Fourth Week of the 2024 Legislative Session 



Welcome to week 4 of the 2024 legislative session! The Countdown Clock reads 35 days until Sine Die. Bills will be heard and amended every day—stay on top of county priorities with this weekly legislative bulletin or with our comprehensive Bill Tracker. 

On Tuesday, February 6th at 3 PM the Senate Community Affairs Committee is scheduled to hear SB 438 which would impose term limits on county commissioners.

SB 438 strips voters of their freedom to decide whether to impose term limits on their local officials and what those term limits should be. Currently, eleven counties have term limits in place and every county has the ability through a citizen initiative or the Board of County Commissioners to enact limits.

Florida counties vary, and adopting term limits should be determined by the voters, as there is no one-size-fits-all approach.

Please come to Tallahassee and testify or call committee members and ask them to vote no on SB 438. 

Chamber budgets are expected to be voted off the floor next week. Stay tuned for our full budget report.

On Tuesday, the House State Affairs Committee passed (14-6) CS/HB 705 by Rep. Shoaf.  

Under current law, a “public works project” includes construction projects funded in part or whole by state-appropriated funds. The bill revises the definition to also include projects paid for with local funding. 

The bill revises the definition of a “public works project” to include projects using local funding. Locally funded projects would now be subject to the existing preemption on contracting preferences, including considerations of wages, benefits, and staffing levels. 

The originally filed version preserved local authority to award contracts based on geographic preferences for projects funded exclusively with local dollars. However, the committee adopted a strike-all amendment removing this language and further expanding the preemption. 

The Senate Version CS/SB 742 by Sen. Grall does still allow a local government to practice geographic preferences if it is the sole funding source of the project. This bill also Excludes goods, services, or work that is incidental to the public works project. The amended language set forth a non-exhaustive list of such incidental service items.

On Wednesday, the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee unanimously passed CS/CS/SB 328 by Sen. Calatayud. During committee, an amendment was adopted to the bill that makes the following changes: 

As it pertains to the act’s preemption of certain local zoning and land use regulations to expedite the development of affordable housing, the bill:  

• Restores the directive for local governments to approve qualifying developments in industrial areas.  
• Preempts a local government’s “floor area ratio” for qualifying developments.  
• Modifies the height preemption provisions to address situations where a qualifying development is adjacent to single family parcels.  
• Prohibits qualifying developments within one-quarter mile of a military installation from utilizing the act’s administrative approval process and exempts certain airport impacted areas from the act’s provisions.  
• Clarifies that a local government’s “currently allowed” density, height, and floor area ratio does not include any bonuses, variances, or other special exceptions provided in their regulations.  
• Requires developments authorized under the act to be treated as a conforming use even after expiration of the development’s affordability period and after the expiration of the applicable statutes.  
• Modifies parking reduction requirements for qualifying developments located near certain transportation facilities.  

As it pertains to the act’s ad valorem tax exemptions for newly constructed multifamily developments, the bill makes the following changes:  

• Requires 10 units, rather than 70 units, to be set aside for income-limited persons and families in Florida Keys to qualify for the exemption.  
• Clarifies that the Florida Housing Finance Corporation’s (FHFC) duties are ministerial in certifying eligibility for exemption, while local property appraisers maintain authority to grant tax exemptions.  
• Outlines the method for property appraisers to determine the values of tax-exempt units.  

Finally, the bill appropriates $100 million in non-recurring funds from the General Revenue Fund to the FHFC to administer the Florida Hometown Hero Program and makes one programmatic change and expands the authority for the FHFC to preclude developers from participating in its programs for certain violations.  

The House version HB1239 by Rep. Lopez has still not been heard. 

The House Local Administration, Federal Affairs, and Special Districts passed CS/CS/HB 267 by Rep. Esposito with (10-4). During committee, there was an amendment to the bill that was also adopted, which included the following changes:

• Removes provisions of the bill relating to platting.  
• Requires the Florida Building Commission to provide an exception in the Building Code relating to sealed drawings by a design professional for replacement windows, doors, and garages. 
• Requires local governments to approve applications for multifamily projects within 60 business days.  
• Requires local governments to review completed applications for sufficiency within 10 business days.  

The House Local Administration, Federal Affairs, & Special Districts Committee passed CS/HB 665 by Rep. McClain (10-2) This bill requires governing bodies of counties that have 75,000 residents or more and a municipality of 30,000 residents or more to create a program to expedite the issuance of building permits. This program must be a two-step process that includes the approval of a preliminary plat by a governing body and the approval of a final plat consistent with a master building permit plan. Once the preliminary plat is approved, this bill will require local governments to issue 50% of these permits. This process must be in place by October 1, 2024, and municipalities with existing programs must update their program to issue 50% of building permits within their program. By December 31, 2027, the 50% issuance of permits will increase to 75%. 

