DeSantis signs Florida Farm Bill banning gas-tool bans
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- Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 290, the “Florida Farm Bill,” into law after it cleared the House 94‑10 and the Senate unanimously, with the law effective July 1.
- Senate Bill 290 bans cities and counties statewide from prohibiting gas‑ and diesel‑powered tools—including tractors, lawn mowers, and leaf blowers—pre‑empting local climate actions.
- Florida legislature earlier in March passed a separate bill blocking local governments from adopting or enforcing “net‑zero” policies, further limiting municipal climate initiatives.
- Florida agriculture sector—a $387 billion industry hit by extreme weather, rising insurance costs, and trade disruptions—remains a major source of emissions, with sugarcane production alone emitting >7.3 million metric tons CO₂ annually.
- Sierra Club Florida (Organizing Manager Brooke Alexander‑Goss) says only seven municipalities have bans on gas‑powered lawn tools and none on farm‑scale equipment, calling the farm bill “another example of the legislature overstepping” and eroding local control.
- Javier Estevez of Sierra Club Florida warns that the bill’s provision allowing lands acquired for conservation since 2024 to be re‑classified for agriculture weakens long‑term ecological protections and threatens water quality and habitats.
Why it matters: The bill hands a clear win to Florida’s $387 billion agricultural sector and its reliance on fossil‑fuel equipment, while stripping municipalities of any authority to ban gas‑powered tools and opening protected lands to farming, which Sierra Club officials say will deepen emissions and erode long‑term ecological safeguards.
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