivores avoid. And thus, those algae become very difficult to control on the reef. Removing overgrown algae will give the corals space to grow and settle. Moat plans to deploy more crabs later this month. I'm Jessica Mazzaros in Tampa.

Back on land, a few weeks back, we took you on a tour of Steve Crump's citrus farm in Volusia County. You remember? We first met him when he was just coming in from picking a single crate of oranges. It would be embarrassing to come in with just one. Literally, we sold them by the semi-load, which would be 50 at a time. Well, there was a ray of good news for Florida's orange crop this week. The United States Department of Agriculture gave... just the slightest increase in its forecast for the current growing season for oranges,

grapefruit, lemons, and other specialty fruits. The forecast shows orange production is up 2% from the initial forecast, grapefruit of 4%, lemons shooting up 29%, tangereens, up about 13%. Florida Citrus Mutual CEO Matt Joyner says the numbers would have been even better if that freeze hadn't hit the citrus growing regions earlier this year. The freeze is going to decrease the harvest. We had really been optimistic about where we were heading this season and certainly without a hurricane.

We're breathing a sigh of relief there and then turn around and had a freeze like, well, again, we haven't seen in many years. Florida's citrus industry has been in a steady decline during the past quarter century because of citrus greening. And then, of course, the hurricanes, freezes, and the demand for real estate development has also been pinching citrus. grows. So where do we get most of our orange juice these days? Brazil. I'm Tom Hudson, and you're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio Station.

It's almost mid-April. Tax Day is coming next week. It's the fourth quarter of the school year for parents. Spring semester is just about over on college campuses. The baseball season is underway, and it's probably not too early to be thinking about the playoffs for the NBA. Well, all this means another season that shall not be named is fast approaching. So we are beginning to get those predictions. Forecasters at Colorado State University are expecting 13 named storms to form with six becoming hurricanes and two reaching major hurricane status. That's meteorologist Andrew Wolfeck with the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. A baker's dozens of storms, 13, that would be just below the 30-year average. Forecasters say the apparent reduction inactive

across the Atlantic basin is largely due to the influence of El Nino, which typically brings hostile upper level winds as well as cooler water temperatures and parts of the Atlantic. So the prediction is for 13 named storms. That includes six hurricanes, two of which are expected to be major storms, so category three, four, or five. Levi Silvers is one of the hurricane experts at Colorado State University. If the sea surface temperature gets warmer than expected, those numbers would be expected to rise. Because even if Al-Nino is happening, if the sea surface temperature in the Caribbean and the Atlantic gets really, really warm, that tends to offset some of the negatives. While we are talking about the season that starts on June 1st, why don't you take a quick minute to download the Florida Storms app?

It's from the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. It's one of the best ways to stay updated with this public radio station about the weather, rain, shine, or storm. Finally, in the roundup this week, the National Hurricane Center comes up with its list of names for storms years in advance. This year's first storm, for instance, will be called Arthur. Some of the other names on this year's list include Dolly, Hannah, with only 1H, and Marco. Marco, just like the name of the Secretary of State, who happens to be from Florida. Now, if we get to N, it will be Tropical Storm or Hurricane Nanna. Nana. Nana.

Nana. A perfectly good name, one that sounds friendly. It may sound like family. Nana. Like what some folks call their grandmother. Nana. Nana. Yeah, don't get lulled into thinking Nana will be some

doting, affectionate storm with candy or cookies, though. That is our program for today. The Florida Roundup is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WUSF in Tampa. And we've got some more names for you. These are important ones for us each and every week. The program is produced by Bridget O'Brien and Denise Royal. W. Lerrin's vice president of radio is Peter Merritt.

The program's technical director is M.J. Smith. Engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Harvey Bessard, and Ernesto J. Our theme music is provided by Miami Jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at Aaron Leibos.com. You can always catch us at our inbox. email address is radio at the Florida roundup.org. Radio at the Florida roundup.org. Let us know what's in your storm closet ahead of the season that shall not be named. All right, thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and above all supporting public radio in your slice of Florida. I'm Tom Hudson.

Have a terrific weekend. Support for Florida Roundup comes from the Everglades Foundation, working to restore and protect Florida's $1 trillion asset that helps to bring clean water to Floridians. Learn more at Everglades Foundation.org.