An applicant must indemnify and hold harmless a governing body and its agents from liability and damages accruing and directly related to the issuance of a building permit for a structure located in planned communities. This bill also provides vested rights to an applicant upon approval of a preliminary plat if the applicant relies in good faith, incurs obligation and expenses, and commences construction of the subdivision. 

The Senate Companion, CS/SB 812 By Sen. Ingoglia, is on the Regulated Industries agenda for next Monday, February 5th.

On Thursday morning, Sen DiCiglies Vacation Rental bill CS/SB 280 passed off the Senate Floor (27-13). This bill preempts the licensing of public lodging and food service establishments to the state and the regulation of vacation rental advertising platforms. Authorizes counties to establish a registration program for vacation rental properties. While on the floor, there were two amendments adopted to the bill.  

These include: 

• From the Hotel and Restaurant Trust Fund, $645,202 in recurring funds from the Administrative Trust Fund, and $3,295,884 in nonrecurring funds from the General Revenue Fund are appropriated to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation  
• Local government must prepare a business impact estimate in accordance with before implementing a vacation rental registration program. 
• Changes the maximum overnight occupancy of the vacation rental which do not exceed either two persons per bedroom, plus an additional two persons in one common area; or more than two persons per bedroom if there is at least 50 square feet per person, plus an additional two persons in one common area, whichever is greater.  
• Shall provide a list of all vacation rentals in this state advertised on its platform.  

The bill also includes: 

• Local government to decide on a reasonable registration fee,  
• Local government may impose a fine of up to $500 per violation. 
• Allows a vacation rental operator a 15-day period to cure before a local government may issue a fine for a violation. 
• Provides clarifying language on code violations only penalizes the vacation rental at which a violation occurred. This clarifies that a vacation rental with a code violation must be taken down from an advertising site and not all the vacation rentals an owner has listed. 
• Provides for the payment of attorney fees, costs, and damages to the prevailing party. 
• When a vacation rental operator appeals a denial, suspension, or revocation of a vacation rental registration. 
• Adds an advertising platform shall notify the division within 15 days after any advertisement or listing is on its online application without proper identifying information. 
• Provides an appropriation budget for the purpose of implementing this act. 

In the House CS/HB 1537 by Rep. Griffitts passed Regulated Reform & Economic Development (10-4) along with an amendment. This bill adds to the scope of the state preemption of public lodging establishments and public food service establishments by preempting “licensing” regulations and revises the scope of the express state preemption on vacation rentals to allow local jurisdictions to amend local regulations to:  

• Be less restrictive or  
• Comply with local registration requirements.  

The amendment made the following changes: 

• Requires local registration programs to be administered by the tax collector.  
• Limits local government’s authority to charge a reasonable fee for building and fire code inspections to $150, and specifies the inspectors must be authorized under the State Fire Marshall standards. 
• Specifies that when a vacation rental registration is accepted, the local government is required to immediately assign a unique registration number. Removes the 5 day timeframe that a vacation rental operator is required to provide the vacation rental registration number to the Division.  
• Limits any lien for a registration violation to apply only to that specific property; removing the ability to lien all other property owned by that same owner.  
• Requires any violations that are subject to discipline to be “material” violations; requires the code enforcement board or special magistrate to make such determination; and only allows revocation if found to have habitual material violations.  
• Decreases the related 30, 60, and 90 day suspension timeframes to 15, 30, and 60 days for material violation during a 60 day, 30 day and 6 month periods; the 60 day suspension only applies if violations occur within 6-month so the two prior suspensions. 
• Specifies that registration revocations apply only to a specific vacation rental.  
• Requires immediate and automatic registration reinstatement or renewal upon satisfaction of the lien.  
• Allows registration 6 months after revocation of a registration.  
• Removes the requirement for advertising platforms to:  
• Display the vacation rental local registration number. 
• Verify license numbers through the department. 
• Use the vacation rental information system to verify the vacation rental license number. 
• Requires the advertising platform to: 
• Remove the ability to book an advertisement or listing within 15 days of notification through the information system of a revocation or suspension. 
• Provide to the Division on a quarterly basis, in a manner compatible with the vacation rental information system, a list of all vacation rentals in the state which are advertised on its platform, along with the uniform resource locator for the Internet address of the vacation rental advertisement and the vacation rental license number associated with the vacation rental. 
• Removes the requirement that the Division’s vacation rental information system provide a system interface to allow advertising platforms to verify license and registration information.  

