Feb. 3, 2023 | Legislative Reporter
This is an off week for committees, though bills continue to be filed. Session is scheduled to begin on March 7.
The Bill Tracking Report, as of Feb. 3, can be viewed here. Please review it to see the bills filed that APA Florida is tracking. Note that these tracking reports contain a new feature; if you click on the bill number, you are linked to more information about the bill.
If you would like any bills added to this report or would like more information about a specific bill, please contact Stefanie Svisco at ssvisco@floridaplanning.org.
Special Note:
Governor DeSantis unveiled a proposed budget of $114.8 billion on Feb. 1. Some notable items include $7 billion for highway projects, $1 billion for teacher pay increases, $3.5 billion to be used over four years for environmental projects, and nearly $2 billion in tax cuts.
Since the last update, the following bills of interest have been filed that would do the following:
• Cited as the “Live Local Act,” makes numerous substantive changes related to the provision of affordable housing, including amending ss.125. 01055 and 166.04151, F.S., to add a requirement that counties and municipalities must authorize multifamily and mixed-use residential as allowable uses in any area zoned for commercial or mixed-use if at least 40 percent of the residential units in the proposed multifamily rental development are affordable as defined in s.420.0004, F.S., for a period of at least 30 years and for mixed-use residential projects, at least 65 percent of the total square footage must be used for residential; the application for this development may not require a zoning or land use change or comprehensive plan amendment; this approval is administrative and does not require full governing body approval if it satisfies certain requirements. (SB 102, Sen. Calatayud). (Note that this bill is a priority of Senate President Passidomo. A press release on the bill from President Passidomo can be viewed here, and a section-by-section summary of the bill can be viewed here.)
• Makes various changes to expand access to Florida’s Wildlife Corridor, including formally connecting the corridor to the state trail system, and extending the Florida Shared-Use Nonmotorized (SUN) Trail program to the lands of the Florida Wildlife corridor; increases funding for SUN projects; and allows the Department of Environmental Protection to establish a program to recognize local communities located along, or in proximity to, one or more long-distance nonmotorized recreational trails as trail towns. (SB 106, Sen. Brodeur). This bill is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Transportation Committee on Feb. 7. A press release on the bill can be read here
• Amend s.375.041, F.S. related to the Land Acquisition Trust Fund to require that a minimum of the lesser of 7.6 percent or $50 million shall be appropriated annually each fiscal year for projects dedicated to the conservation and management of the Indian River Lagoon. Funds shall be used to make grants for projects that implement the 2008 updated Indian River Lagoon Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan. (SB 320, Sen. Harrell and HB 547, Rep. Sirois)
• Create ss.403.7034, F.S. to allow certain coastal communities to establish a pilot program to regulate single-use plastic products and specifies requirements for establishing such a program. Defines eligible coastal communities as municipalities with a population of less than 500,000 which abuts or borders the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, or a saltwater bay, sound, strait, inlet, lagoon, salt marsh, coastal wetland, or other saltwater body immediately adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean (SB 336, Sen. Rodriguez and HB 363, Rep. Mooney, Jr.)
• Create s.332.15, F.S. to define public use airports and provide an exemption for an owner, operator, or user of these airports from civil liability, criminal prosecution, or nuisance action related to noise or noise pollution resulting from the operation or use of the airport. Defines public use airports as publicly or privately owned airports that are used or to be used for public purposes. Specifies that the bill does not prohibit local government from regulating the location and construction of a public-use airport after July 1, 2023. (HB 347, Rep. Bankson)
• Amend s.163.3177, F.S., to allow modifications to the five-year capital improvement schedule to be done administratively, as opposed to by ordinance, if all the projects have been adopted by the project’s appropriate board; also amends ss.163.3184 (5) to provide that the prevailing party in a challenge to a plan or plan amendment filed under this subsection is entitled to recover attorney fees and costs in challenging or defending a plan or plan amendment, including reasonable appellate attorney fees and costs. Amends ss.163.3187(5), F.S., to provide that the prevailing party in a challenge related to a small scale amendment is entitled to recover attorney fees and costs in challenging or defending the order, including reasonable appellate attorney fees and costs. (HB 359, Rep. Duggan)
• Create s.163.31803, F.S., that establishes the method for the adoption and implementation of a mobility plan as an alternative to transportation concurrency, as well as the criteria for calculating a mobility fee. Amend s.163.3164, F.S., to define a mobility fee as a local government fee schedule established by ordinance and based on the projects included in the adopted mobility plan, and define the mobility plan as an integrated land use and alternative mobility transportation plan adopted into a comprehensive plan which promotes a compact, mixed-use, and interconnected development served by a multimodal transportation system in an area that is urban in character as defined in s.171.031, F.S. (SB 350, Sen. Brodeur)
• Propose numerous amendments to Chapter 163, F.S., related to comprehensive plans, among which are ones that would:
o amend the definitions of the agricultural enclave, density, intensity, urban service area, and urban sprawl.
