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Restore Florida Water Independence Act of 2026
To provide that compliance with a certain biological opinion is deemed to be compliance with the requirements of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 for purposes of a certain agency action, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill would allow Florida to administer federal wetland and dredge-and-fill permits under the Clean Water Act without requiring additional federal environmental consultation. It does this by declaring that Florida's compliance with a 2020 environmental review—a "biological opinion" from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—automatically satisfies all Endangered Species Act requirements for this permitting program. The bill eliminates the need for any additional consultation under the Endangered Species Act. This would transfer permit authority from the federal government to the state of Florida for activities involving filling or dredging in wetlands and other waters.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
8 cosponsors
- Rep. Bilirakis, Gus M. [R-FL-12] (R-FL)
- Rep. Buchanan, Vern [R-FL-16] (R-FL)
- Rep. Haridopolos, Mike [R-FL-8] (R-FL)
- Rep. Lee, Laurel M. [R-FL-15] (R-FL)
- Rep. Mast, Brian J. [R-FL-21] (R-FL)
- Rep. Moskowitz, Jared [D-FL-23] (D-FL)
- Rep. Steube, W. Gregory [R-FL-17] (R-FL)
- Rep. Webster, Daniel [R-FL-11] (R-FL)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Byron Donalds’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $212,903
- ENTREPRENEUR $17,899
- ANDREESSEN HOROWITZ $13,200
- ROBINHOOD MARKETS INC $12,750
- SAULSBURY INDUSTRIES $9,900
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Byron Donalds → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- May 22, 2026 Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned. · house
- May 22, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 22, 2026
Mr. Donalds (for himself, Mr. Mast, Mr. Moskowitz, Mr. Haridopolos, and Mr. Buchanan) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To provide that compliance with a certain biological opinion is deemed to be compliance with the requirements of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 for purposes of a certain agency action, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Restore Florida Water Independence Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE WITH BIOLOGICAL OPINION RELATED TO DREDGE AND FILL PERMITTING PROGRAM.
(a) In General.—For purposes of the Agency Action—
(1) the Biological Opinion is deemed to be compliant with, and compliance with the Biological Opinion is deemed to be compliance with, the requirements of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); and
(2) no additional consultation under section 7(a) of that Act (16 U.S.C. 1536(a)) is required.
(b) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) Agency action.—The term “Agency Action”—
(A) means the approval by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency of the request of the State of Florida for the assumption by the State of Florida of the administration and permitting of a State permit program under section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344), as described in the notice published by the Environmental Protection Agency titled “EPA’s Approval of Florida’s Clean Water Act Section 404 Assumption Request” (December 22, 2020; 85 Fed. Reg. 83553); and
(B) includes other activities.
(2) Biological opinion.—The term “Biological Opinion”—
(A) means the programmatic biological opinion issued by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service titled “Programmatic Biological Opinion for Environmental Protection Agency’s Approval of FDEP’s Assumption of the Administration of the Dredge and Fill Permitting Program under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act” (dated November 17, 2020; FWS Log #: 04E00000- 2021-F-0001; 04E00000-2021-B-0001); and
(B) includes the incidental take statement described in pages 69 through 73 of the programmatic biological opinion.
(3) Other activities.—The term “other activities” has the meaning given the term in the glossary of the Biological Opinion. <all>
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