State of Florida Senator Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie proposed the creation of a 37-member, three-county committee to increase cooperation and coordination between St. Lucie, Martin, and Indian River counties. On March 30, 2004, Executive Order No. 04-61 was signed by Governor Jeb Bush. The Committee was convened to bring together the range of diverse public, private, and non-profit interests, concerns and communities in the three-county Treasure Coast region. The Committee has a Technical Advisory Subcommittee (TAS) to provide information and guidance to the Committee to ensure consistency and coordination with state programs and policies.

The Committee adopted its Interim Report in February 2005; and adopted its Final Report on September 24, 2005 and it will be delivered to the Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate on September 30, 2005. From the final report, the Committee strongly recommended that a new not-for -profit organization called the Sustainable Treasure Coast (STC) be created as soon as possible. The mission of the STC should be to support the implementation of the important Principles and Action Steps in the final report and that this organization should draw its membership from the region's leaders including members of the CSTC and the region’s business leaders.

Concurrent with the creation of the STC, and in order to provide continuity for the research and data collection called for in this report, Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in cooperation with the Indian River Community College (IRCC), should create an Institute for a Sustainable Treasure Coast (ISTC). The ISTC should serve to support the data and research needed to implement the principles and action steps of this report and to ensure that the Committee's report is widely disseminated to decisionmakers and the Treasure Coast public.

Sustainable Treasure Coast, Inc. (STC) is a new non-profit organization that has been developed to "get the word out" about the work of the Committee and to ensure implementation of the Committee's recommendations. The mission of the STC is to support the implementation of the important Principles and Action Steps in the CSTC report. The STC membership encompasses the region’s leaders, including members of the CSTC. It is critical that the region’s business leaders support and participate on the STC.