Governor DeSantis Vetoed HB 741 Net Metering Bill

Original Plans

Our group project was originally writing a template letter to Governor DeSantis regarding the HB 741 Net Metering bill. Our goal of the original letter was to convince the governor to veto the bill so that it would not become a law.

Ellie Shea wrote the original project proposal as an independent project. However, Noah Kudish, Paige Knotts, and Abby Parker needed a project. Ellie Shea rewrote the project proposal and adjusted the project schedule, with minor edits from the other group members. This pushed our original schedule back a week.

Research on the bill was done by all group members. Ellie Shea emailed Dan Xie for additional information on the bill. Dan Xie is the PIRG Political Director, and gave a guest lecture in our Climate Change Communication Class which mentioned the bill, and gave Ellie the original idea for the project.

In our research, we found a lot of information that we wanted to share with the public. This net metering bill was removing the benefits of investing in solar panels for home use. In the system currently in place, solar panel owners can sell the excess energy they produce back to the grid (the energy company) for credit that can be used later. The HB 741 bill was trying to change this system, so that each year after 2025 the amount of credit received in exchange for energy decreased (this drop of credit only applied to anyone who was new to solar, and not to existing solar panel owners). The other aspect of the bill was that the electric companies could charge solar panel owners in their territory for “lost revenue” through the fuel and purchased power cost recovery charge. This means that solar panels owners would be charged by the electric companies for not spending as much money on electricity. You can read the full bill in the “PDF of the Bill” or read the “Summary of the Bill” linked below.

We felt that this bill was a step backwards for Florida. We all thought that making solar energy even less accessible an option than it is already was short sighted. Florida should be making steps to make solar and other renewable energy widely available, and should be converting away from fossil fuels. Climate change is caused primarily by Greenhouse Gas emissions, and switching households in Florida to solar energy would be a step in the right direction.

The letter we wrote to Governor DeSantis was customizable for the sender, if the sender had or did not have solar. The letter explained the impact of the bill, which would make solar an irresponsible investment for Florida residents, since new users would get less in return for the energy they sell to the grid, and that they would be charged for not using as much energy from the grid.

Connections to Class

We know that taking action as individuals can be difficult when it comes to issues like climate change. We have learned in our class that sometimes when faced with so many climate issues, people can get overwhelmed and end up doing nothing, even if they care a great deal (this is passive climate denial). We did not want this to be the reaction we received from the public. By providing people with a clear and simple approach to this specific issue, it would be manageable, and less overwhelming, making action easier. Our approach of having a provided email to Governor DeSantis makes the problem approachable for everyday people.

Our letter framed the issue to best relate it to the Governor’s priorities. Framing is when you connect an issue to something personal to your audience. We had heard that Governor DeSantis did not have a good track record when it came to environmental problems, so we did not focus on the environmental benefits of promoting renewable energy sources like solar energy. Instead, we focused on the economic benefits of keeping solar panels an option for Florida residents. We specifically focused on the benefits of having many energy choices for consumers, and that having many solar companies provided lots of competition in the free market economy. This frame focused on the fact that DeSantis is a republican, and is theoretically focused on the economic side of issues. We also focused on the independence that solar panels provide for individuals and Florida as a whole. Having an independent source of energy allows Florida residents to rely on themselves rather than a large company controlled by a few people, or any foreign oil or coal. We connected the issue (the HB 741 bill reducing benefits of solar panels for home use) to something Governor DeSantis cares about (the economy and independence).

You can read our original Template Letter to Governor DeSantis on the google site linked below.

Ellie Shea wrote all of the template letter except for the last few sentences, which were written by Noah Kudish. The letter was edited by Abby Parker and Paige Knotts.

A Change of Plans

We had started our project before Governor DeSantis was presented with the bill. We had just finished the letter to DeSantis when he was presented the bill. He had 15 days to either pass the bill (make the bill a law) or veto the bill (not make the bill a law), and if the governor did not take action after 15 days the bill would automatically become a law. On Wednesday April 27th, Governor DeSantis was presented the bill, and the same day he vetoed it! Governor DeSantis gave the reason for vetoing the bill as the “state of Florida should not contribute to the financial crunch that our citizens are experiencing”(Letter to Secretary Lee from Governor DeSantis).

We consider this to be great news for Florida (even though the Governor is still not concerned with the environment and only concerned about the economic impacts the bill would have, but it does show that we were right to frame the problem as we did). However, we needed to shift gears for our project. We decided to rewrite our letter to be a thank you letter to the Governor for vetoing the bill. Our thank you letter still frames the issue to be relevant to the Governor, but now is focused on encouraging him to pursue similar actions in the future, and making sure that he is aware that Florida citizens support his choice in this matter.

You can read our Thank You letter to Governor DeSantis on the google site linked below.

Paige Knotts, Noah Kudish, and Abby Parker converted the original template letter to the Thank You Letter. Ellie Shea created a group email account for the project, and the google site that the public could access. Noah Kudish updated the google site with the Thank You letter.

We also wrote a letter to the editor that we sent into The Current, Eckerd College's student newspaper, which was not published. The goal of our letter to the editor was to convince the readers to send our provided template letter to the governor, and to inform the reader of the upcoming bill. You can read our letter to the editor on the google site linked below.

Ellie Shea wrote the Letter to the Editor, and it was edited by Abby Parker. Ellie had been in contact with one of the Currents editors, and figured out when they were working on the next publication, which provided a deadline for the group. This information was shared with the rest of the group. Abby Parker had previously agreed to write the letter, but did not follow through in time for the deadline, which is why Ellie wrote the letter.

Results

Paige Knotts printed out copies of the letter for Florida residents to sign (Paige sent 30 physical letters!). She collected them, and mailed them on Friday, May 13th. Paige, Noah and Ellie posted the link to the google site (linked below) to their social media accounts. Paige’s account was set up so that she was able to track the number of people who followed the link, she found that 9 people clicked the link to our google site. Ellie and Noah did not have their accounts set up this way, and were not able to track the post interactions. Ellie also made a QR code for the google site that the public could scan with their phones to access the Thank You Letter, although the public did not use this.

We asked the public to add our email to the email to Governor DeSantis, and we received 1 email this way.

The group presentation was made by all. This blog post was written by Ellie Shea.