Crist vetos 2 Florida agriculture bills

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.

Gov. Charlie Crist has vetoed a pair of bills that would have expanded a tax break on agricultural land and exempted farms from local environmental laws.

Crist over the weekend also signed bills putting additional restrictions on horse meat consumption (HB 765), authorizing a medical school at Florida Atlantic University (HB 1581) and creating a new specialty license plate for St. Johns River conservation research and education (HB 53).

The governor wrote in a veto message that the bill (HB 981) letting buyers of agriculture land keep a greenbelt tax exemption would give an unintended benefit to developers.

As for the environmental exemption (HB 7103), Crist objected to taking authority away from local governments.