BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

Florida League of Cities

Agricultural Lands (Monitor) – Failed 

CS/CS/CS/HB 1343 (Tuck) and CS/CS/SB 1184 (Collins) increase the exemption from the levy of a county special assessment for fire protection services from $10,000 to $350,000 for the value of nonresidential farm buildings. The bills authorize the construction of housing for migrant farmworkers on land zoned agricultural without any local government approval by ordinance or resolution. The migrant farmworker housing may not exceed 7,500 square feet. The bills require that the migrant workers have legal status to work in the United States. The bills prohibit local governments from adopting a land use or zoning restriction, condition or regulation that requires the termination or surrender of an agricultural classification for any property. CS/CS/CS/HB 1343 and CS/CS/SB 1184 have been amended to completely prohibit counties from levying any special assessment on lands classified as agricultural that meet certain requirements. CS/CS/CS/HB 1343 was amended to clarify that the county prohibition from a county levying special assessments does not apply to nonagricultural structures, including both residential and nonresidential structures, and their curtilage. CS/CS/CS/HB 1343 was amended to remove the provisions that completely prohibit counties from levying any special assessment on lands classified as agricultural that meet certain requirements. This language was instead included in the 2023 tax package (HB 7063). (Cruz)