The Florida Roundup - Hurricane season begins, DeSantis’ property tax plan, living shorelines and more

Episode Date: May 29, 2026

This week on The Florida Roundup, we looked at the official federal forecast for the Atlantic hurricane season that begins June 1 with meteorologist John Morales (00:00). Then we spoke about emergency response and preparedness with former FEMA administratior Craig Fugate (13:40). We also spoke with the mayors of Daytona Beach Shores and Cedar Key to talk about how their coastal communities are preparing for this year’s storm season (21:26). Plus, Your Florida reporter Meghan Bowman joined us to discuss Gov. Ron DeSantis’ property tax plan and the new state budget (28:52). And later, we learned about how more municipalities and private homeowners in the Tampa Bay region are embracing a natural alternative to cement seawalls (37:12) and other environmental news (45:54).

This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. It is terrific to have you with us here on this Friday. Below normal. Now, that's not usually a great characterization. Pretty good, though, if it's your golf score or maybe the price of gas. Also, not so bad if it's the prediction for a hurricane season, right? Below normal. This is the forecast from the National Weather Service for the storm season that begins Monday, below normal. technically it's a 55% chance of a below normal season. So better than half a chance, barely better than 50-50 odds of a below normal storm season for the Atlantic hurricane season. Later on this program, we're going to talk about Governor Ondesantis's plan to reduce most homeowner property taxes. Be sure to stick around for that. The governor finally released his plan this week and is called for lawmakers back to Tallahassee for a special session next week. That's still to come on this program.

But first, another hurricane season, almost here here in the Sunshine State. You're all set? Are the trees trimmed up? Is the house in good shape? Insurance premium paid? 305-9-8100 is the phone number 305-9-9-8100. Among the things we're asking you here today is what's in your storm stash? What's in that hurricane closet?

Send us an email, radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Nancy sent us this note. Nancy writes, her main needs are information, neighbors, and friends. That is a great list, Nancy. She noted that her building lost power

for three days during Hurricane Ian. I was frightened on my high floor. My daughter's generator at her house malfunctioned. She got carbon monoxide poisoning and almost died. She was in the hospital for five months. She hadn't known the precautions. I'm sorry to hear that, Nancy. Nancy concluded her email saying,

all this scared me so much, I moved back north. Snow is nothing compared to a hurricane. And then Patricia wrote us, The Dirty Clothes Hamper usually contains all my favorite. So that's something she's not going to forget. She said she forgot it once, won't forget it again. So send us your storm stash ideas. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org.

John Morales is with us, NBC 6 South Florida's hurricane specialist, lead certified consulting meteorologist at Climate Data. John, welcome back to the program. I'm nice to have you again, sir. No, thanks. Always good to be here. What is the meteorological setup as the season begins on Monday? Well, I think everybody, unless you live under a rock, right?

Everybody has heard about the forecasted El Nino phenomenon that's expected to unfold. It is a forecast to be strong. The term super is being thrown around as well. But, you know, I think we should probably hold off and. see just how this all evolves, especially because the forecasts for these type of phenomena, whether it's El Niño or La Niña, that are issued in spring, tend to be sometimes not entirely accurate. I think we can be confident that there will be an El Niño forming, but the strength of it, you know, let's hold off until we get better modeling further in the summer and we'll know

with much better confidence what's going to unfold in the fall and winter. Now, fall, right? Fall is part of hurricane season. Yes. Yeah, I mean, you know, meteorological autumn begins September 1st. And when is the peak of hurricane season? September 10th or 11th around that time period. Exactly.

So keep in mind that anything that happens in the fall, If we do get an El Nino, it will impact the season, namely with very strong winds coming from the West, aloft, which should act as a repellent of numerous hurricanes forming. So remind, El Nino, this is not in the Atlantic Ocean. This is across the continent over in the Pacific Ocean. How does that influence what's happening in coming off the coast of Africa or perhaps forming in the Gulf? Yeah, what goes on is that you have accumulation of very warm water in the eastern equatorial Pacific in a spot where normally the up-weld water that comes from the Antarctic is present. That would be the normal condition.

Water upwelled from the depths that has come up from the Antarctic, and that water tends to be cold. If you flip it to a warm condition, what happens is that some of the water is that some suddenly you've got all this warm sea surface in a place where you don't normally get that, the air that is in contact with that warm ocean water becomes less dense because it's warmer, and therefore it becomes buoyant. And it starts to ascend and generate showers and thunderstorms in the eastern Pacific, including in places like Ecuador and Peru. Well, all that air that's rising in thunderstorm activity that's developing in that part of the world,

once it reaches the upper levels of the atmosphere, it's got to go somewhere. And it gets to that level and it diverges. It heads out in all directions, including air that's coming from west to east. That is going to enhance the westerly winds aloft across the Caribbean, across the Gulf of Mexico, and that's where you tend to get suppressed hurricane activity. There you go. John Morales is meteorologist with NBC6 in South Florida and also lead certified consulting meteorologist at Climate Data,

talking about the upcoming storm season beginning June 1st here in Florida, 305-995-1800 for your meteorological questions or your storm experience if you'd like to share that with us here. Ocean temperatures are mightily important here, of course. especially in the Gulf this time of year. I was looking at some of those sea surface temperatures, John, as I geek out as an armchair meteorologist, you do this professionally.

