Northwest Florida projects targeted to get money from the Deepwater Horizon settlement would first require the blessings of the Governor and Legislature under a bill proposed by a house committee.
Florida is in line to receive up to $2 billion from BP’s settlement resolving Gulf Coast economic claims arising from the 2010 oil spill. The state received $400 million last year, with $107 million a year on the way from 2019-33.
“Some areas feel that they are not adequately represented on the board,” said Rep. Jay Trumbull (R-Panama City), who chairs the House Select Committee on Triumph Gulf Coast. “So that is one thing that I would like to pose to the committee. And also, we want to look at potential mechanisms to ensure that all eight counties benefit from these dollars.”
Seventy-five percent of the money is to go to the eight Panhandle counties, Bay, Escambia, Franklin, Gulf, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Wakulla and Walton, which were hardest hit by the 2010 disaster. The reminder will be divided among 15 other Gulf Coast counties affected to a lesser extent.
The panel is reviewing a proposal to create an administrative framework for Triumph Gulf Coast Inc. -- the non-profit within the Department of Economic Opportunity created to direct money to eight counties for economic recovery projects, tourism, educational grants and infrastructure projects.
Trumbull said projects recommended by the non-profit wouldn’t have to wait for the annual spending report to go through the state review.
“We wanted this process to be fluid, and not have to wait an entire year for the Legislature to meet to be able to approve or deny projects.”
That’s the mission of the committee, made up of Republican lawmakers from Northwest Florida, as required by a 2013 state law.
Rep. Frank White (R-Pensacola) is hoping that if nothing else, Triumph would have the flexibility to respond in a timely manner to projects and ideas that come up, independent of the Legislative Budget Commission.
“Economic development opportunities do not move at the speed of the Legislature,” said Rep. Frank White (R-Santa Rosa County).
Another Pensacola Representative, committee Vice Chairman Clay Ingram, contends that the Legislative Budget Commission is perhaps the best way to go.
“When we looked at reforming the economic development apparatus over the past few years, and we’ve looked putting efficiencies in place, the LBC has been the mechanism that we’ve looked at,” Ingram said.
Under the House proposal, one million dollars would be designated to set up the non-profit overseen by a five-member board — currently three from Okaloosa County and one each from Escambia and Bay. The committee is expected to revisit the proposal at its next meeting in about ten days.
