A giant mining company gave last-minute checks to a lot of Florida lawmakers

And now Florida lawmakers may weaken an environmental law that Mosaic doesn't like. Plus: Notable quotes, top stories, and bills on the move from Week 7 of the Florida Legislature's 2024 session.

Photo credit: Bret Bostock

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In early January, just 24 hours before Florida lawmakers gaveled opened this year’s legislative session, more than two dozen legislators from across the state deposited checks from the Mosaic Co. — the Fortune 500 industrial firm that strip-mines phosphate rock and turns it into fertilizer at chemical factories near Tampa.

Records show Mosaic gave at least $109,000 to at least 27 legislators on Jan. 8, which was the final day lawmakers could accept donations before the start of a session-long fundraising freeze.

It’s not clear what prompted Mosaic’s last-minute largesse. The company did not respond to questions about it.

But seven weeks later, Florida lawmakers are on the verge of passing legislation that would weaken a 40-year-old law meant to hold industrial polluters accountable for the damage they cause — a law that has been wielded against Mosaic in the past.

The bills (Senate Bill 738 and House Bill 789) target a provision in Florida’s “Water Quality Assurance Act” that puts companies on the financial hook for any damage they cause when they let pollution seep into the ground or spill into lakes, rivers and streams.

The law provides a powerful legal weapon to anyone who suffers harm because of a company’s pollution. That’s because it imposes what’s known as “strict liability” — which means a company can be forced to compensate victims regardless of whether the pollution was released as a result of negligence or whether it was a pure accident.

It’s meant to make sure that anyone handling or storing potential contaminants — like chemicals that can cause cancer clusters or destroy entire ecosystems — have the maximum financial incentive to be careful.

Mosaic has been caught in the crosshairs of this law in the past.

As part of the manufacturing process that converts phosphate into fertilizer, Mosaic produces a pair of toxic byproducts, including a mildly radioactive substance called “phosphogypsum” and acidic process water contaminated with heavy metals. That waste is stored together mountainous facilities known as “gypstacks.”

During a 2004 hurricane, a breach opened up in one of the company’s gypstacks, releasing an estimated 65 million gallons of process water into a nearby creek and then into Tampa Bay. A group of commercial fishermen sued the company, seeking compensation for lost income because, they said, Mosaic’s pollution had killed off the fishery they relied upon to make their living. Mosaic countered by arguing, in part, that the fishermen weren’t entitled to money because they didn’t actually own any property that had been damaged by the company’s contamination.

The case eventually wound all the way to the Florida Supreme Court. The court sided with the fisherman, ruling the Mosaic was responsible for “economic damages” under the Water Quality Assurance Act.

It’s one of at least two major decisions that Florida’s high court has made about the legal liability of polluters under that law. In a more recent case, the Supreme Court ruled that a tow-truck driver could sue a transport company for personal injury damages after he was burned by battery acid that had spilled across a highway.

And this is where SB 738 and HB 789 come in. The bills would dramatically reduce the legal exposure polluters face under the Water Quality Assurance Act, by limiting their liability only to any damage that their pollution causes to someone else’s property. That would cut off any future claims for economic or personal injury damages.

Mosaic hasn’t publicly lobbied for the legislation. But the bills would effectively enshrine into law some of the legal arguments the company made when trying to fend off the fishermen’s case.  

And while Mosaic hasn’t said anything publicly, big business groups like the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida have both been lobbying hard for the legislation. Mosaic is an important funder of both; for instance, when the Florida Chamber arranged a “Legislative Fly-in” in Tallahassee last month, Mosaic sponsored the lunch.

Each bill has already advanced through a series of committee hearings and are now ready for full votes in both the House and Senate. That means they could be approved at virtually any point during the final week two weeks of this year’s legislative session, which is scheduled to end March 8.

Hiding donor details

You may have noticed those Mosaic contribution totals are a bit imprecise: The company gave “at least $109,000” to “at least 27” legislators on the day before this year’s session began.

There’s a reason for that. Florida lawmakers recently rewrote the state’s campaign-finance laws in a way that makes it impossible for the public to know for sure how much money their representatives and senators raised on the eve of session — at least not until after the session ends.

