HB 843 — Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Trust Funds

F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S HBCS/HB 843 2025 A bill to be entitled An act relating to Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Trust Funds;

379.201, F.S.;

authorizing the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to invest and reinvest Administrative Trust Fund moneys;

requiring that certain funds be carried forward;

amending s.

379.205, F.S.;

authorizing the commission to spend money from the Florida Panther Research and Management Trust Fund for certain research, monitoring, and land acquisition;

amending s.

Subsection (2) of section 379.201, Florida Statutes, is amended, and subsection (3) is added to that section to read:

Page 1 of 4 CODING:

Words stricken are deletions;

words underlined are additions.

hb843-00 F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S HB 843 2025 379.201 Administrative Trust Fund.— (2) The fund is established for use as a depository for funds to be used for management activities that are commissionwide in nature and funded by indirect cost earnings or assessments against trust funds.

The commission may invest and reinvest the funds and the interest thereof.

Moneys to be credited to the trust fund include indirect cost reimbursements from grantors, administrative assessments against trust funds, interest earnings, and other appropriate administrative fees.

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of s.

216.301 and pursuant to s.

216.351, any balance in the trust fund at the end of any fiscal year shall remain in the trust fund at the end of the year and shall be available for carrying out the purposes of the trust fund.

Section 2.

Paragraphs (a) and (c) of subsection (2) of section 379.205, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:

379.205 Florida Panther Research and Management Trust Fund.— (2) The commission shall spend money from the fund and all interest derived from its investments and reinvestments only for the following purposes:

(a) To manage and protect existing Florida panther populations by increasing panther food sources where food is a limiting factor, determining conflicts between public use and panther survival, maintaining sufficient genetic variability in Page 2 of 4 CODING:

Words stricken are deletions;

words underlined are additions.

hb843-00 F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S HB 843 2025 existing populations, researching and monitoring feline diseases, and undertaking management and enforcement activities that protect panther habitat.

(c) To reestablish Florida panthers into areas of suitable habitat, where feasible, by assessing the necessity of a captive breeding program for purposes of reintroduction of the panthers into the suitable habitat;

selecting potential sites for reintroduction and investigating associated human sociological aspects;

and assessing the potential for panther habitat acquisition;

and acquiring lands for panther habitat.

Section 3.

Moneys to be credited to the trust fund shall consist of grants and donations from private and public nonfederal sources, development-of-regional-impact wildlife mitigation contributions, interest earnings, and cash advances from other trustPage funds.1 of 3 CODING:

Section 4.

Subsections (2) and (3) of section 379.209, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:

379.209 Nongame Wildlife Trust Fund.— (2)(a) There is established within the Fish and Wildlife Page 3 of 4 CODING:

hb843-00hb843-01-c1 F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S HBCS/HB 843 2025 Conservationtrust Commissionfunds. the Nongame Wildlife Trust Fund.

Section 2.

Subsections (2) and (3) of section 379.209, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:

379.209 Nongame Wildlife Trust Fund.— (2)(a) There is established within the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission the Nongame Wildlife Trust Fund.

SectionPage 5.2 of 3 CODING:

Words stricken are deletions;