Seems like there's still some warm water in the Gulf for this time of year. There is, especially in the Gulf, right? I mean, whereas the Atlantic Basin as a whole may not be at its hottest compared to the last two or three years, the Gulf of Mexico continues to be well above normal. And we know that in recent years, we've had these awful hurricanes in the state of Florida that have come from the Gulf, whether it's Milton or Harleen or Ian or even going back to Michael in 2018.

All those hurricanes fed off of these very warm sea surface temperatures. So it's something to be concerned about this year. And at some point, I'm sure you're going to ask me, you know, below normal, you mentioned in the cold open. but do people still need to be cautious? And I want to make sure I've got a chance to answer that question. Yeah, yeah, because remind us, John, how many storms does it take? It takes one.

That's right. But I think that adage, the old adage of it only takes one, is particularly important in this era. And my biggest concern about these years in which there might be less activity. you know, as you mentioned. Well, even coming off a year, John, right, where there, in terms of Florida, right, very quiet season last year. Correct. Yes. Well, I mean, that's just geographically in the look of the draw and where the hurricanes went and didn't go. Right.

We're looking at the basin as a whole where the forecast, generally speaking, is for 13 instead of 14 storms. And, you know, how much of a difference, right? All right. Is there anything not them? 13 instead of 14. Six hurricanes instead of seven. two majors instead of three. Yeah.

But that last figure is, it leads me back to what I was just discussing, which is the fact that in this era, in which rapid intensification cycles are happening with greater ease, and that is peer-reviewed science, right? I'm not making that up. And also peer-reviewed is the greater trend globally, including in the Atlantic, for the hurricanes that do form more of them or a greater percentage of them reaching category four and five intensities, which are the catastrophic ones, right? So never has it been more important to realize that it only does take one.

And unfortunately, the one, you know, who knows? Could be just like the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926, of which we were celebrating or infamously ceremony doing, I guess, the 100th anniversary this year. Yeah, unbelievable that it has been that long. We can name storms before then, the 1896 storm that hit the Big Bend area. We'll be speaking with the mayor of Cedar Key. That storm is still remembered there. Of course, the 1935 storm that came through the Florida Keys.

We have to know our storm history, our meteorological history, and the current science, which leads me here to the accuracy of the hurricane forecast, which continue to be tightened up. I mean, it is really quite amazing the science and how accurate. these forecasts have become both in terms of the path, John, and also in terms of that rapid intensification of the strength. Yeah, to your last point there, it is great to see the National Hurricane Center explicitly calling for rapid intensification cycles in their forecasts, something that did not use to happen. And if you're an arbitrary meteorologist, you know that they would never dare do that. But now they have the confidence to call for those R.I. cycles in

in numerous recent hurricanes that we've seen in the Atlantic, and gosh, have we had a lot of rapid intensification cycles in the Atlantic of late. Now, there is, I should note, that while track forecasts did improve in 2026 yet again, and the National Hurricane Center has a great track record of improved track forecasts over the last several years, if not decades, That was carried greatly by the Google DeepMind AI model, which was remarkably accurate. And yes, NHC trusted it enough to put some weight on it and therefore improve their forecasts. However, intensity forecasts did not do well last year.

They were not as good as they've been in the past. I still share some of the concerns that I had in 2025 with lack of data, with national weather service staff spread too thin because of some of the cuts that we saw. So those concerns are still out there. John Morales, watching the skies and the radar with NBC6 in South Florida. As a hurricane specialist, also leads certified consulting meteorologist at climate data. John, always a pleasure. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Let's hear from James in Tampa, who's been patient. James, you are on the radio. Go ahead. It's Jamie. Hey, Tom. Hey, Jamie. Nice to talk to you.

I love your program. Listen, I've, I go back to the old days back when you had a co-host. I appreciate that. Yeah. Anyway, so a little bit of what's in my hurricane kit. One of the first, now here's thing. One thing people don't realize, Tom, is when you're making your kit, make stuff that is purpose for you.

Yep. Not what NBC says, not what the other channel says. Make stuff that put things in it that you know you actually need. Like, I keep radios. Lots of lots of radio. Oh, yeah. We had, here in Tampa, we went through a building. Yep.

