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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – On Earth Day, a new Florida<\/a> law is drawing attention for how it reshapes climate policy throughout the Sunshine State.<\/p>\n The backstory:<\/p>\n Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a> signed\u00a0House Bill 1217<\/a> into law on Wednesday afternoon in Jacksonville.\u00a0<\/p>\n The law will prohibit local and state government entities from enforcing “net-zero” greenhouse gas emissions policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n The law also blocks taxpayer dollars from funding groups that support policies tied to what the governor calls the Green New Deal.<\/p>\n “We\u2019re just going to stop the madness here and that\u2019s what this bill does,” DeSantis said.<\/p>\n Dig deeper:<\/p>\n The governor also pointed to spending by local governments as an example of why the law is needed.<\/p>\n “We are seeing some of the things that are still being done in local governments,” DeSantis said. “Including the city of St. Pete, spending $300,000 on consulting services for a sustainability action plan.”<\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n Republican State Rep. Berny Jacques of Pinellas County<\/a> sponsored the bill in the Florida House.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jacques says previous policies hurt job growth, particularly in manufacturing.<\/p>\n “This prohibits governments from targeting certain industries in the name of carbon reduction,” Jacques said.<\/p>\n The other side:<\/p>\n Environmental<\/a> advocates are raising concerns about the long-term impact of the law.<\/p>\n This includes Phil Compton, a volunteer with the Florida Sierra Club.\u00a0<\/p>\n Compton says the timing behind this bill\u2019s signing sends a strong message.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s an insult to everybody who cares about the future,” Compton said. “Earth Day is about what kind of future our children and grandchildren have.”<\/p>\n Big picture view:<\/p>\n The law also bans local governments from enforcing electric vehicle mandates.\u00a0<\/p>\n Which is why Compton warns that this bill may lead to higher costs over time.<\/p>\n “This law will cost all taxpayers more money,” Compton concluded. “We\u2019re going to be using more expensive old technology instead of new technology.”<\/p>\n What’s next:<\/p>\n The law is set to take effect on July 1, giving cities and counties time to review existing policies.<\/p>\n The Source: Information for this story came from statements from the Florida Governor’s Office, an interview with a Florida Sierra Club volunteer and previous reporting on FOX 13.<\/p>\n Florida<\/a>Florida Legislature<\/a>Ron DeSantis<\/a>Environment<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – On Earth Day, a new Florida law is drawing attention for how it reshapes climate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[25632,1563,47,28,30,100,29,115,992,412,628],"class_list":{"0":"post-242773","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-2020-election","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-florida-headlines","13":"tag-florida-legislature","14":"tag-florida-news","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-people","17":"tag-ron-desantis","18":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/vlcsnap-2026-04-22-22h20m57s565.jpg\")
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