Welcome to Committee Week 3 of the 2026 Session 

Both chambers convened this week for their third round of interim committee meetings. Committees heard from agency leaders and subject matter experts on key state issues. The remaining interim committee schedule is as follows:  

• November 17-21, 2026  
• December 1-5, 2026  
• December 8-12, 2026  



Regular session will begin on Tuesday, January 13, 2026.  

Last Friday, October 31st, the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) met to discuss the Florida House Property Tax proposals to measure the impact of eliminating homestead property taxes. The REC is comprised of four principals: Governor’s Office, Senate, House of Representatives, and Legislative Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR). Together, the REC provides consensus estimates on a range of economic, demographic, and fiscal impact analyses as official projections for legislative purposes. 

For HJR 201—Elimination of non-school homestead property taxes, the conference adopted over a $14 billion impact on local governments (county, city, special districts) for the first-year implementation in FY 2027-28 if approved by the voters. FAC estimates the statewide county share of this impact to be roughly $9 billion. 

To assist each county, FAC has estimated the impact of each proposal, given the adopted estimates by the conference. To view the full county-by-county analysis of the adopted impacts, click here.  

How to read the attached chart: 

• Cash impacts estimate first-year values county-by-county 
• Recurring impacts estimate sixth-year values, or full implementation 
• Note: The REC considers FY 2031-32 the full implementation year.  

Last Friday, the REC agreed to estimates on five joint resolutions. To view, the adopted conference analysis, click here. Highlights for FY 2027-28 impact include: 

• HJR 201—Elimination of non-school homestead property taxes 
• $14 billion statewide first year impact ($9 billion county share) 
• HJR 203—10-year sunset of non-school homestead taxes, 
• $4.3 billion statewide first-year impact ($2.9 billion county share) 
• HJR 205—Non-school homestead elimination for seniors over 65+ 
• $5.7 billion statewide first-year impact ($3.5 billion county share) 
• HJR 207—Additional 25% exemption for non-school homestead taxes 
• $3.5 billion statewide first-year impact ($2.3 billion county share) 
• HJR 211—Eliminate Save-Our-Homes Portability Cap for non-school homestead 
• $43 million first-year/$336 million 6th year ($27 million/$213 million county share) 

The conference will meet again tomorrow, Friday November 7th, to continue the discussion on the following house property tax proposals. FAC’s analysis does include estimates on these proposals consistent with conference materials and will be updated when formally adopted by the conference: 

• HJR 209—Additional 100,000 exemption for insured properties on non-school homestead value, 
• HJR 213—Modifications to the assessed value growth rates, 
• HB 215—Combined Save-Our-Homes differential for married couples. 

Click here to read the Speaker’s memorandum.  

See the proposals in our property tax tracker on our website, here. 

Tune in to this week’s episode of Capital Recap for the latest updates on legislative meetings, policy discussions, and key developments from the Capitol that impact counties across Florida.

On Wednesday, 11/5, the House Civil Justice and Claims Subcommittee heard HB 145 Suits Against the Government by Representative McFarland. The bill is identical to Sovereign Immunity legislation that cleared the Florida House last session but ultimately failed as the Senate never considered the bill. The bill significantly expands the current waiver of sovereign immunity of government entities in tort actions resulting in significant increased costs to government entities from caps of $200,000 per individual claim and $300,000 per incident to $500,000 and $1 million respectively. The bill then increases the caps further in October 2031 to $600,000 per individual claim and $1.2 million per incident. Aside from the increases, the bill authorizes subdivisions of the state to settle above the caps without the need for a claims bill in the Legislature, effectively leaving subdivisions of the state without caps.

 

The bill will lead to uncertainty in assessing risk and will have the effect of increasing insurance premiums. The bill creates additional uncertainty by potentially increasing the number of claims and lawsuits filed against counties potentially inflating pay-out of claims against governmental entities. The committee discussed this issue amidst the backdrop of the ongoing property tax discussion and the potential for decreased local government revenues. While FAC and other local government entities opposed the bill, the bill passed 16-1 (Representative Vicki Lopez voting against). Currently, there is no Senate companion legislation.  

On Wednesday, 11/5, the Senate Committee on Finance & Tax heard staff presentations on state general revenue collections and ad valorem millage rates statewide. General revenue collections from August 2024 to August 2025 were $400 million over the state projections, indicating healthy economic growth. The presentation also highlighted the different millage rates levied by schools, local governments, and others taxing authorities, notice requirements and hearing requirements for setting millage rates, restrictions on millage rates increases, and the historic millage rates over time. As part of the discussion, senators inquired how much sales taxes would need to increase to accommodate the elimination of homestead property taxes which staff estimated as at least 3%. Chairman Avila stated the committee will take a “slow and methodical approach” in regards to major changes to Florida’s property tax system. 

To watch the committee presentations and discussion, click here. 

