Restore Regulatory Agencies: End Political Interference in Environmental Protection 

In a functioning democracy, the EPA, a federal agency, and the FDEP, Florida’s counterpart, should be the go-to agencies to help Floridians who have been sickened by industrial and agricultural toxic waste dumping into their communities, or in adjacent waters.  

The Office of Insurance Regulation should be an agency consumers can go to when their insurance company refuses to cover a legitimate claim, or charges excess premiums, or refuses to issue any policy after one claim. 

Utility rates should be set by PSC in the open, with significant consumer input. Companies should be incentivized to use cheaper, clean energy sources.   
That is what should happen. But fully functioning regulatory agencies cut into the profits of special interests who now dominate Republican policies. So thanks to Supreme Court decisions, Governor DeSantis, Donald Trump and Republican control of our Florida state and federal legislatures, our state and federal agencies have no authority or resources to do their job.  

It is time for Democratic lawmakers to do our job – restore regulatory agencies. 

There are many state and federal agencies assigned the task of protecting our environment, including the EPA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, NOAA, U.S. Army Corps, Fl. Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Public Service Commission (utility rates), Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection (FDEP), Office of Insurance Regulation.  

Restoring Florida State Agencies 

Governors have appointment power to determine the leadership of the agencies. The Governor appoints agency leadership, who determine the decision making procedures, as well as the energy and land use policies that are enforced by those agencies.  

 In Florida, there are no conflict of interest appointment guidelines. DeSantis’s agency appointments accomplish his “don’t say climate change” governing policies, and his land use policies that put profits of special interests over protection of our natural areas,  rural areas, wetlands and wildlife corridors. And PSC rates favor profits for utility providers, causing Florida to have one of the highest utility rates in the country. 

A Democratic governor can appoint agency leadership independent from special interests, implement open and transparent decision making procedures, promote environmental policies based upon science and data, incentivize conservation, clean energy and energy conservation, end pollution and hold polluters accountable, hold down costs to ratepayers, and protect our environment and our health.  

The governor can propose budgets that fund agencies sufficiently to pay qualified agency staff, with resources necessary to carry out their regulatory functions. 
Democratic legislators can advocate for legislation requiring that appointments be made without conflicts of interest, requiring job criteria that staff be independent of special interests and qualified for their position, require that science and data be utilized to develop pro-environmental land use and energy regulatory standards, and ensure that agencies are sufficiently funded to carry out their duties.  

To monitor agency effectiveness, establish and fund a new Office of Environmental Monitoring, require standardized data sharing across agencies, and establish penalties for suppressing or delaying results. 

Restoring Federal Agencies

A complete list of federal environmental protection agencies is listed HERE. 

To restore the ability of our federal agencies to function, Democratic candidates running for the U.S. House, Senate and Presidency must understand the critical role that this Supreme Court has played in stripping agencies of their ability to protect consumers, workers, our health and our environment, and the importance of reforming the Supreme Court.  

Because of this court, dominated by judges who hold a constitutional philosophy molded by the Federalist Society, the law of the land is that federal agencies are restricted from setting or enforcing environmental protections.  For a complete discussion of those court decisions, and ways to reform the Supreme Court, go to Section 1 of the our Platform plank:  Break The Grip Of Special Interests – Democratic Environmental Caucus of Florida 

Given the current make-up of this court, dominated by only one judicial philosophy, it is unlikely that any legislation that restores agency functioning will be held to be constitutional.  For that reason, it is critical that our candidates understand and commit to reforming the Supreme Court, once elected in 2028. A Democratic President and legislature can restore U.S. agencies and their ability to function if we are able to coalesce around clear constitutional and legislative strategies to accomplish that. 

That means, our candidates need to get elected. We know that the implementation of Project 2025 caused a wholesale invasion and takeover of our federal administration, including dismantling environmental agencies.  Americans are watching how the federal government now works well for the wealthy, but not for the rest of us, and distrust of Republican rule is reflected in the polls. 

Yet many Americans are not trusting of Democrats either, making it critical that Democratic candidates at all levels understand and identify with the frustration of working Americans who are watching a government that has worsened their economic security under both parties.

The DECF platforms on Affordability and Hyperscale AI Data Centers, along with webinars posted on our YouTube page are meant to help candidates genuinely convey a vision of government that includes low and moderate income Americans, and understand issues we can champion that appeal to these voters. Please do view those videos, as well as those platform pages. 

Winning in 2026 and 2028 are critical to restoring our democracy, so we are able to turn back around and protect our environment.  

The following are further policy considerations for our lawmakers: 

• Change Florida Public Service Commission policies to incentivize and require transition away from energy sources that worsen climate change, and towards cheaper, clean energy options. 
• Restore science-based decision-making by passing legislation that requires federal and state environmental agencies to base permitting, enforcement, and restoration plans on peer-reviewed science, climate data, and ecological impact assessments, and that ensures agency staff are qualified to make those assessments, are independent of special interests, and have the resources they need to obtain supportive data.   
• Stop wetland and habitat rollbacks:Reverse administrative rules that weakened wetland protections and permit reviews, restoring full environmental review for projects that alter hydrology or remove vegetation. 
• Improve monitoring and accountability in relevant state and federal agencies: 
  • Expand water-quality testing, wildlife population monitoring, and ecosystem health assessments, and publicly report results in real time. 
  • Increase sampling frequency at more locations, test for emerging contaminants (PFAS, microplastics, pharmaceuticals), and fund local water to upgrade labs and staffing.
  • Establish baseline counts for key species, use technology (drones, cameras, sensors) for continuous tracking, and require standardized monitoring methods across all agencies.
  • Measure interconnected indicators (seagrass, coral, wetlands, nutrient levels) rather than individual species, and establish health benchmarks to track whether ecosystems are improving or declining.
  • Create online dashboards with automatically updated data, clear visualizations, and historical context. Allow citizen reporting, and set up automatic alerts when thresholds are crossed that trigger mandatory agency responses.