Thousands Of Florida Homeowners Will Be Paid For Lost Trees

Thousands of Florida homeowners who had healthy citrus trees cut down by the state are finally going to get paid for their losses.

Gov. Rick Scott on Friday approved a new state budget that includes more than $52 million to pay homeowners in Broward and Palm Beach counties whose trees were removed more than a decade ago in a failed attempt to eradicate citrus canker. The homeowners were part of class action lawsuits against the state.

Scott's decision was surprising since last year he vetoed more than $37 million in payments that legislators had approved for homeowners in Broward and Lee counties.In a last-ditch attempt to battle contamination, the state in 2000 ordered the destruction of even healthy citrus trees within 1,900 feet of an infected tree with or without the owner's permission.

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