And we were down for, God, seven or eight days without power. And people are going to say, oh, my phone, my phone, my, I had to ration out phone you. Sure. We had no power. Yeah. We had to go to my cousins to charge up cell phones and things. So I keep radios around. And this time is when I get to bust out what I call the jackpot snack.

Okay. What did the jackpot snack? What's in that? Oh, we got beef jerky. We've got Doritos, goldfish frackers, granola bars. Jamie, to your earlier point, though, these are things you'll actually eat, right? Right. Okay.

And also, me being somebody with food allergies, I've got to be thinking about that too. Definitely. And also, another thing I keep my hurricane kit is saying that I've said many times, get to know your local radio station meteorologist. Couldn't say it better myself. Jamie, I appreciate you in Tampa. Thanks so much for being such a long time and loyal listener to the Florida Roundup and include in that kit the Florida Storms app. Put that on that smartphone. It comes from the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. It is carried on this radio

station that you're listening to right now. It is the singular stop for you as you begin to prep for a storm. And if one is in the forecast for your area, you can bet that this station will be on it, courtesy of the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. Florida Storms in your app or Google Play store. All right, Craig Fugate is a former leader of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA. He led that agency during the Obama administration, and he is a longtime emergency management leader and Floridian. Craig, thanks for your time today.

Do you believe that FEMA is prepared for this hurricane season that starts June 1? Yeah, when I was at FEMA, I got asked the same question. I always told everybody, not as important that FEMA is prepared as, You're prepared and your county, city, and the state are prepared. People tend to think of FEMA as their first responder or not. In most cases, it's about the reimbursement. What you really want to be talking about is the state of Florida, division of emergency management, your county emergency management, the Florida National Guard,

because those are the folks that are going to be there first. And that team has it changed. I don't worry about what FEMA's going to do. And I think if you talk to most emergency managers, they're more worried about the money. Well, let's talk about the money, FEMA, because it is a significant source of funding for state and local governments after the fact. The FEMA Review Council, which was put together by President Trump, to look at FEMA and come up with some reform recommendations, has released its final report, including changing the formula for disaster support to state and local governments. The recommendation is for direct payments to those state and local governments within 30 days, not this reimbursement that could last maybe up to a couple of years after the. event, but also using what they call parametric payments. So these are, as I can understand them here, Craig,

predetermined amounts of payments based upon a specific event. Like if it's a category one, you get X amount of dollars, category two storm X. But as you and I know, a tropical storm can cause perhaps as much, if not more damage than maybe a category one or category two storm, depending on how it hits in the area that it hits. There's a consensus that it takes too long to get money out the door. And quite honestly, it doesn't have to be that way. But you point out the one problem. When you're using a parametric and you're trying to do that, it's very difficult to make it fit all of the variability.

Florida, we've seen some of our tropical storms do a lot of damage from flooding. That would not be picked up if you're just looking at the category. And I think everybody wants to say, well, we'll do parametric, but if it's costable, we'll figure that out in the end. I'm like, that's not how that works. So that's why I think it's going to be potentially a hybrid. I mean, I don't have a problem saying, let's go. You get a trigger in event.

Let's put 10, 20% right there, go to work. As you mentioned, FEMA is not the first responder. It's neighbors, communities, local governments, state government. FEMA comes in as this kind of funding agency, particularly as it relates to reimbursement. That's been the classic structure. But it's also responding to the disaster. What's the balance toward building toward resilience and the role that the federal emergency management agency should play, could play in bolstering up the infrastructure so that it survives better these disasters? Well, this is the big debate.

We spend billions responding to disasters. We spend far less than that building resilience. And the resilience is a hard thing to define. I like to say, I want to build insurable. You're the federal taxpayer. Whenever a school, a fire station, a community center gets destroyed in Florida, a FEMA's paying for you, the taxpayer, because they didn't have insurance. If you take FEMA dollars to rebuild or the federal taxpayers' dollars,

you're supposed to carry insurance all that for the life of that project. So the question I like to ask in Florida is, can we build it in a way that it makes sense to insure it? Craig Fugate, former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, longtime Floridian. And Craig, I suspect on your smartphone, you have the Florida Storms app ready to go for the season ahead of us. I do, and it's tracking all the thunderstorms. We've gone from wildfire season to our storm season pretty quick this year. It is wet season, no doubt about it. Thanks for everything you do for Florida Public Media and Florida Public Radio, Craig. Thank you. Michael sent us an email when we asked what's in your storm stash as the hurricane season is about to begin on Monday here, June 1st. Michael wrote, I wanted to share a couple things that have made a big difference.

in my hurricane kit. I've added a battery with an inverter to keep my fridge running during the storm and a small generator with a window AC unit to run after the storm passes. I want to stay cool, right? Have that ice ready to go is nice. Be sure to if you're using a generator regardless to the size, make sure it's outside and plenty far away from that window AC unit there, Michael, that you're powering to make sure that carbon monoxide is going out and not into the house. Michael also writes, my honorable mention goes to a $20 butane catering stove. Like this idea, he says the emotional value of hot meals during stressful time is significant. Boy, isn't that true?