The bill also allows local governments to:  



• Create a local vacation rental registration program. 
• Charge a registration fee not to exceed $150 for processing an individual registration application. 
• Fine vacation rental operators up to $300, file and foreclose on a lien based on the fine, suspend registrations, and revoke or refuse to renew a registration, for violations of the local registration requirements.  
• Preempts to the state the regulation of advertising platforms, requires users of advertising platforms to provide license and registration information in a vacation rental listing, requires advertising platforms to collect and remit certain taxes and adopt an antidiscrimination policy.  
• Grants the Division certain enforcement mechanisms relating to unlicensed activities.  
• Requires the Division to create and maintain a vacation rental license information system to allow local governments to notify the Division of suspensions and terminations, verify the license and local registration status of a vacation rental, and registered users to subscribe to receive notification of changes to the license or registration of a vacation rental.  
• Specifically, does not supersede the authority of condominiums, cooperatives, or homeowners’ associations to restrict the use of their properties.  
• Requires vacation rental operators to display license and registration information. 

On Monday, the Senate Committee on Community Affairs passed SB 648 unanimously by Sen. DiCeglie. The House Companion HB 377 by Rep. Borrero also passed unanimously in the Local Administration, Federal Affairs & Special Districts Sub Committee. This bill creates a new statute allowing a person who holds a valid license or permit issued by a county or municipality to operate a vehicle for hire the ability to operate a vehicle for hire in any other county without paying additional licensing or permit fees. This does not apply to transportation services to and from an airport. This section does not grant specific authority to counties, municipalities, or special districts to regulate license for vehicles for hire. This section does not apply to a person who holds a license or permit who provides transportation of a person while on a stretcher or wheelchair, or disability, illness, injury or other incapacitations that makes it impractical to be transported by a common carrier. 

On Tuesday, we saw a double-header with alternative mobility funding systems being heard in both the House commerce committee and the Senate transportation committee. The bill provides that only the local government issuing the building permit may charge for transportation impacts on a development. The bill directs the permitting local government to collect and account for extra-jurisdictional impacts, but there is little clarity on how fees for these impacts would be determined or allocated. The language is also unclear as to whether “jurisdiction” refers to governmental authority or geographic boundaries. This ambiguity presents challenges for county road systems that traverse municipal boundaries. 

FAC staff Bob McKee and Davin Suggs raised these concerns in committee. CS/HB 479 passed (18-3) and now moves on to its final committee stop, House Commerce. The Senate companion, SB 688 by Sen. Martin, also passed favorably (4-1) and moves to its last committee stop as well. 

Two bills addressing the PACE program were heard this week, one in each chamber. CS/CS/SB 770 unanimously passed Senate Fiscal Policy on Wednesday and now heads to the Senate floor. Meanwhile, CS/HB 927 by Rep. Trabulsy unanimously passed the Energy, Communications, and Cybersecurity subcommittee.  

The bills address a number of concerns with the Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, program. The program allows residential and commercial property owners to finance eligible improvements, including energy efficiency and wind resistance projects, through assessments on their annual tax bill. 

FAC supported the Senate language, which clarifies that a PACE program administrator may only offer residential financing within the jurisdiction of a county or municipality that has authorized the program by ordinance or resolution. The House version originally contained a similar fix; however, an amendment removed this provision. Without this clarification, rogue program administrators may be emboldened to operate statewide with little oversight. FAC opposed the adoption of the House amendment in committee.  

The bills also expand the eligible uses of the program to include advanced wastewater treatment and flood mitigation but remove solar energy as an eligible use. Lastly, the bill tightens the consumer protections surrounding the program, including additional disclosure requirements and greater financial scrutiny on a property owner’s ability to repay. 

The Senate Committee on Community Affairs unanimously passed SB 734 by Sen. Ingoglia. This bill states that public officers, state agency employees, local government attorneys, and candidates for office are prohibited from soliciting or accepting anything of value, including a gift, loan, reward, promise of future employment, favor, or service, based upon an understanding that their vote, official action, or judgment would be influenced. State agencies and political subdivisions must report any grant or gift over $50,000 from any foreign source and are prohibited from receiving grants from a country that has been designated as a “foreign country of concern” or any entity controlled by such a country.  

The committee adopted the PCS version of the bill, which added:

• Prohibits public officers, state agency employees, local government attorneys, and candidates for office from soliciting or accepting anything of value from a foreign country of concern. 
• Establishes requirements for lobbying counties, municipalities, and special districts that mirror requirements for lobbying the executive branch and  
• Prohibits counties, municipalities, and school districts from renewing or extending the employment contracts of certain senior employees during the eight-month period preceding a general election unless the renewal or extension is approved by a unanimous vote of the governing board.  

