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Solar Advocates Hope To Leverage Amendment Win

Floridians for Solar Choice organizers say they hope a recent win at the ballot box will give them leverage in the next legislative session.
Floridians for Solar Choice organizers say they hope a recent win at the ballot box will give them leverage in the next legislative session.

With two landslide victories under their belts, environmentalists say they are waiting to decide whether to revive a solar ballot initiative in 2018.

Floridians for Solar Choice organizers say they hope a recent win at the ballot box will give them leverage in the next legislative session.
Floridians for Solar Choice organizers say they hope a recent win at the ballot box will give them leverage in the next legislative session.

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy’s Stephen Smith says he’s waiting to see if Amendment 1’s crushing defeat on Tuesday brings the utility companies that sponsored it to the negotiating table during the next legislative session.

“Whether the utilities want to work together, or whether they want to continue to play hardball. And I think we’ve demonstrated we can play hardball with the best of them.”

Lawmakers still have to implement Amendment 4, a major solar energy tax cutting package that environmentalists supported and voters approved in August. If utility companies put up a fight, Smith says Floridians For Solar Choice will revive their 2015 solar power deregulation measure.

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Jim Ash is a reporter at WFSU-FM. A Miami native, he is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience, most of it in print. He has been a member of the Florida Capital Press Corps since 1992.