o delete the inclusion of community goals and vision as an example of relevant and appropriate data and analysis.
o specify that if there is conflict or inconsistency between a required element and an optional one, the required element controls.
o changes the planning periods for comprehensive plans from 5- and 10-year periods to 10- and 20year periods:
adds a provision with respect to future land use elements to include criteria to encourage the location of schools in all areas if necessary to provide adequate school capacity to serve residential development.
o delete the language regarding indicators of urban sprawl.
o specify that if a local government does not notify the state land planning agency of the EAR results determination or fails to initiate or adopt a needed plan amendment identified by the EAR, the local government may not initiate of adopt plan amendments until it complies, but this does not apply to privately initiated plan amendments, (this provision applies retroactively to Jan. 1, 2022).
o require that if a local government fails to update its comprehensive plan if the EAR indicates a need to do so, the state land planning agency must provide the data and analysis and the local government must update the plan with three months of receipt.
o specify that land development regulations must regulate minimum lot sizes within conventional zoning districts which are consistent with the maximum density authorized in the plan and regulate infill development standards for single-family and two-family dwelling units.
Also amends provisions adopted recently with respect to the application of building design elements to single-family or two-family dwellings to delete their application to dwellings in PUDs or master planned communities, and to amend the application to dwellings located in a local government that has a design review or architectural review board to specify the board must be created before Jan. 1, 2022. (HB 439, Rep. McClain)
• Amend s.215.971, F.S., related to rural areas of opportunity, to add a provision that an agency agreement that provides state or federal financial assistance to a county or municipal entity within a rural area of opportunity may not require the county or municipal entity to expend funds to be reimbursed. (HB 413, Rep. Abbott)
• Amend s.380.0555, F.S., to provide that the Department of Environmental Protection may expend up to $5 million each fiscal year, beginning in the fiscal year 2023-24 and continuing through fiscal year 2027-28 for the purpose of entering into financial assistance agreements with the City of Apalachicola to implement projects that improve surface and groundwater quality within the Apalachicola Bay Area of Critical State Concern. (HB 407, Rep. Shoaf)
• Creates s.220.197, F.S., cited as Main Street Historic Tourism and Revitalization Act, which specifies the process and eligibility requirements for receiving specified tax credits for qualified expenses incurred in rehabilitating certified historic structures. (HB 499, Rep. Stark and SB 288, Sen. DiCeglie) (Note that similar bills were filed in the House and Senate last year which APA Florida supported; both of those bills died in committee.)
• Amend ss.1013.64(6), F.S., to provide that an unfinished construction project for new construction of educational plant space that was started on or before July, 1, 2026 is exempt from the total cost per student station requirements established in ss.1013.64(6)(b), F.S. (HB 457, Rep. Abbott)
• Amend s.375.041, F.S., related to the Land Acquisition Trust Fund, to require that $20 million be appropriated annually to the Department of Environmental Protection to implement the Heartland Headwaters Protection and Sustainability Act, and specify that the funds must be used to enter into financial assistance agreements and distributed in accordance with the projects identified in the Heartland Headwaters Annual Report. (HB 557, Rep. Bell).
• Propose amendments to the Florida Forever Act including extending its bond retirement date from 2040 to 2054; revising the distribution of proceeds from the Florida Forever Trust Fund for land acquisition and capital project expenditures; and amending s.375.041, F.S., related to the Land Acquisition Trust Fund to provide that at least $350 million be appropriated annually to the Florida Forever Trust Fund. (HB 559, Rep. Roth)
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