By JIM TURNER
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
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THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, May 1, 2017……… Money from the Deepwater Horizon oil-spill settlement will be available for tourism marketing as part of a legislative deal designed to get the first payment to Northwest Florida counties most impacted by the 2010 disaster.
The Senate on Monday unanimously approved a pair of bills (SB 364 and SB 2518) that otherwise accept many aspects of a House proposal, ending months of talks over how the non-profit organization Triumph Gulf Coast and local governments can disperse the money.
“The main thing we wanted to make sure is we got the $300 million transferred this year,” said Sen. Doug Broxson, R-Gulf Breeze. “It’s been there since July of last year.”
The House and Senate had offered separate measures to allocate $300 million of $400 million received last year to the eight Gulf Coast counties — Bay, Escambia, Franklin, Gulf, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Wakulla and Walton — hit most severely by the disaster.
