One of the Largest Counties in the U.S. Votes to Place Rights of Nature Initiative onto November 2020 Ballot; State Legislature Takes Actions to Preempt

Contact: Thomas Linzey, Esq., Senior Counsel, CDER
717.729.2271 (c)

For Immediate Release

March 4, 2020 – Today, the fifteen member Orange County, Florida Charter Review Commission (CRC) voted to place a “rights of nature” initiative onto the November, 2020 ballot. The initiative, the first of its kind to be placed on a county ballot for a public vote, would recognize legal rights for the rivers and waters of Orange County, while also recognizing the rights of Orange County residents to a safe and healthy environment.

By population, Orange County is the thirtieth largest County in the United States, the fifth largest county in Florida, and larger than ten of the states in the country. The County’s actions follow the lawmaking of over three dozen communities in the United States and judicial decrees and legislative actions in several other countries around the globe, to recognize ecosystems as having enforceable legal rights.

The Orange County initiative was originally proposed by Speak Up Wekiva, a nonprofit organization in the County which has worked to protect the Wekiva River. The initiative was the subject of an earlier vote by the Charter Review Commission – the body created by the County to examine proposed changes to the County’s Charter – and was voted out unanimously by the committee assigned to make recommendations on the proposal.

Chuck O’Neal, the President of Speak Up Wekiva, declared that “the vote by the Orange County Charter Review Commission to place this initiative onto the ballot is a reflection that we need to find new ways of protecting Florida’s waterways. As other countries and municipalities have done, if we believe in protecting Florida’s rivers, we must protect them with one of the most effective tools available – the legal recognition that they have rights and that people have the authority to defend and enforce those rights.”

In response to the Commission’s vote, and the advancement of initiatives across the State calling for the recognition of rights for rivers and bays, legislators in the Florida House and Senate have introduced bills to remove authority from counties to recognize legal rights for ecosystems. 

Thomas Linzey, Senior Counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER), explained that “there is a pattern and practice of state preemption over local laws that provide greater protections for the natural environment against corporate interests. It is those corporate interests that provide campaign dollars from certain industries to candidates for elected office. Courts need to begin to place constraints on legislators acting to “privatize” the state legislature which, in effect, elevates the rights of certain corporations over the rights of Florida residents to govern their own communities.”