Whether it’s polluted waterways or sweeping habitat loss for Florida’s most vulnerable species, there’s a growing list of environmental issues facing Florida’s latest round of elected leaders.

Lawmakers — spearheaded by a majority Republican House and Senate — arrived in Tallahassee this week for the 2025 legislative session, where potential environmental laws and annual funding will be analyzed, debated and tweaked over the next 60 days.

Will politicians enshrine stronger land protections in response to the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis trying to build hotels and golf courses on state parks?

After back-to-back hurricanes, what are lawmakers doing to make coastlines more resilient?

And how are leaders going to spend their time — debating measures like the Gulf of America and conspiracies about changing the weather, or coming up with ways to better inform the public about pollution and reforming the group keeping utility companies accountable?

The Tampa Bay Times gathered the below list of proposed environmental laws to watch.

Protecting state parks

Title:State Land Management or ‘State Park Preservation Act’

This bill would prohibit building on state parks any amenities that aren’t for “conservation-based” outdoor recreation activities such as canoeing, bicycling or hiking. The measure prohibits building hotels and golf courses on park land and would increase public transparency around changes proposed for state parks. The measure comes after the Times revealed that the DeSantis administration proposed developing nine state parks, prompting bipartisan outrage and protests that caused the government to abandon the plans. Nonprofit groups have urged bill sponsors to extend protections to state forests and wildlife management areas.

Using nature for more coastal resilience

Title: Nature-based Methods for Improving Coastal Resilience

After the Tampa Bay area was walloped by hurricanes 13 days apart, this measure would require the St. Petersburg-based University of South Florida College of Marine Science to develop ways to improve a coastline’s storm resilience through natural solutions, like replanting mangrove trees and bolstering oyster reefs. This bill would require the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to study and adopt new rules for these green methods.

Mining company lawsuit protections?

Title: Former phosphate mining lands

This measure would offer legal protections for mining companies such as the Tampa-based Fortune 500 Mosaic Co. and provide exceptions to a law meant to keep industries accountable for their pollution. Environmental groups like Friends of the Everglades argue the measure would protect mining companies like Mosaic and others from lawsuits because it eliminates a way to keep the company responsible for its environmental messes. Mosaic has hired several lobbyists to work on the bills, records show, and Seeking Rents, an investigative journalism site, reported the mining giant also donated to the bill’s Senate sponsor before he introduced the measure.

Keeping Floridians in the loop on poop

Title: Safe Waterways Act

This measure would make the Florida Department of Environmental Protection responsible for testing waterways for bacterial pollution instead of the state health department. Last year, DeSantis vetoed a similar version of this bill that received unanimous approval, saying it was flawed because it gave the health department authority to close state beaches, waterways and pools. His veto sparked discontent from environmental advocacy groups.

Plastic preemption?

Title: Regulation of Auxiliary Containers

This bill would prevent local governments from regulating reusable or single-use cups, cans, bottles and more, putting that power in the hands of state government. A similar bill failed last year. Nonprofits that advocate for Florida’s water bodies and springs, including the Florida Springs Council, said the measure would lead to more plastic pollution across state parks and other, already inundated waterways.

Less profit for utility companies

Title: Public Service Commission

As Florida’s largest utility companies profit off the bills Floridians pay, this proposal would hamper companies’ abilities to earn high rates of return. Regulators would have to “work to keep” each utility’s shareholder profit similar to the rate that a 10-year Treasury note earns. The bill would add two members to the five-person Florida Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities. It would also require that utility companies disclose how much executives make.

“Utilities are government-created monopolies,” Sen. Don Gaetz, the bill’s sponsor, recently told the Tampa Bay Times. “It’s not our business how much money the president of Publix makes, but how much money the president of a public utility makes is our business, if it’s excessive.”

Changes for state water managers?

Title: Water Management Districts

This measure would give lawmakers the ability to better-scrutinize projects by water management districts across Florida, including the potential to turn down proposed water projects using state funds. This bill would require South Florida’s water managers to work with regulators to tally the estimated remaining costs of completing Everglades restoration, among other progress updates. The Senate president’s office says the legislation would increase transparency.

Drones, guns and fluoride

Title: Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

This sweeping “Farm Bill,” championed by Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, bans flying drones on lands classified as agricultural and “on or near private property, state-hunting lands, or shooting ranges with the intent to harass.” The proposal would also prohibit what the bill language refers to as “additives in a water system” that are not for public health purposes. While not referring to it by name, the bill could move to end adding fluoride to Florida’s drinking water supplies. The wide-ranging bill also speeds up the concealed weapon license application process.

A task force on carbon

Title: Carbon Sequestration

The legislation would create the Carbon Sequestration Task Force. Members would submit a report to the governor and Legislature, recommending natural areas where carbon sequestration would be appropriate. The practice refers to the long-term storage of carbon in plants, the ocean and other natural habitats, and keeps the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere.

‘Others would call it conspiracy theories’

Title: Geoengineering and Weather Modification Activities

The legislation would ban the use of chemicals to alter weather in the state. The bill was introduced a month after unsubstantiated theories cropped up on social media that the government created Hurricane Milton. Among the legislation’s measures: repealing state law that allows licensed weather modification, banning research into the field and adding a $100,000 fine for the practice. Sen. Ileana Garcia, R-Miami, said during a committee meeting in February that no one has applied for a permit to modify weather in more than a decade.

“Some would call it concerns, others would call it conspiracy theories,” Garcia said in the meeting. “But I thought perhaps this bill would allow us to start somewhere where we can start to separate fact from fiction.”

In the same meeting, Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando said the bill lacked research and worried about using environmental resources to investigate claims.

‘Gulf of America’ sweeps Legislature

Title: The Designation of the Gulf of America

President Donald Trump’s proclamation to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America has caused confusion among government and private entities. Two pieces of legislation introduced by House and Senate Republicans seek to cement the name into Florida’s vocabulary.

One piece of legislation seeks to change all mentions — more than 50 — of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in Florida statutes.

Title: Gulf of America

The other legislation would require updated maps to reflect the name change, along with new school materials utilizing the switch. It would also rename a stretch of U.S. 41, which runs from Tampa to Miami, from the “Tamiami Trail” to the “Gulf of America Trail.”

More resilient, more tax credit

Title: Resilient Buildings

Buildings that have one of several Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certificates would be eligible for a tax credit. Lawmakers would create the Florida Resilient Building Advisory Council to provide the state recommendations on improving building resiliency and hardening against hurricanes.

‘Trooper’s law’

Title: Abandoning Restrained Animals During Natural Disasters

The act, referred to as “Trooper’s Law,” was introduced after a dog was found tethered to a fence along Interstate 75 in Tampa just hours before Hurricane Milton’s landfall. The bull terrier was rescued by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper and later renamed Trooper. The bill would make it a third-degree felony to leave an animal restrained outside during a natural disaster and could carry up to a $10,000 fine.