Happy New Year. New Bar Year, that is. At the Annual Meeting in August, the Section elected new officers for 1999-2000. Maribel Nicholson-Choice was elected Treasurer. Sid Ansbacher was elected Secretary. Richard Hamann was elected Chair-elect, which means he gets to write this column next year.

     The Section has several priorities for the year. As in the past, we will offer high quality Continuing Legal Education programs. The CLE Committee, led by Bob Riggio, Michelle Williams and George Gramling, has scheduled a number of excellent programs: Environmental and Land Use and Local Government Law into the Next Millennium: Year 2000 and Beyond (November 5 in Tampa); Real Estate Transactions (January 13 in Miami); Land Use Law (February 25 in West Palm Beach); Public Interest Committee Environmental Conference (March 23-25 in Gainesville); Water Pollution (April 14 in Tampa); Wildlife Issues (May 19 in Key Largo); and an Environmental Crimes Workshop (June 22 in Boca Raton). Please mark your calendars now.

     The Section is continuing to develop its new three-volume Treatise. Tim Smith and his editorial board are heading up this considerable undertaking. Please call Tim if you would like to offer any assistance.

     We also are seeking to increase the Section's membership, both among lawyers and affiliates. Ralf Brookes chairs the Membership Committee, and he has set a membership goal of "2000 by 2000." Terry Zinn and Jim Oliveros co-chair the Affiliate Membership Committee. Please encourage others to join our Section.

     Finally, we want to continue to increase the participation in the many fine programs offered by the Section. Please take a look at the list of committees (listed on our web site, www.eluls.org) and then contact me or any of the committee chairs to volunteer.