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no safeguard from raids by legislators for other purposes. Nearly a million state residents have signed a petition in support of making the new revenue stream mandatory for the specified purposes. The campaign was led by Florida's Water and Land Legacy — a coalition of the state's leading conservation organizations, including Florida Defenders of the Environment, The Trust for Public Land, Audubon Florida, Florida Wildlife Federation and the Sierra Club. Groups such as Sarasota's League of Women Voters helped gather signatures. But not everyone is sold on the concept of redirecting a specified portion of the doc stamp fee pool. One Sarasota County commis- sioner is questioning how that would impact other programs the revenue has assisted. The problem, contends commission Vice Chairwoman Christine Robinson, is that in the midst of lean budget times, the conserva- tion initiative would utilize a third of the doc stamp money, when legislators in Tallahassee have been able to divvy up those funds for transportation, affordable housing and eco- nomic development efforts, for example. "I have no issue with the [conservation] cause; the issue is where the money is coming from," Robinson told The Sarasota News Leader. She learned during a recent Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) meeting about how the local share of state transportation funding could be impacted if Amendment 1 is passed, she said. Afterward, People enjoy the vistas from the trails in Red Bug Slough, located on Beneva Road in Sarasota. Photo by Roger Drouin DOWNLOAD THE PDF The Trust for Public Land has compiled a list of states with dedicated funding sourc- es for land conservation, past and present. Sarasota News Leader March 14, 2014 Page 18