Get to know those neighbors. Be sure to share contact information and get that Florida Storms app downloaded on your smartphone through the app store or the Google Play store as well. And of course, the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network is on this radio station supported by your contributions. Thanks so much. to come. We're going to talk with a couple of mayors who have weathered plenty of storms just in the past few years. That's next on the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio Station. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Next week on our program, who's hiring? Who's looking for a new gig? It's cap and gown season. That means a fresh class of hopefuls will be ready to embark on new careers,

but they're entering an increasingly tight and competitive job market here in the Sunshine State. economic uncertainty and competitive hiring practices have certainly factored into a slowdown of hiring across several key industries here. Then there's the looming AI revolution, artificial intelligence, no doubt about it, is transforming the workforce. Now, Florida's unemployment rate has been steadily on the rise over the past year. In April, the state reported a jobless rate of 4.8 percent. That's above the national rate of 4.3%. So are you a recent college graduate beginning the hunt for a job? a recent high school graduate looking for work.

Perhaps the parent of one of these new graduates or grandparent and or uncle, cousin. Have you been stuck in a cycle of applications and interviews? Or maybe you've had more luck gaining a gig. Well, we want to hear from you. Email us your story. Radio at the florida roundup.org. Radio at the florida roundup.org. Employment here in the Sunshine State is next week. Now, in one month, we will be broadcasting this program live from Fort Myers with our partners

station WGCU. Yeah, how about this? We're going to be live again. It'll be Friday, June 26th at the Tribby Arts Center at Shellpoint Retirement Community in Fort Myers. Now, have you heard about your health span? Certainly you've heard about your lifespan, but a health span is how long you live healthy. There's an effort to extend the health span of folks in Southwest Florida by seven years, seven more years of healthy living. Who wouldn't want that? We're going to talk about the health span and also the Hartley Jazz Tria will be with us live on June 26th and Fort Myers. We'd love to see you there live in person. It's free, but seating is limited.

So be sure to RSVP now. If you're in Southwest Florida or plan to be visiting, you can go to WGCU.org slash events. WGCU.org slash events for your free RSVP on our June 26 live program. Now, most of us have been through at least a few storms that we can recite the names like our kids or our cousins. Irma, Ian, Michael, Charlie, Wilma, Andrew, for the real storm vets. There are about 200,000 people who have moved to the state since last hurricane season,

more than a million more of new people since Hurricane Nicole in 2022. Maybe that's not a storm you remember Hurricane Nicole. It was a storm in the class of 2022 that included Hurricane Ian. Ian was a category four that carved a path out of the Gulf and through Southwest Florida, one of the most expensive storms on record. Nicole came from the Atlantic just six weeks later. It was briefly, briefly a category one, barely a hurricane. But in Volusia County, Nicole's winds and waves washed out beaches

and foundations of dozens of condominium buildings, hotels, and homes. Nicole is a reminder how it takes just one storm and not even a major storm to cause major damage. Nancy Miller is with us now, Mayor of Daytona Beach Shores. It's on a barrier island just south of its more famous neighbor, Daytona Beach. Mayor Miller, welcome to the program. Thanks for your time. Nancy Miller, are you with us from Daytona Beach Shores? Yes, I'm here. Thank you for having me. Of course, Mayor Miller. We appreciate it. How's the rebuilding efforts, what, three, four years here after Hurricane Nicole?

We're doing fairly well. We had 127 properties that had lost sea walls. Now, these were seawalls that had been there since the 50s and had gone through multiple, multiple storms. But again, it started with Ian and then Nicole. finished it off. We probably have two or three properties that we're still looking at trying to rebuild. Other than that, we've had them rebuild decks back in place and getting along and preparing now in case we would have another one. Yeah, what's been the strategy of rebuilding those very important seawalls? Is it rebuilding to just modern standards or is there a rethinking of how to approach where the sea meets the shore? So unfortunately, seawalls are not insurable. So every one of our condos and hotels in Daytona Beach Shores had to incur the expense of rebuilding those sea walls. And we needed to work with several different entities to do the rebuilding up to their standards.

So we had to go through DEP, Department Environmental Protection, our Volusia County, and then our city too, because they did have different standards than when they were originally put up. Now across the peninsula from you, Mayor Miller, at the end of State Road 24 is Cedar Key. As you can imagine, its name suggests an island in the Gulf, and that's exactly what Cedar Key is. Over the course of 13 months, it was hit by three storms, Adalia, a Category 3, Debbie, a Category 1, and then the big one, Haleen, a Category 4 storm. Jim Wortham is with us here as well, joining our conversation, Mayor of Cedar Key. Mayor Wortham, 19 months since that big Category 4 storm.