Lawmakers used to have to report their donors every month, which means that any money they raised during the first week of January would have been reported earlier this month. But Republican legislators last year passed Senate Bill 7050, which allowed lawmakers to report their donors less frequently.    

As a result, lawmakers this year won’t have to file any campaign finance reports for January until April — after the session ends.

But there are separate laws and rules for members of the Florida Legislature who set up political committees — a type of fundraising vehicle that allows them to sidestep traditional contribution limits and accept donations of any size. Those rules require lawmakers to maintain websites for their political committees, where they must post their donations more frequently.

Those 27 Mosaic donations totaling $109,000 turned up in a review of individual political committee websites. But it’s not a comprehensive total. That’s partly because some political committee websites are not easy to find — and partly because not every legislator seems to be keeping their site up to date.

Bipartisan generosity

One last note about Mosaic’s session-eve spending spree: It was bipartisan, at least a little bit.

Most of the company’s money went to Republicans, who command supermajorities in both chambers of the Legislature. The biggest beneficiaries included Rep. Sam Garrison (R-Fleming Island), who is on track to become speaker of the state House in a few years and got $10,000 from Mosaic; and Rep. Toby Overdorf (R-Palm City), who is sponsoring House Bill 789 and got $5,000 from the company.

But Mosaic made sure to cut a few checks to key Democrats, too — including $2,500 each to Rep. Fentrice Driskell (D-Tampa), who is the current Democratic leader in the state House, and Sen. Jason Pizzo (D-Hollywood), who will be the next Democratic leader in the state Senate.  

Quotes from the Capitol

“I did read the blogs this morning about, ‘Are we giving bigger breaks to businesses than we are individuals?’ In my way of thinking, when those businesses get breaks, individuals get breaks. Because — conceivably — their prices are reflective of the breaks they get. So I hope that translates down to Joe Q. Citizen that’s looking for a tax break in whatever way they can get it.”

— Sen. Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton), defending a Senate tax package that would give more tax breaks to businesses than to consumers.

“Part of my philosophical thought process on taxation is, consumers pay all taxes, whether it’s hidden in a business rent tax or whether it’s paid directly through a sales tax. And so we believe that all consumers would benefit from any of the tax cuts that we currently have in the bill.”

— Rep. Stan McClain (R-Ocala), defending a House tax package that would give more tax breaks to businesses than to consumers.

Billtrack

In honor of the hardest-working team in TV this time of year, here’s a look at some of the bills on the move last week:

• House Bill 1: The bill would children under the age of 16 from having accounts on some social-media platforms. Passed the Senate by a 23-14 vote. Passed the House of Representatives by a 108-7 vote. (Senate vote sheet, House vote sheet)*

• House Bill 87: The bill would allow people to shoot Florida black bears if they feel threatened. Passed the Senate by a 24-12 vote. (Vote sheet)

• House Bill 317: The bill would make it illegal to drive in the left lane of a highway unless passing or turning. Passed the Senate by a 37-0 vote. (Vote sheet)*

• House Bill 433: The bill would block local laws that ensure higher wages, better benefits, and workplace heat protections for workers.  Passed the House Commerce Committee by a 14-4 vote. (Vote sheet)

• Senate Bill 460: The bill would allow homebuilding companies to use more 16- and 17-year-old teenagers on residential construction sites. Passed the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee by a 13-4 vote. (Vote sheet)

• House Bill 471: The bill would give a nearly $200 million-a-year tax break to timeshare owners and developers. Passed the House of Representatives by an 82-33 vote. (Vote sheet)

• Senate Bill 480: The bill would allow electric companies to charge their customers higher rates to cover costs related to “renewable natural gas.” Passed the Senate by a 35-2 vote. (Vote sheet)

• House Bill 549 and Senate Bill 1222: The bills would throw more shoplifters in prison for longer sentences. HB 549 passed the House of Representatives by an 84-31 vote. SB 1222 passed the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee by a 16-0 vote. (House vote sheet, Senate vote sheet)

• House Bill 651: The bill would allow a person who impregnated a partner who chose to get an abortion to sue the partner’s abortion provider. Passed the House Judiciary Committee by a 15-7 vote. (Vote sheet)

