The Florida legislature, nearing the end of this year’s regular session, has approved legislation that would consolidate the state’s various space-related agencies into a single organization, Space Florida. There had been some opposition to provisions of the bill that would allow the current governor, Jeb Bush, to appoint its new board even though he will be leaving office after this year. The legislature did agree to an amendment that will have appointees from existing agencies make up the board of Space Florida.
Another provision of the bill provides $43 million in incentives for the space industry, including $35 million to refurbish KSC facilities to support the final assembly of the CEV. Florida Today laments in an editorial that the legislature did not approve much larger incentives that have been proposed to boost the industry. The editors note that other states and countries are spending much larger sums to attract space tourism and other nascent commercial ventures. “Up in Tallahassee, however, none of this is registering. And as a result, Florida can kiss more of its space jobs goodbye.”