What kind of shape is Cedar Key in today? You wouldn't recognize Cedar Key had you been here 19 months ago. We've made great strides in coming back. We lost a great number of homes. Some of those have been built back already. Others are on the way. And we have a lot of our businesses back online. We have a lot more remaining trying to get their final occupation certificates and everything in place.

But we're making great strides. What's been the strategy behind, you know, the urge the need to rebuild for personal reasons, for economic reasons, and the desire appetite and budgets for reinforcing against the next storm in Cedar Key. Well, so Cedar Key is unique on the Gulf Coast in the sense that we do have some elevation. We have a few hills. We are an archipelago of islands essentially three miles out in the Gulf. And so we're exposed that way, but we do have some elevation that we can take advantage of. And so the city itself is moving some infrastructure, some resources,

higher ground. But the businesses are staying in place. They're trying to build back stronger than they were. And with every storm, we learn new lessons on what makes our town stronger. Mayor Miller, how about for you in Daytona Beach Shores? This, you know, rush to rebuild is a perfectly human nature, but the absolute need to be able to reinforce against nature. So again, the most of ours that selected the damage was on condos. So these are people's home. So a lot of them, this was their second home. They could go back up north. Most of them, though, this was their home. So they were very, very anxious to rebuild to get back in there. This, our condos are on the east side of our state highway. So they're right on the ocean. We did not have many businesses that were affected at all. So again, residential living. What are some of the lessons that you take away, Mayor Miller from the experience back in 2022?

with Hurricane Nicole? Preparedness. We did a great job of communicating. One of the issues that we had was people had lived through the other storms that you mentioned and said, I've stayed in my home. I've never left. I'm not leaving this time. Well, we had 27 properties that had damage that we had to evacuate them.

That's never happened before. The intrusion got all the way into the bottom floor, and we were worried about having a gate. something like you had down there in south. Yeah. Oh, with a surfside collapse. Yeah, with a surfside collapse. Yeah, which was not related to a hurricane hitting, but I understand what you're saying there.

But on a barrier island, have you rethought evacuation orders and timing? Again, it's just preparedness that we need to get people out there and know you need to leave. You need to have a plan. You need to be prepared. You have to know who you're staying with. Again, being on a barrier island, we only have one of one of you have one. or two ways to get off of that. And then you have to keep in mind when the winds reach 39 miles per hour, we close those bridges. Well, if you've got two ways to get off with the car or a truck,

that's 100% more ways than getting off Cedar Key, Mayor Wortham, because you've got one road in, one road out. What are the lessons ahead of this storm season that you want the residents of Cedar Key in the nature coast to keep in mind? Well, that's true. And we take our evacuation orders pretty seriously. But we also don't want to cry wolf too often either. So we save evacuations for those serious storms. And each storm's a little bit different. You know, a wind event for us is completely different than a storm surge event.

But if we give the orders to evacuate, we want to make sure folks do it. And, you know, neighbors are helping neighbors. People are going to the mainland. And everybody's got their checklist. And maybe three days out where they start preparing. and then one day out is before more serious. You make final preparations, but everybody's got their operations that they take care of.

Mayor Wortham, Jim Wortham with Cedar Key, and Mayor Nancy Miller with Daytona Beach Shores. Your Honors, thanks so much. And let's hope for a quiet season for all of us here on the Peninsula Panhandle. Well, thank you so much for having us on today. Sure thing. Yes, sir. Thank you very much.

Our pleasure. Thank you. Well, the law writing season has yet to end in Florida here as we're on the eve of hurricane season. Today, legislators are prepared to pass a $114.14.5 billion spending plan for state government. We'll talk about what's in that budget and what isn't and how it could face the governor's veto pin in a moment. Lawmakers will be back in Tallahassee next week for their third special session this year. And the topic, property taxes. Governor Rondesantis has been promising a plan to cut or eliminate most property taxes for homeowners. This week, he released his idea, raising the homesteading

exemption on primary homes for owners, so they pay taxes on lower assessed values of their homes. I want to get something done. I want to make sure people can go and vote for something and then see something that's going to be very, very meaningful in their lives. And the way to do that is to focus on the homestead property owners. Megan, Oman is a reporter with your Florida reporting project from our partner station WUSF in Tampa. Megan, welcome back to the program. Nice to talk to you. All right. All right. Let's begin. with the property taxes here. Governor DeSantis says his proposal would eliminate property taxes eventually for about 60% of Florida homeowners. What's this step-up plan that he's put in front

of lawmakers? Right. So the current exemption is up to $50,000 of a homes assessed value. If voters approve it, the state would increase the homestead exemption to 150,000, effective January 1st, 2027. And then a 250,000 exemption would take effect. on January 1st of 2028. So that is what could be on the ballot in November for voters to decide that fate. The governor also wants lawmakers to act and to have an even larger exemption eventually, right? Oh, yes. This legislation would then increase it all the way up to 500,000.

