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Update on Bills Filed by Legislators
Legislators have been busy filing legislation and holding pre-legislative committee meetings, mostly to receive presentations on state agency budgets. To date, the House has filed more bills than last year with 1,200 total filed, while the Senate has presented fewer than last year, having filed 898 bills.
Typically, bills heard early in the session are leadership priorities and are likely to pass. The following bills that passed out of committee this week follow this pattern.
Water Quality and Everglades Restoration
Land and Water Management – HB 479 passed by a vote of 11-5 out of its first of three committees, the House Natural Resources and Disasters Committee. This bill started out as one of the worst bills of the session, prohibiting local governments from adopting any laws relating to water quality and pollution control. The bill was amended to only prohibit adding more to wetland buffer zones than what the state requires, which is still a damaging preemption action as several counties require larger wetland buffer zones to help address pollution from stormwater runoff. The Senate companion bill, SB 718 has not yet been heard in its first committee of reference.
Growth Management
Blue Ribbon Projects – SB 354 fast tracks large-scale developments on more than 10,000 acres with only administrative approval and no allowance for public input, as long as the development meets certain parameters, including a set-aside for open space. The bill passed 7-1 in the Senate Community Affairs Committee this week and was met by concerned discussion from both legislators and the public.
The bill sponsor promised to work on the bill as it advances, which is a tactic to advance bad bills without the guarantee that they will be amended before they pass. The House version, HB 299, passed 12-2 in it’s first pre-session committee of the House Intergovernmental Affairs Sub-committee.
Land Use Regulations for Local Governments Affected by Natural Disasters – SB 840 is the “fix” bill to last year’s very harmful SB 180 preemption bill, which essentially prohibited any changes to local land use laws after a hurricane that could be considered more strict or burdensome for developers. SB 840 passed 8-0 out of the Community Affairs Committee and is scheduled next Tuesday, Jan. 20, in the Senate Judiciary.
While SB 840 is a substantial improvement to 2025’s SB 180, it doesn’t fix every bad element of SB 180, including addressing retroactive impacts, as well as its preemption of voter-approved land use changes. The House version, HB 1465, has not yet been assigned to its first committee agenda.
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