Feb. 7, 2025 | Legislative Reporter
The 2025 Legislative Session convenes on March 4, 2025, and is scheduled to end on May 2, 2025.
Governor DeSantis released his budget proposal for FY 2025-26 on Feb. 3. The proposed Focus on Fiscal Responsibility Budget totals $115.6 billion with $14.6 billion in reserves. The proposed budget is about $900 million less than last year’s final budget and eliminates 741 vacant state government positions. It includes $510 million for illegal immigration countermeasures, a six-week sales tax holiday on guns and ammunition and a $609 million increase in K-12 education funding. The budget also continues the home-hardening program and back-to-school sales tax holidays. An overview can be viewed here
Committee meetings were held this week, focusing primarily on information briefings and discussions. Based on the legislative calendar posted to date, consideration of proposed bills will begin next week.
The Bill Tracking Report, as of Feb. 7, can be viewed here. 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
Please note: These summaries are based on a review of the bill language and legislative staff analysis. You are encouraged to read the actual bill language of bills that interest you. For brevity, bills impacting the Florida Statutes will look like s.XXX.XXX(x). We will note the chapter when required.
Since Jan. 31 Legislative Reporter, the following bills of interest have been filed:
HB 359 and HJR 357 (Rep. Chamberlin) are two linked bills that propose a property tax exemption for the first $100,000 of value of real property and propose a constitutional amendment to create a variety of tax exemptions respectively.
HB 363 (Rep. Aristide) allows community redevelopment districts to use up to 20 percent of tax increment financing funds, when carrying out the community redevelopment plan, for business support services.
HB 371 (Rep. Mooney, Jr.) requires the Florida Flood Hub for Applied Research and Innovation to develop design guidelines and standards for optimal combinations of green and gray infrastructure to address sea level rise and the impact of storm surges, and requires the Department of Environmental Protection to adopt rules, meeting specified requirements, to govern nature-based methods for improving coastal resilience.
HB 381 (Rep. Holcomb) requires the appropriate governing body to issue the street and mailing address and individual parcel identification number with two weeks after final plat recordation and imposes a penalty reducing the building permit fee by 10 percent for each business day the governing body fails to issue such information.
HB 393 (Rep. V. Lopez and Rep. Hunschofsky) revises eligibility and requirements for the My Safe Condominium Pilot Program, including limiting participation to condominiums that are three stories or more in height and the structure or building that is the subject of the mitigation grant must include at least one residential unit within such structure or building.
HB 401 (Rep. Jacques) creates s.125.01056 and s.166.04155 to:
• distinguish between land use categories of single-family residential use and single-family hybrid housing use and provide definitions of each category;
• allows a county or municipality to zone or designate a parcel for single-family residential use or single-family hybrid housing in the local comprehensive plan and future land use map;
• allows the use of land for single-family residential while prohibiting the use of land for single-family hybrid housing use;
• allows county or municipality to adopt any ordinance, rule, or regulation consistent with these sections respectively to meet its specific local housing needs;
• exempts these newly created statutory sections from the requirements of s.70.001 (Bert J. Harris Private Property Rights Protection Act); and
• provides that a builder or developer engaged in the construction and sale of a new home on land zoned for single-family residential use is exempt from any land development regulations governing single-family residential use if the builder or developer owns the unoccupied home under permitting and construction.
HB 409 (Rep. Caruso) creates s.163.32025, the Adaptive Reuse Initiative Act, which:
• establishes the Adaptive Reuse Public-Private Partnership Council, an advisory council to facilitate and oversee the process of evaluating the feasibility of adaptive reuse projects;
• creates s.125.01057 and s.166.04153 to allow a county or municipality respectively to adopt a transitional housing ordinance, and provides requirements met to be considered a transitional housing project;
• creates s.125.01056 and s.166.04152 to:
o require counties and municipalities respectively to authorize multifamily and mixed-use residential as allowable uses in any area zoned for commercial, industrial, or mixed use, or authorize hotels or motels to operate unencumbered as a transitional housing use, when an adaptive reuse project has been approved for the development of land under the Adaptive Reuse Initiative Act;
o prohibit requiring the developer of a proposed adaptive reuse project to obtain a zoning or land use change, special exception, conditional use approval, variance or comprehensive plan amendment for the zoning authorized; and
o require counties and municipalities to create a program that streamlines the building permit and development order processes for such projects, and reduces parking requirements if certain conditions are met.