And so what do supporters here say about what it could mean for property taxes for many Florida? families? So first, a homestead exemption means it's your primary residence. Realtor.com estimates if the governor's plan moves forward during next week's special session and voters approve it in November, then property values would jump about 8% right away. And that would make homes less affordable, right, for first-time buyers. The governor proposes creating a website so people could figure out how much they'd save. But that answer depends on where you live and your home's value and estimates have it between one and three thousand dollars a year. So it's interesting that affordability piece really would go after existing homeowners. If the tax

liability goes down, the value of that property and the open market may go up, which would then impact affordability for folks who are trying to buy a home for the first time. Interesting. So how realistic is it that the legislature could approve the governor's plan given that the House has approved its own plan and nothing came out of the Senate this spring? Yeah, so DeSantis may not have thought he could get support for an outright end to property taxes. So the proposal does it a little bit at a time. If Republican lawmakers go along, they could say they're addressing the state's affordability crisis. Senate President Ben All Britain quickly endorsed this plan. The House had already passed a property tax cut proposal during the regular session, but the Senate

never considered it. And that plan did not include cuts to school funding. So the legislature will have to vote on the proposal next week before the governor has signed the budget. And DeSantis has said he could use his line item veto power to eliminate things being sought by lawmakers who vote no. I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Ronda from your Florida Public radio station. We're speaking with Megan Bowman, reporter with the Your Florida Reporting Project from our partner station in Tampa, WUSF. Megan, you mentioned the budget because that's the big issue here on this Friday. The hanky hasn't quite dropped in Tallahassee, I don't think, because we're talking here just a little bit before 1 p.m. Eastern time, but after weeks in

negotiation, legislative leaders have reached the final deal on this spending plan. second year in a row that the chambers failed to pass a budget on time still plenty of time before the next fiscal year begins July 1. What are some of the biggest

areas of disagreement though before they were able to get on the same page? Well, you know, this budget it's a little bit slightly higher than what the House originally proposed, but lower than what the Senate wanted.

But in the end, both chambers did have to make some concessions to reach this final agreement. So some of the biggest points of contention were in education funding, specifically the state's voucher program, and of course the transfer of the University of South Florida-Sarasota Manatee campus to new college. The chambers were also divided on funding the Cancer Innovation Fund. It's a pet project of First Lady Casey DeSantis. Lawmakers finally agreed to put 20 million into it. But there were a few

things that lawmakers could just not agree on, though. One being security funding. The Senate wanted to pay for DeSantis and his family to have a security detail for one year after he leaves office in January, but the House would not budge. The Senate also would not agree to the House's push for $250,000 to study the effects on leaving the federal health care exchange. It's where people shop for affordable care act plans. On health care, we did some reporting a few weeks ago around Florida's AIDS drug assistance program, this ADAP program. Some severe cuts were made by the State Department of Health earlier this year. Lawmakers put a stopgap measure in place. What's the future of the program under this budget? Well, I think it's no surprise. There were also disagreements about this program,

which gives HIV-positive Floridians access to medication. So lawmakers agreed to put aside $75 million to keep the program running and will cap it at 21,000 participants. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation welcomes the agreement, though, since it reverses some earlier cuts to the program. And in addition to the funding, it also restores eligibility to people making 400% of the federal poverty level. What about, let's move to environmental spending, because this is a place where the state government has made some dedicated revenue sources in the past, as the governor has talked about Everglades restoration, certainly.

What's in, what's out for Florida's environment in the state budget? Yeah, so the state still plans to spend about $200 million on citrus research and recovery. And like you mentioned, Everglades Restoration gets more than $600 million. The state is still putting more than $22 million toward the deep water horizon cleanup. That spill in the Gulf in 2010. 2010, yeah. Yeah, caused $100 million. 134 million gallons of oil to spill.

In Florida forever, the state land conservation program was not funded at all, but they did put money into the rural and family lands protection program, which pays farmers and ranchers to not develop their land. Megan Bowman, looking through that spreadsheet there as the Florida legislature is prepared to approve the spending plan and send it to the governor's desk sometime on this Friday. We appreciate your reporting, Megan. Thanks so much. Thanks.

Megan is with the Your Florida Reporting Project from our partner station WUSF. A budget is an expression of values. So what do you say, Floridians? What do you think of this budget? And how might it impact your voting for the upcoming August primary for some races as well as the November general election?