On Tuesday, 11/04 in Senate Community Affairs, chaired by Sen. McClain, Justin Domer from the Department of Commerce’s Office of Long-Term Resiliency (OLTR) presented an overview of Florida’s Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program, which provides “funding of last resort” to support long-term housing, infrastructure, and economic recovery after major disasters, particularly for vulnerable populations. Designated by the Governor to administer HUD disaster recovery funds, the Department uses CDBG-DR to fill recovery gaps not covered by FEMA, insurance, or other resources. The presentation highlighted several successful housing reconstruction projects following Hurricanes Ian, Michael, and Irma, in Putnam, Bay, and Lee Counties. OLTR also administers large-scale infrastructure grants that help local governments rebuild and improve resiliency, with major funding allocations across multiple storm events such as Hurricanes Ian, Michael, Irma, Sally, and the 2023–2024 storms. Two transformative infrastructure projects were featured: a $13.8 million investment to convert the entire Town of Alford from septic to sewer—removing barriers to redevelopment—and $19.7 million to rebuild the Calhoun Liberty Hospital, which reopened in August 2025 and was recognized as a Top 100 Critical Access Hospital. The presentation underscored OLTR’s role in stabilizing and strengthening communities through strategic, long-term disaster recovery investments. 

Following the Department of Commerce’s presentation, Executive Director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Kevin Guthrie, presented on Elevate Florida. The first-in-the-nation residential mitigation program aims to streamline and expand access to FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance funding. The program was created in response to extensive damage from Hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton, and it consolidates proven hazard-mitigation strategies into a unified, simplified process that allows property owners to apply directly to the state rather than through local governments. Developed on statutory authority in Chapter 252, Florida Statutes, and federal laws such as the Stafford Act and National Flood Insurance Act, Elevate Florida combines the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) to reduce administrative barriers and accelerate resilience projects. Eligible applicants must be Florida homeowners over 18, U.S. citizens, and able to cover the required 25% non-federal match, with priority given to homes with Repetitive Loss or Severe Repetitive Loss designations, homes damaged in recent storms, or those within FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas.  

The program supports four project types—structure elevation, mitigation reconstruction, acquisition/demolition, and wind mitigation—with a strong emphasis on elevation due to its cost-effectiveness, faster implementation, and ability to keep residents in their communities while reducing future flood risk and insurance costs. To date, Elevate Florida had received 12,000 applications, submitted 305 to FEMA for final determination, prioritized more than 1,500 for advancement, and placed 500 on a waitlist. The program continues to move applicants toward pre-construction inspections and eventual construction upon FEMA approval, reinforcing FDEM’s commitment to making mitigation more accessible, efficient, and community-focused statewide. 



To view both presentations, please click here. 

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, which support roughly 42 million Americans, were not refilled for beneficiaries on Nov. 1 due to the ongoing federal government shutdown. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has $4.65 billion available in their SNAP contingency fund for November SNAP benefits, which is short of the estimated $8 billion needed to cover benefits for the full month. On October 31, two federal courts (in Massachusetts and Rhode Island) issued rulings requiring USDA to use those contingency funds to make at least partial payments. On November 5, USDA released revised guidance to administrators and new issuance tables. The maximum SNAP benefit allotments will be reduced by 35 percent, not 50 percent. However, administrators will still then have to deduct 30 percent of the household’s net income from the reduced maximum SNAP allotment amount. Although the SNAP contingency funds are in the process of being distributed to states, SNAP recipients should expect a delay in receiving their benefits.  

Congress is still negotiating an end to the federal government shutdown. Senate Republican leaders are expected to move away from the repeatedly rejected House-passed funding patch, which would have kept the government open through November 21. Instead, they plan to advance a new short-term funding bill to allow more time to finalize FY 2026 appropriations. The current debate centers on how long this new measure should extend government funding—either into December or mid-January. 

On Tuesday, 11/4, SB 48 Housing by Sen. Gaetz passed unanimously in Community Affairs. The bill authorizes, but does not require, a landlord to accept a “reusable tenant screening report” when determining whether to lease a residential property to a prospective tenant. A prospective tenant requests and pays for the report, which is uploaded to a website that is then shared with a landlord. The bill also requires counties and municipalities to adopt an ordinance by December 1, 2026, to allow ADUs in any area zoned for single-family residential use. Such ordinance applies prospectively to ADUs permitted or constructed after adoption of the ordinance. Local governments may regulate the construction, permitting, and use of ADUs, except that local governments may not: 

• Prohibit the owner of an ADU from offering the ADU for rent, except for terms of less than 1 month, notwithstanding s. 509.032(7)(b). 
• Require an ADU owner to reside in the primary dwelling unit. 
• Increase parking requirements on any parcel that can accommodate an additional motor vehicle on a driveway without impeding access to the primary dwelling unit.  
• Require replacement parking if a garage, carport, or covered parking structure is converted to create an accessory dwelling unit. 



The bill reaffirms current law by stating that the owner of a property with an ADU may not be denied a homestead exemption for those portions of property on which the owner maintains a permanent residence solely on the basis of the property containing an ADU. However, if the ADU is rented to another person, the ADU must be assessed separately from the homestead property and taxed according to its use. The bill directs the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) to evaluate the efficacy of using mezzanine finance, or second-position short-term debt, to stimulate the construction of owner-occupied affordable housing.