With the citrus industry sustaining heavy damage in Hurricane Ian, Florida Citrus Mutual expressed disappointment in the way disaster-relief funding was included in a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that Congress recently approved.

In a statement issued Dec. 26, the Bartow-based industry group said some Florida growers could be bypassed because the package does not include a block-grant program. Such a block-grant program was used after Hurricane Irma damaged groves in 2017.

"With this bill, Congress appropriated $40 billion dedicated to disaster relief, and most of it will fail to reach those who need it most," Florida Citrus Mutual CEO Matt Joyner said in a statement. "Unfortunately, the bill was written in a backroom by congressional leadership and dropped in the dark of night three days before the deadline. It leaves Florida citrus growers on the outside looking in when it comes to disaster relief in 2022."

After Irma, the state received a $343 million federal block grant. The Florida Division of Emergency Management distributed money directly from the grant to growers.

According to the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, $3.7 billion will go to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for crop and livestock losses across the nation in 2022.

The University of Florida-Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences estimated Ian caused $146.9 million to $304.3 million in damages to the citrus industry. A preliminary report from the state Department of Agriculture and Consumers Services put citrus damages between $417 million and $675 million, with overall agricultural damage estimated at $1.2 billion to $1.9 billion.

The federal relief measure includes money for rural housing assistance, rural water and waste systems and watershed protections. Also, $5 billion is designated to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for disaster-recovery efforts that include Ian.

WELCOME, COMMISSIONER

Land preservation money and some additional dollars for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will be freed up as newly elected Republican Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson gets settled into his job.

Part of the 2022-2023 state budget held $300 million in reserve, along with $15 million for aerial drone protections for the management of state forests and $15 million for the promotion of agricultural products, until Jan. 1, with the department needing to submit a plan on how land will be managed.

Simpson served as Senate president as the budget was drawn up. He was elected agriculture commissioner in November and will formally be sworn in Tuesday.

Simpson will replace Nikki Fried, who ran unsuccessfully for governor this year. She was the only statewide elected Democrat.

NOT OUT WITH A BANG

With a December state Cabinet meeting canceled, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the current Cabinet lineup — Fried, Attorney General Ashley Moody and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis — will end after meeting 25 times over four years.

The high-water mark was 14 times in 2019, with one meeting in Israel and another featuring long-discussed pardons for members of the "Groveland Four," one of the most-notorious cases from Florida's Jim Crow era.

DeSantis and the Cabinet got together just twice this year. One of those meetings was held Aug. 23, the day Fried lost the Democratic primary for governor. Fried has repeatedly criticized DeSantis for not holding more Cabinet meetings.

DeSantis and the Cabinet had planned eight Cabinet meetings in 2020 before schedules were changed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Four were eventually held.

By comparison, then-Gov. Rick Scott, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, then-CFO Jeff Atwater and then-Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam met 18 times in 2011, after entering office that year.

For the next six years, the annual number of Scott-Bondi-Putnam-Atwater meetings fluctuated between 11 and 15. Patronis replaced Atwater in 2017. In 2018, the Cabinet held nine meetings, including two teleconferences.

Under the two prior governors, Charlie Crist and Jeb Bush, the Cabinet met about 20 times a year.

DeSantis, Moody and Patronis were reelected in November and will be joined in January by Simpson. They are scheduled to meet Jan. 17.

Jim Turner reports for the News Service of Florida.

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