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STEVE BOUSQUETSparked by a Pinellas case, the fees are part of a bill that exempts gun range owners from removing lead and arsenic contamination.
TALLAHASSEE - Security guards and people with concealed weapons permits in Florida would pay higher fees to fund a cleanup of contaminated gun ranges, a state Senate committee decided Tuesday.
The Senate Natural Resources Committee tucked the new fees in a bill (SB 1156) that exempts gun range owners from removing lead and arsenic contamination from their sites if they notify the state by September 2005.
The bill, inspired by a case in Pinellas County, has pitted environmental lobbyists against the National Rifle Association. The NRA pushed for immunity after the state sued Skyway Trap and Skeet Club in Pinellas Park to force removal of lead and other contaminants near Sawgrass Lake.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Durell Peaden, R-Crestview, would increase licensing fees for security guards, firearms instructors, and people who hold concealed weapons permits. That money would go into a special fund to pay for cleanup costs. Environmentalists say it wouldn't be enough to cover the costs statewide.
More than 325,000 concealed weapons holders would pay $5 more for a five-year license, and more than 16,000 security guards in Florida would pay $20 more for a two-year license. Firearms instructors - about 340 of them - would pay $50 more for a two-year license. Most of the people who would pay the new fee use gun ranges to be licensed.
Senators backed the fees after arguing that a taxpayer-funded cleanup is better than prolonged legal struggles.
"I don't see where litigation gets you to cleanup," said Sen. Nancy Argenziano, R-Dunnellon. "Litigation is not my primary goal."
Twenty-six gun ranges are voluntarily cleaning their land after the state found signs of contamination. The Pinellas Park lawsuit is the only one the state has filed.
Higher fees or taxes are usually taboo in the House. But Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, the House sponsor of gun range immunity, endorsed the Senate action, and House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, R-Plant City, said he'd let the Senate develop a bill first.
A state environmental official, Mike Sole, said his agency worries the bill would remove incentives for gun range owners to effectively manage their land. Susie Caplowe of the Sierra Club said lead can cause kidney damage in humans, and Eric Draper of Audubon of Florida called it "highly unusual" for one group to receive broad immunity from liability. Gov. Jeb Bush has said he will veto a bill with blanket immunity.
NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer said environmentalists have exaggerated the public health risks of lead, which she called "an element that comes from the ground."
"What we have here is a bill that is antilawsuit and procleanup," Hammer said. "Who can argue with that?"
The only senator voting against the bill, Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, opposed a section that makes it a crime, punishable by as much as a year in jail, for a government agency to sue a gun range.