Archive for 2010

This Dean Mead Alert provides news that is important to you about Senate Bill 1752: Relating to Economic Development. Governor Crist recently signed into law Senate Bill 1752, which contains a number of measures intended to stimulate economic development in the State of Florida. Of potential interest to clients with land development projects is Section…

This Dean Mead Alert provides you with information about the recent Florida Supreme Court decision: Single-member LLCs are no longer asset protected. http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2010/sc08-1009.pdf Single-member LLCs have been thought to provide double protection against creditors. First, a creditor of the LLC is not able to reach the other assets of the member. Second, a creditor of…

As you may be aware, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) is holding hearings this week addressing the proposed water quality standards and new regulations for the State of Florida’s lakes and flowing waters. The first round of hearings took place on February 16, 2010 in Tallahassee and on February 17th in Orlando. An additional hearing…

Before Barack Obama became president, there were posters showing his face in a lifelike artistic rendering. They had red, white and blue shading, and the campaign logo was shown as if it were a lapel pin over the word “hope” in all capital letters. Shepard Fairey was the artist who created the poster, but The…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers several programs to help farmers recover financially from a natural disaster, including but not limited to, Federal Crop Insurance, the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), Emergency Disaster Loans, Emergency Livestock and Fisheries Assistance, and Biomass Crop Assistance, most of which are contingent upon issuance of a USDA…

Many commercial citrus growers (taxpayers) received payments to compensate them for the loss of citrus trees and to recover lost production income in connection with the government’s removal of commercial citrus trees to control the spread of citrus canker. Any payments received by the taxpayer should have been either: (i) reported by the taxpayer on…

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (a part of the USDA), which administers the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP), has announced that it is now accepting proposals for funding opportunities. FRPP funds may be used to match state or local government funds in order to help purchase development rights. The goal of the program…