Fluoride ban, state parks protections advance in Florida legislature

⛈️ Weather modification: Legislation to ban the release of chemicals into the atmosphere "for the express purpose of affecting the temperature, the weather, or the intensity of sunlight" is near the finish line.

• The bill passed the Senate this month, and its House counterpart cleared its final committee stop last week. It's now waiting for a full vote in the House.
• The legislation appears linked to debunked conspiracies that government agencies release toxic chemicals through airplane contrails to control the weather, per the Tallahassee Democrat, rather than real-world technologies that seek to increase rainfall or snow.

💧 Fluoride ban: Legislation that would, in part, introduce a statewide ban on adding fluoride to a public water supply passed the Senate last week.

• The bill doesn't mention fluoride. Instead, it introduces a narrow definition of "water quality additive" as a chemical used to meet drinking water standards, remove contaminants or improve water quality — and bans all other additions.
• The House version cleared its final committee stop last week and now awaits a floor vote.

🏞️ Protecting state parks: Legislation that would prevent golf courses, tennis courts and pickleball courts from being built at state parks passed the House floor with unanimous support and applause.

• Its Senate counterpart has one more stop in the Fiscal Policy Committee, which is set to take it up Tuesday.

• The Senate's bill isn't identical, and environmentalists have said it's weaker than the House version. The Senate could adopt the House's version instead of its own.

🗳️ Local term limits: The House passed legislation to put a question on the 2026 ballot that asks voters whether to cap terms for county commissioners and school board members at eight years.

• Its Senate counterpart has two committee stops to go. The Senate also referred the House version to its Rules Committee.