We're looking for some voter voices here on the Florida Roundup if you would like to raise your hand. Red, blue, green, yellow, doesn't matter what political color or political stripe you choose. Just send us a quick email. at the Florida Roundup.org. I'm Tom Hudson, and you're listening to the Florida Roundup

from your Florida Public Radio Station. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being with us. Next week, of course, kicks off the official Atlantic hurricane season. We've been talking about it this hour and what that might look like for Floridians this year.

And in particular, if you live along the coast, after all, you know, Florida has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States, about 8,500 miles of tidal shoreline up and down the peninsula and across the panhandle. It makes the Sunshine State particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels. Global warming has elevated Florida's water by eight inches

since 1950, and it's expected to keep rising. But instead of cement and steel to hold the water back, how about seashells and mangroves to stabilize coastlines? Well, it's gaining momentum across the Tampa Bay region called A Living Shoreline. Here's Jessica Mazzaros with our partner station WUSF in Tampa. Mesh bags filled with oyster shells are stacked to create a barrier between Old Tampa Bay and Red Mangroves at Philippi Park in Safety Harbor.

This is called a living shoreline. It's the opposite of a hardened shoreline, which uses concrete or other material to build a seawall. Stacey Day with Pinellas County heads up this effort. We know that there used to be oysters in this part of the bay. So they're reviving that population. Oyster reefs along the shore helped to break up waves and prevent the land from eroding. Plus, each adult oyster can filter a lot of water, you know, up to 50 gallons a day. So it's good for the health of the bay.

Pinellas has eight living shoreline projects at this park alone. One of them is an offshore oyster reef, which day says helped minimize flood damage from the hurricanes a couple years. ago. It didn't move at all in the storms. It's not just oysters. Living shorelines can be made with sand, rocks, and plants. And these natural barriers get stronger as they get older, unlike traditional seawalls, which weaken over time before ultimately crumbling. That's the case for one 50 miles south at Rose Park along Palmasola Bay in Manatee County. The seawall is very old, and where we're standing today, you can see the giant cracks and you can see the rebar that is in the old concrete that was used to establish the wall.

Sherry Swanson with the county says this seawall didn't stop floodwaters from submerging the park during Hurricane Helene in 2024. The stormwater came over the seawall and it went into the park and some of the trees were killed by the salt water and other ones were knocked over by the wind. Now, Manatee is replacing the seawall

with a natural slope made of oyster bars, artificial reefs and native plants. And then the waves will be able to gently roll up the slopes versus crashing into these abrupt seawall edges that are currently here. Another 40 miles south at Blackburn Point in Sarasota County, I walk on shells. The Gulf water is lapping onto red mangrove trees. Armando Ubeda of Florida Sea Grant says where I'm standing didn't exist 10 years ago. You wouldn't be able to stand at this spot because it was a big drop.

The county used coconut fiber logs to build out. the non-existent shoreline. They added mangroves, oysters, and loose shells. The project is considered a success. The shoreline is being restored, basically. The soil is in there. The park is still here. And we're getting more people coming now,

fishing and doing things. So it's great. So far, most of Florida's living shoreline restoration has happened on public lands by local governments. There's more than 30 reported across the state. But Ubeda says there's a huge missing piece to this resiliency puzzle. We need private homeowners to get involved.

Residents own more of the state's coastline than their governments do. So Ubeda's team published an informational website. They also offer a course that teaches people to navigate the design and permitting process. And a new state law passed this year helps streamline the red tape. Some Tampa Bay Area homeowners have actually started implementing these more natural practices. The seawall, across from Betty Resnicki's St. Pete Beach Home, is cracked. Pieces are falling into the blue-green water of Bocasiega Bay. After Helene and Milton, the seawall had collapsed. But this subdivision of the Don Cesar

neighborhood had been discussing mayor shoreline's resiliency long before the 2024 hurricanes. This is one of the lower-lying areas of St. Pete Beach. We experienced a lot of tidal flow issues because of king tides and then stormwater flooding issues. So all of that brought us together. Maybe 11, years ago to talk about, hey, something's happening here. Those talks between Resnicki and her neighbors included a marine biologist named Tom Rees. He's considered the Living Shorelines Guru. I've worked for the state for many years, and after doing about 80-some projects, they all only had one common denominator, and they're all on public lands.

Reese wanted to help private property owners by starting a nonprofit called Ecosphere Restoration Institute. So we could use public dollars on private land because the birds and fish don't care who owns it. So we shouldn't. Sea walls are needed in some really deep areas. But Reese says most of the time they aren't necessary. Still, they've been the most popular option. And here's why that's a problem. With these vertical walls, a boat goes by, the wake hits it.

