Endless Summer has now surpassed the University of Florida as the top selling specialty license plate in Florida, notwithstanding generating slightly less revenue this year compared to 2019, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Showing that specialty license plates continue to generate revenue for worthy causes, despite the pandemic - raising over $32 million in 2020.
Miami Heat and Tampa Bay Bucs both increased their sales and revenue in 2020, the only two specialty plates to do so in the Top 10. So far in the 2021 Florida State Legislative Session, 7 new specialty plates have been proposed and bills have been filed for the following: Explore our State Parks - Rep Allison Tant (D-Leon County) / Senator Dennis Baxley R-Lady Lake Inter Miami CF - Senator Manny Diaz (R-Hialeah Gardens) Toastmasters - Senator Linda Stewart (D-Orlando) Gopher Tortoise - Senator Linda Stewart (D-Orlando) Orlando United - Senator Linda Stewart (D-Orlando) Protect Wild Dolphins Alliance - Rep Jim Mooney (R-Florida Keys) Honor Flight - Rep Brett Thomas Gage (R-Sumter County) The state is also in the process of completing presale voucher requirements for 32 new plates, which commenced in October, 2019.
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Surfing advocates and the California Coastal Commission rained ire this week on a bill that would allow San Diego and Orange county homeowners to build seawalls by right, sidestepping commission oversight. Seawalls are highly controversial in California, viewed as a property defense against sea-level rise and the crumbling of coastal cliffs. At the same time, seawalls prevent the natural replenishment of beach sand from cliff faces and land runoff. Republican Sen. Pat Bates, who represents portions of San Diego and Orange counties, brought SB 1090 before the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee allowing testimony from pre-selected speakers. The father of an Encinitas family that lost three members when a cliff collapsed on top of their weekend picnic last year gave emotional testimony on behalf of the bill. “There is no plan for sand replenishment or any other bluff changes to increase safety on this very popular stretch of beach where my accident occurred,” said J. Patrick Davis, a pediatric dentist. Seawalls, or “hard armoring” as Surfrider Foundation’s scientist Jennifer Savage called the structures, do not make beaches safer, she said. “They destroy the beach by speeding-up erosion,” Savage said. The Coastal Commission representative argued the Encinitas incident was a tragic accident, not due to a lack of action by the commission to approve or deny a seawall in the area. “The bill is designed to make it faster, easier and cheaper to build seawalls primarily to protect private residential development,” Sarah Christie, the commission’s legislative director, testified. “For every seawall that is built, the public loses a beach.” There was no committee vote, however. Sen. Henry Stern, the committee chair, and Bates agreed ahead of time to hear the bill without the vote, and testimony was heard on May 26, 2020. said Josh Kirmsse, Stern’s communications director. The Committee Analysis states that for Orange and San Diego Counties, this bill would effectively authorize by-right construction of sea walls/other hard shoreline structures and only allow the commission or a local government to deny an application for a shoreline protective device only if they determine that the construction of a shoreline protective device would constitute a substantial threat to the public health or safety. It also seeks to prohibit a state agency or local government to adopt an ordinance, regulation, policy or rule that is inconsistent with these requirements. Supporters of the bill include California Apartment Association, California Association of Realtors, Newport Beach Association of Realtors, North San Diego County Association of Realtors, Oceanside Chamber of Commerce, Orange County Realtors, County of San Diego, and ‘four individuals’. Opposers to the bill included Azul, Azul was founded in 2011 by Marce Gutierrez-Graudins, to bring Latinxs perspectives and participation to ocean conservation, and are legally organized under the Trust for Conservation Innovation. After experiencing how mainstream ocean conservation efforts and campaigns were leaving Latinxs out, Marce decided to start Azul to engage her community in protecting coastal resources and marine life. In a joint sign-on letter expressing strong opposition, Azul, among others, writes that SB 1090 “would pave the way for private property owners to effectively hasten and accelerate the loss of public beaches from the Orange County and San Diego coasts under the guise of claiming to improve public safety.” Others who registered in opposition to the bill were California Coastal Protection Network, Heal the Bay, California Coastal Commission, California Coastkeeper Alliance, California League of Conservation Voters, California Native Plant Society, Center for Biological Diversity, Clean Water Action, Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, Plastic Pollution Coalition, Seventh Generation Advisors, Sierra Club California, Surfrider Foundation, The 5 Gyres Institute, The Center for Oceanic Awareness, Research, and Education (COARE), The Honorable Betty T. Yee, California State Controller, and the Nature Conservancy. Heal the Bay is an advocacy group of activists based in Santa Monica, California. The focus is protecting coastal waters and watersheds of southern California. Senators will do more work on the legislation at the committee level. The bill analysis also states that "erosion will be exacerbated by the presence of sea walls on the seaward size of the sea wall. Public accessibility will be correspondingly compromised. Beaches need natural erosion and sediment transfer for their health. Living shorelines, soft armoring and managed retreat, if necessary, should be prioritized. How can shoreline armoring be 'designed to mitigate or protect against coastal erosion' as it is known to exacerbate that very thing?" It also comments that the bill "provides an implicit public subsidy to private landowners." Click here for the full bill text. On May 5, 2020, in its first ever virtual Board meeting, the Coastal Conservancy authorized $8.2 million in grant funding for projects to restore, protect and increase access to the California Coast and San Francisco Bay. Due to state and local Shelter-In-Place orders, members of the Conservancy’s Board, staff and the public convened via teleconference to discuss and approve 20 projects. Among the grants awarded was $1,000,000 to the National Wildlife Federation to prepare engineering designs and construction specifications for a wildlife crossing that will connect the Santa Monica Mountains to the Sierra Madre Range over US-101 and Agoura Road, west of Liberty Canyon Road in the City of Agoura Hills. The wildlife crossing’s primary beneficiary will be the mountain lion (Puma concolor) population in and around the Santa Monica Mountains. There are approximately 10 to 15 mountain lions remaining in this area, and the habitat fragmentation caused by US-101 causes inbreeding, territorial fighting, decreased genetic diversity, and declining health among the mountain lions. Scientists and wildlife managers predict the mountain lion population in the Santa Monica Mountains will be extinct in the next 50 years without a safe US-101 crossing at Liberty Canyon. The Board also approved a grant of up to $500,000 to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority to prepare plans, designs, environmental review documents and a public works plan for a campground and associated amenities at the Malibu Bluffs in the City of Malibu. One of the biggest barriers for low and middle-income Californians to accessing and enjoying the coast is the lack of affordable overnight options. Nearly 60% of Californians never spend the night when they visit the coast. This project will help expand coastal camping in Southern California. When constructed, the Malibu Bluffs Campground would add 50 campsites ranging from platform tent cabins/yurts to pop-up tent campsites, nearly doubling the number of campsites in the City of Malibu, which receives 15 million visitors annually. A grant of up to $50,000 was authorized, to the Orange County Coastkeeper to prepare a business plan, evaluate design options, and prepare permit applications for the purchase and installation of ten prefabricated lower-cost bungalows at the Waterfront RV Park in Huntington Beach, Orange County.
A grant of up to $1,300,000 was authorized to go to the Redwood Coast Land Conservancy for the acquisition of the 113-acre Mill Bend property and preparation of an integrated resource management plan for the property, located at the mouth of the Gualala River in Sonoma and Mendocino counties. |
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