• Senate Bill 742: The bill would prohibit local governments from making their construction contractors pay higher wages or provide stronger benefits to their workers. Passed the Senate Rules Committee by an 11-5 vote. (Vote sheet)

• House Bill 931 and Senate Bill 1044: The bills would allow local school districts to let religious chaplains meet with students in public schools. HB 931 passed the House of Representatives by an 89-25 vote. Passed the Senate Education Appropriations Committee by a 4-1 vote. (House vote sheet, Senate vote sheet)

• House Bill 1071 and Senate Bill 1084: The bills would ban the sale of lab-grown meat. HB 1071 passed the House Infrastructure Strategies Committee by a 13-10 vote. SB 1084 passed the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee by an 11-4 vote. (House vote sheet, Senate vote sheet)

• Senate Bill 1174 and House Bill 1451: The bills would forbid cities and counties in Florida from recognizing identification cards issued by organizations that support undocumented immigrants. SB 1174 passed the Senate Rules Committee by an 11-5 vote. HB 1451 passed the House State Affairs Committee by 15-6 vote. (Senate vote sheet, House vote sheet)

• House Bill 1289: The bill would give state officials more power to deny unemployment insurance to laid-off Floridians. Passed the House Commerce Committee by a 10-6 vote. (Vote sheet)

• House Bill 1365: The bill would forbid cities and counties from allowing homeless people to sleep on public property unless they have been rounded up and moved into a secure camp. Passed the House Health & Human Services Committee by a 17-3 vote. (Vote sheet)

• House Bill 1471 and Senate Bill 1746: The bills would exempt more workers from a union-busting law the Legislature passed in 2023 (Senate Bill 256). HB 1471 passed the House State Affairs Committee. SB 1746 passed the Senate by a 21-14 vote. (House vote sheet, Senate vote sheet)

• House Bill 1503: The bill would force some Florida homeowners to give up their insurance coverage through state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and instead accept policies from surplus lines insurers — a type of insurance company that charges higher prices because its rates are not regulated by the state. Passed the House Commerce Committee by an 18-0 vote. (Vote sheet)

• Senate Bill 1624: The bill would lift regulations on gas infrastructure, ban offshore wind energy production, and erases references to climate change in state law. Passed the Senate Agriculture, Environment and General Government Appropriations Committee by a 6-3 vote. (Vote sheet)

• House Bill 1639: The bill would require health insurance companies to charge higher prices for plans that cover gender-affirming care for transgender people. Passed the House Infrastructure Strategies Committee by a 15-9 vote. (Vote sheet)

• House Bill 7073 and Senate bill 7074: The bills would provide an assortment of tax cuts — but with far bigger tax breaks for businesses than for consumers. HB 7073 passed the House Appropriations Committee by a 25-4 vote. SB 7074 passed the Senate Finance and Tax Committee by a 6-0 vote. (House vote sheet, Senate vote sheet)

*Denotes bills that have passed both the House and Senate and now go to the governor to sign or veto.

Reading list

• As Home Insurance Bills Go Up, Owners’ Coverage Is Going Down (New York Times)

• Southern lawmakers rethink long-standing opposition to Medicaid expansion (KFF Health News)

• DeSantis staffers blocked public records, ex-law enforcement officials say (Washington Post)

• Lab-Made Meat? Florida Lawmakers Don’t Like the Sound of It. (New York Times)

• Tens of thousands of workers could see changes to their wages if Florida bill passes (Miami Herald)

• Could Florida electric bills go up because of a fuel made from manure? (Tampa Bay Times)

• Florida bill would allow judges to more easily hold criminal defendants without bail (Tallahassee Democrat)

• Florida surgeon general defies science amid measles outbreak (Washington Post)

• Firm hired to remove migrants from Florida faces insurance fraud allegations (Orlando Sentinel)

• Here's the state of Florida's public employee unions (WUSF)

• ‘They gave us $14K for $200K worth of damage’: North Port resident still fighting insurance companies after Hurricane Ian (WFLA)

• 2 insurance companies request rate hikes as Floridians feel the pinch (WFTS)

• Matt Gaetz’s Chaos Agenda (New Yorker)

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the month when first-quarter campaign-finance reports will be filed in Florida. They will be filed in April.