Rep. Andrade's House version HB 735 is waiting to be heard in the State Affairs Committee.  

On Monday afternoon, the Community Affairs Committee Temporarily Postponed SB 1628 by Sen. Collins. This bill creates a process through which various agencies may be requested by affected private parties to review local government actions that affect certain state economic sectors, such as agriculture, energy, and transportation. Revises the categories of local ordinances exempt from statutes related to the production of business impact estimates and subject to certain conditions on lawsuits brought by any party to challenge the legal validity of local ordinances as preempted by state law, arbitrary, or unreasonable. The bill also requires the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability to produce a report on the implementation and effectiveness of the impact review process established in the bill.  

The House Version HB 1547 By Rep. McClure is not yet on an agenda.  

On Monday, SB 656 by Sen. DiCeglie was heard during the governmental oversight and accountability committee. The bill increases the maximum dollar amount allowed from 4 million to 7.5 million with an additional percent increase that coincides with the annual consumer price index (CPI) increase and studies conducted under such contracts for construction projects under the Consultants Competitive Negotiation Act (CCNA). The committee adopted an amendment providing the following: 

• Decreases the original cap increase from 10 to 7 million dollars 
• Strikes language relating to FDOT 
• Clarifies language pertaining to the consumer price index 

SB 656 was reported favorably and successfully moves through its first of three committee stops. The house companion, HB 149 by Rep. Alvarez, awaits scheduling in its last committee stop. 

On Monday, the House Appropriations Committee unanimously passed CS/CS/HB 569 by Rep. McFarland. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Senate passed its companion bill, CS/SB 472 by Sen. Brodeur passed (5-1). This bill increases sovereign immunity caps to $400,000/individual and $600,000/ incident. Allows local government entities to settle a claim in any amount without the approval of a claim bill by the Legislature. If a state agency agrees to settle a claim or has a judgment rendered against it, the state agency may pay the amount in excess of the waiver of sovereign immunity and any insurance coverage only by seeking excess payment from the legislature through a claim bill. Abolishes home venue privilege, thereby allowing a claimant to bring a suit against the state, its agency, or a subdivision thereof in the claimant’s home county, the county where the action accrued, or the county in which the property in litigation is located. Reduces from 3 years to 18 months the time allotted for pre-suit notice to the state, its agency, or a subdivision thereof, and also reduces the duration that entity has to review the notice from 6 months to 4 months.  

This week, both chambers took up and unanimously passed CS/HB 103 by Rep. Arrington and CS/SB 712 by Sen. Powell. This bill provides a public records exemption for the personal identifying and location information of current and former county attorneys, assistant county attorneys, deputy county attorneys, city attorneys, assistant city attorneys, deputy city attorneys, and the spouses and children of such. The next stop for these bills is the Senate and House Floor for passage.  

CS/HB 151 by Rep. Busatta-Cabrera was heard on Wednesday, January 31st, in the House Appropriations Committee. This bill proposes several changes to the Florida Retirement System (FRS) affecting pension plan members and retirees. Firstly, it restores a 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for eligible FRS pension plan members initially enrolled before July 1, 2011. However, this COLA is limited to the first $150,000 of annual benefit, and adjustments above that threshold are tied to service credit earned before July 1, 2011. Additionally, member contribution rates are increased to better align with benefits earned by different employee classes. Allocations to investment plan accounts for each membership class are raised, aiming to enhance the overall system. Notably, the bill closes the FRS Preservation of Benefits Plan to new members starting July 1, 2026. Retirees are now allowed to receive both compensation from an FRS-participating employer and retirement benefits, provided they are not reemployed within 6 months after retirement. Certain elected officers completing a Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) participation period by June 30, 2023, can remain in office and receive accumulated DROP proceeds. Furthermore, the bill adjusts employer contribution rates for the FRS based on annual actuarial valuation and additional actuarial studies. The legislation declares that it fulfills an important state interest. This bill comes with a $713.2 million dollar price tag for counties to be paid to the FRS trust fund in FY 24-25. 

This bill was supported favorably with an overwhelming (27-0) vote and its original final committee stop was removed. The bill is now placed in the special-order group that will meet February 7th .  

CS/HJR 7017 and CS/HB 7019 reached their final stops on the house floor, Thursday. CS/HJR 7017 proposed to annually adjust the second homestead exemption for inflation by indexing it to the Consumer Price Index. Specifically, the value of the exemption will be updated each January 1st based on the percentage change reported by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. CS/HB 7019 is the implementing bill of CS/HJR 7017 which also provides for an annual appropriation to offset losses experienced by fiscally constrained counties.  

