Florida passes conservation amendment

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Florida voters have passed a measure that designates billions of dollars to conservation efforts over the next 20 years.

The Associated Press declared Amendment 1 passed on Tuesday. With about half the expected votes counted, the amendment had 75 percent “yes” votes to 25 percent no. It needed 60 percent of the vote to pass.

Amendment 1 will draw its funding from an existing real estate tax, and would dedicate 33 percent of it annually to conservation. That would be about a billion a year.

About half of the money will fund Florida Forever, a conservation land purchasing program that saw its budget slashed by 97 percent since 2009 dude to the Great Recession. The money was never restored after the economy rebounded.