HB 411 (Rep. Chaney) and SB 488 (Sen. DiCeglie) are companion bills that propose an ad valorem tax exemption for land that is leased from a housing authority pursuant to Chapter 159, Part IV.
HB 443 (Rep. Snyder) makes a number of changes to s.1002.33 related to charter schools; requires that before the disposal of any real property, a school district must provide written notice to each charter school operating within the school district of the intent to dispose of such property and charter schools within the school district shall be granted a right of first refusal for the purchase, lease, or use of the property for educational purposes; the school district may not finalize any transaction involving the disposal of property until each charter school within the school district has been
given a reasonable opportunity to express interest in and submit an offer to the school district for such property to ensure the continuity of educational services within the community.
SB 452 (Sen. Sharief) amends s.553.8991 to provide that a property located on a barrier island that has a land use or zoning designation allowing residential development, or which had such land use or zoning designation as of Jan. 1, 2000, or any time thereafter, is authorized to be developed or redeveloped for residential use at the highest density allowed on the property as of Jan. 1, 2000, or any time thereafter, regardless of its current land use, zoning designation, or comprehensive plan policies to the contrary.
SB 482 (Sen. DiCeglie) prohibits a county or municipality from requiring, as a condition or processing or issuing a development order, an applicant to install a work of art, pay a fee for a work of art, or reimburse the county or municipality for the costs that incurred related to a work of art. It also amends s.16331801, related to impact fees, to provide a definition of extraordinary circumstances, and require that a demonstrated-need study must identify the specific projects that will benefit, and how such projects will benefit, from exceeding phase-in limitations.
SB 492 (Sen. McClain) makes a number of changes to s.373.4136, related to mitigation banking, including revising the schedule to which the Department of Environmental Protection and water management districts are required to adhere for the release of credits, and authorizing a project applicant to use credits released from a mitigation bank outside of a mitigation service area to offset impacts if an insufficient number or type of credits have been released in the proposed project area under certain circumstances.
SB 504 (Rep. Gruters) revises the percentage of the amount contracted for construction projects that the Department of Transportation is required to allocate on a statewide basis for the purchase of plant materials. Th bill also amends the current requirement of at least 1.5 percent to a range of 1.5 to 0.1 percent based on a sliding scale of the project contract value.
SB 530 (Sen. Burgess) provides that a non-ad valorem special assessment on a recreational vehicle park levied by a county, municipality, or special district may not be levied against the portion of a recreational vehicle parking space or campsite which exceeds the maximum square footage of a recreational vehicle-type unit pursuant to s.320.01(1)(b), regardless of the size of the recreational vehicle parking site or campsite.
Legislative News
Florida Gov. DeSantis releases proposed state budget for 2025-26, includes more tax cuts
Jim Rosica | USA-TODAY NETWORK-Florida | Feb. 3
Ron DeSantis promotes “focus on fiscal responsibility” for proposed Florida Budget
Drew Dixon | Florida Politics | Feb. 3
Gov. DeSantis says Florida should triple homestead exemptions, floats putting issue on the ballot
Jesse Scheckner | Florida Politics | Feb. 5,
House bill seeks to curb corporate purchases of single-family homes
Caden DeLisa | The Capitolist | Feb. 5
New property tax exemption bill could reduce financial burdens for Floridians
Andrew Powell | Florida Politics | Feb. 6