Well, that wave energy goes up or down. And the part that goes down resuscends the sediment. So the water is dirtier. In contrast, a gradual slope made of native plants fosters marine life. But it's not just about water quality. Rees says his living shoreline projects held up during the back-to-back storms a couple years ago. Happy to say the 11 out of 11 high-energy sites, all of them held. While right next door, tire piers went out.

It has been challenging, though, for residents to replace their failing seawall with a living shoreline. That transition requires paying for design and permitting, steps that aren't required for another traditional seawall. So it's a big disincentive. The state did just pass a law to make the process easier and to help with funding. So we'll see how that plays out when it goes into effect July 1st. In the meantime, Reese has some other options up his sleeve. He helped Betty Resnicki and her St. Pete Beach neighbors get some funding to pay for designs. Because their seawall abuts a public right-of-way, they qualify.

qualified for city money and a grant. The design plans for a living shoreline would be transferable to other property owners in our area. So you would have, you know, ready to go engineered plans that would meet different depths. Her particular design includes rocks, marsh, and mangroves. They're just beginning the installation. Reese has also grouped up neighbors in Tampa to split the cost of design and permitting along the Hillsborough River. David Reed lives on the edge of downtown in the Ridgewood Park community, which was flooded by Hurricane Helene. The river came over the bank with the storm surge, so our property was completely covered in water.

The shoreline behind his house just had some riprap and poured concrete to protect his property, and it's been eroding over time with increased boat traffic. Some research and phone calls led him to Tom Reese. The living shoreline's guru shepherded Reed and a couple of his neighbors. through design and permitting, which came out to about $25,000, split three ways. We did get some benefits from all doing it together, and then we got to a point where we were ready to go ahead and build the shoreline, and it is very expensive. Construction costs tripled after the pandemic shutdown.

Reed got a $90,000 estimate for his portion. Although his neighbors gave up, Reed decided to do it himself. He bought five tons of lime rock. Using his truck, a wheelbarrow, and his own two hands, he manually filled his shoreline, rock by rock. It was a lot of work, but it was doable. The design calls for soil, plants, and another 25 tons of rock. But Reed says,

I think that would be the end of me. So he's planning to hire a crew to help him finish up by the end of the year. I'm Jessica Mazzaros in Tampa. And I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to The Florida Rondeup. from your Florida Public Radio Station. Florida's coastal communities may have another threat to contend with this summer, Sargassum. That's the leafy brown seaweed.

It floats on top of the ocean. You know, in small amounts, it shelters fish, crabs, and sea turtles. But in large quantities, it can pile up onto beaches and release hydrogen sulfide gas, creating, shall we say, a distinct odor. It is a little bit of a fishy smell and like a seaweed smell, if anybody knows what that is. but it's very uncomfortable to walk on. It's very slimy. That was one South Florida beachgoer

who spoke with NBC6 over the Memorial Day weekend. There were reports of sargassum there, as well as on the shores of Palm Beach, Brevard and Duval counties. Researchers at the University of South Florida expect this year to be a record year for sarcasm. Now, these environmental issues and how the state addresses a changing climate

are top of mind for some Florida voters and perhaps it's motivating your vote. Well, regardless of what is pushing you to the ballot box, we want to hear about what matters to you for the August primary. Sustainability, the environment, housing costs, education, inflation. Email us radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org if you'd like to be considered for a future roundtable of Florida voter voices. Republican Democrat NPA doesn't matter.

Same email for everybody because we're all Floridians. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. And finally on the roundup this week, as the storm season begins, another ends. Turn, turn, turn. Love bug season should be winding down soon. Like cleaning a smear off your windshield, the insects should fade away as their mating season ends. Drivers in Central and Southwest Florida especially have been scrubbing down their bumpers a lot. This has been a season of large swarms of love bugs in those places.

They have an acidic body. so if they smack up against your car, you want to get them washed off immediately because the acid will eat through some paints. Not so much the newer cars anymore, but the older ones for sure. That's Dr. Debbie Casell. She's a biology professor at the University of South Florida. Now, while annoying to drive her certainly, the bugs are harmless to us humans. There has been a drop-off in love bugs and insects in general in recent years, but it's been a busy season of love in some places. across the state. These bugs are not native to Florida, by the way, and they get their name from those swarms. You see, they're mating while floating over Florida's fields and roads.

Oh, and August and September is when the season returns again. Turn, turn, turn. And that is our program for today. The Florida Rundup is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WSF and Tampa. The show is produced by Bridget O'Brien. Denise Royale is WLRin's senior producer of content streaming and news products. W. L. L.R.N.'s director of live original programming is Katie Munoz, and the vice president of radio is Peter Mertz. The program's technical director is M.J. Smith.

Engineering help each, and every week from Doug Peterson, Harvey Bissard, and Ernesto J. Our theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist Aaron Libos at Aaron Leibos.com. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and above all, supporting public media in your slice of the Sunshine State. I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend.

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