REYNOLDS V. STATE OF FLORIDA

Our Children’s Trust has represented young people in Florida legal actions since 2011, most recently in the youth-led constitutional climate case, Reynolds v. State of Florida.

In April 2018, eight young people filed Reynolds v. State of Florida against the state of Florida, Governor Rick Scott, and several state agencies in Leon County Circuit Court. The complaint asserted that in causing climate change, the state of Florida violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness, and caused harm to Florida’s essential public trust resources, such as beaches, coral reefs, and marine life. The youth plaintiffs filed their case because the state of Florida is violating their constitutional rights by creating and perpetuating an energy system that is based on fossil fuels. The plaintiffs are asking the state of Florida to adhere to its constitutional obligation to cease its ongoing conduct which is causing the intensifying impacts of climate change and harming the young plaintiffs.

The youth plaintiffs were represented by Guy M. Burns and Wallace “Wally” Pope, Jr. (Johnson Pope Bokor Ruppel & Burns LLP), Mitchell Chester (Law Office of Mitchell A. Chester), Jane West (Jane West Law, P.L.), Erin Deady, (Erin L. Deady, P.A.), Deb Swim (Deb Swim, PLLC), Matthew Schultz (Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Rafferty & Proctor PA) and Andrea Rodgers with Our Children’s Trust.

Current Status:
After the First District Court of Appeals affirmed the Circuit Court’s dismissal of the case without issuing a written opinion, four of the youth plaintiffs led a petition for rulemaking asking the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) to establish a goal to generate 100% of Florida’s electricity from renewable energy by 2050. This petition for rulemaking was signed by over 200 young Floridians and filed with FDACS on January 5, 2022.

On April 21, 2022, in response to this youth-led effort, FDACS Commissioner Nikki Fried released a proposed rule that used the language proposed by the youth. A recording of the 4/21/22 press conference, featuring co-lead youth petitioners Delaney and Valholly, can be viewed on the FDACS Facebook page here.

On August 9, 2022, FDACS renewable energy rule, Chapter 5O-5: Renewable Energy, became effective. This new rule is the most significant climate policy in Florida enacted in over a decade and, per the language proposed by youth signatories, sets the following renewable energy goals for Florida’s electric utilities: at least 40% by 2030, 63% by 2035, 82% by 2040, and 100% by 2050.

Future cases to secure the constitutional rights of youth in Florida are now being developed.