SESSION WATCH
THE BILL ITSELF

SR 1810

Bob Graham Day

VERSION S 1810 Filed · BACK TO THE SUMMARY · OFFICIAL RECORD

underlined language is being added; struck language is being deleted. Line numbers are the Legislature's own — the same ones amendments cite.

Florida Senate - 2026 (NP) SR 1810 By Senator Gaetz 1-03254-26 20261810__
1 Senate Resolution
2 A resolution designating August 9, 2026, as “Bob
3 Graham Day” in the State of Florida.
5 WHEREAS, born on November 9, 1936, Daniel Robert “Bob”
6 Graham was raised on a cattle and dairy farm deep in the Florida
7 Everglades, attended Miami Senior High School, earned his
8 bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of
9 Florida in 1959, and earned his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law
10 School in 1962, and
11 WHEREAS, after serving in both the Florida House of
12 Representatives and the Florida Senate, Bob Graham was elected
13 as Florida’s 38th Governor in 1978, and his career in state
14 politics enabled him personally to witness Florida’s rise from a
15 rural Southern backwater to an economic and political
16 juggernaut, and
17 WHEREAS, in Governor Graham’s first term, led by First Lady
18 Adele Graham, Florida became a national leader in providing in
19 home services to seniors, creating a statewide network of
20 services, assuring access to assistance for needy elders in
21 metropolitan areas and to those in the most rural of Florida’s
22 counties, and allowing more families to live out their days at
23 home, and
24 WHEREAS, in 1979, Governor Graham instituted the
25 Conservation and Recreation Act, the premier land acquisition
26 program in the country, which led to the Preservation 2000
27 Program and the current Florida Forever Program, and
28 WHEREAS, in 1981, Governor Graham established the Save Our
29 Rivers program, which raised $320 million over 10 years and
30 enabled the water management districts to acquire 1.7 million
31 acres of land for water conservation; established the Save Our
32 Coast program, which resulted in the purchase of 73 miles of
33 coastline, protecting natural Florida beauty for future
34 generations; and, with singer Jimmy Buffett, founded Save the
35 Manatee, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation
36 and recovery of the manatee species as defined by the federal
37 Endangered Species Act of 1973, and
38 WHEREAS, in 1982, Governor Graham, together with renowned
39 environmental champion Marjory Stoneman Douglas and others,
40 developed what became the Save Our Everglades program to restore
41 Everglades National Park, which was announced on August 9, 1983,
42 and
43 WHEREAS, in 1984, Governor Graham signed into law the
44 Warren Henderson Wetlands Protection Act, Florida’s first law
45 directed specifically at preservation and protection of
46 wetlands, and
47 WHEREAS, at the end of his governorship in 1987, Bob Graham
48 was sworn in to the United States Senate, where he was known not
49 only for his grasp of domestic issues such as Everglades
50 restoration, immigration, and off-shore drilling but also for
51 his expertise in foreign policy and intelligence, serving as
52 chair of the Intelligence Committee and co-chair of the Joint
53 Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After
54 the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, and
55 WHEREAS, ever mindful of his undergraduate alma mater,
56 where he was president of the Epsilon Zeta chapter of Sigma Nu
57 fraternity, served as chancellor of the student honor court, and
58 was inducted into Blue Key and the University Hall of Fame, Bob
59 Graham established the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at
60 the University of Florida in 2006 to continue his legacy of
61 leadership and public service as well as to train the next
62 generations of Florida leaders, and
63 WHEREAS, in 2011, Bob Graham established the Florida
64 Conservation Coalition, composed of concerned Floridians
65 representing various organizations, for the purpose of
66 advocating for positive environmental initiatives and opposing
67 adverse proposals, and
68 WHEREAS, throughout his 38 consecutive years in public
69 office and nearly 20 years thereafter as an author, a speaker,
70 and an advocate, Bob Graham worked tirelessly to further
71 environmental preservation, economic opportunity, public
72 education, national security, and civil rights, and his
73 outstanding record of service has established Bob Graham as one
74 of the most accomplished public figures in the history of this
75 state, NOW, THEREFORE,
77 Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
79 That, in recognition of the date on which the Save Our
80 Everglades program was founded, August 9, 2026, is designated as
81 “Bob Graham Day” in the State of Florida.