CS/HJR 7017 was adopted by the house legislature by a vote of (86-29). Its implementation bill CS/HB 7019 was also passed favorably by house legislation with a vote of (84-31). 

Rep. Garrison’s CS/HB 1195, Millage Rates, was heard on Wednesday in the House Local Administration, Federal Affairs & Special Districts Subcommittee. This bill requires a two-thirds vote of the governing body of a county, municipality, or independent special district is required to pass any millage rate increase, except where a higher vote threshold is already required under current law.  

The bill passed favorably (10-4) and moves on to its last committee stop in House State Affairs. The Senate companion, SB 1322 by Sen Ingoglia, recently passed its first committee stop, Senate Community Affairs.

On Wednesday, the House Ways & Means Committee unanimously passed CS/CS/HB 107 by Rep. Esposito. The bill directs the Revenue Estimating Conference to conduct a Special Estimating Session to determine the General Revenue impact resulting from the sales tax on electricity used for charging electric vehicles. One-twelfth of this revenue estimate is to be distributed monthly to the State Transportation Trust Fund—no money will be allocated to counties or municipalities. 

Additionally, the bill directs the Office of Economic and Demographic Research to conduct a study on the long-term fiscal impacts of continued EV and PHEV adoption to the State Transportation Trust Fund and sales tax/gross receipts revenues. 



An amendment was adopted that extended both the study and the distribution for an additional year, through 2026.  

Rep. Botana’s, CS/HB 609 local business taxes, was heard in committee this week. The bill as amended now proposes a limit on how much money the local government can collect from this business tax. This limit is set based on the revenue the local government received during the 2023-24 fiscal year. If the local government collects more money from the business tax than it did in the specified fiscal year, the bill requires them to reduce the tax rates proportionally. Additionally, they must issue refunds or credits to the businesses that paid more than the new reduced rates. The bill provides guidelines on how to calculate these refunds or credits and specifies when they must be given. 

To ensure compliance, local governments need to include a statement in their annual financial audit report, confirming that they have followed the rules to reduce rates and issue refunds if necessary. The Auditor General will check if local governments are following these rules and report any noncompliance to the Legislative Auditing Committee. 

Before the adoption of the strike all amendment, the Revenue Estimating Conference estimates the bill would have no impact on state government revenues and would have a recurring impact on local government revenues of -$220.4 million dollars beginning in FY 2024-25. The Revenue Estimating Conference has not yet estimated the impact of the bill as amended. 

The amendment presented during the House Ways & Means committee meeting by Rep. Botana with HB 609 went on to be adopted and the bill was supported favorably with a vote of (16-7). This was the HB 609 first of three committee stops and now awaits to be heard in its next committee stop, the House Local Administration, Fedeal Affairs and Special Districts Subcommittee. This bill does have an identical companion over on the senate side as well, SB 1144 by Sen. DeCeglie. 

On Wednesday, the House Ways & Means Committee reviewed and discussed HB 471, sponsored by Rep. Fine. The bill revises the methodology for valuing timeshare units for the purpose of ad valorem taxation. Current law directs a property appraiser to look to the resale market to determine the valuation of a property. If the Property Appraiser determines there are an insufficient number of resales, they may use the original sale price, minus the administrative costs of the sale.  

Under this bill, the property appraiser is directed to defer to the property owner as to the methodology for valuation—whether the resale market or the original purchase price. It is important to note that valuations from the resale market range from 40-75% lower than those of the purchase price valuation. This is likely due to the number of “distressed sales” arising from timeshare properties—as property owners seek to get out of often rigid timeshare contracts. The revised methodology would result in a $171 million local impact for FY 2024-25.  

The bill was reported favorably (18-4) and now progresses to the House Commerce Committee.  

The Senate companion, SB 886 by Sen. Gruters, recently passed its first committee, Senate Regulated Industries.  

On Monday, the House Water Quality, Supply, and Treatment subcommittee unanimously approved the Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) proposed stormwater rule with a few minor revisions to the DEP provisions. The measure passed as a committee bill, WST1, and will be referred to as HB 7053 moving forward.  

For context, the 2020 Clean Waterways Act directed DEP and the water management districts to initiate rulemaking regarding stormwater infrastructure and the associated environmental resource permitting process. Proposed rules with an aggregate 5-year economic impact estimate over $1 million trigger the statutory requirement for legislative ratification—the 5-year impact of this rule is estimated to be over $1 billion.  

The Senate version, SB 7040, recently passed its first committee, Senate Environment and Natural Resources.