BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

HB 1365 (Maggard) and SB 1784 (Burgess) create the Rural Roads Initiative Pilot Program within the Florida Department of Transportation with the purpose of paving state, county or municipal roads within East Pasco County that are currently unpaved. Within the program, Pasco County Board of County Commissioners or the governing board of a municipality within East Pasco County may apply to the Department of Transportation for funding to pave roads that are currently unpaved and the cost of which cannot be met by the residents. The bills specify that a road paving project funded under the program is subject only to construction standards established by the county or the municipality in which the road is located and is not subject to department standards. (Branch)

HB 6057 (Eskamani) removes provisions requiring counties and municipalities to provide incentives to fully offset the costs of certain affordable housing contributions or linkage fees. (Branch)

CS/CS/SB 1702 (Bradley) does the following:

•Creates a statewide structural inspection program for aging multifamily residential buildings

•Defines the term "milestone inspection" to mean a structural inspection of a building by a licensed architect or engineer authorized to practice in this state for the purposes of attesting to the life safety and adequacy of the structural components

•Makes known that the cost associated with the inspections are the responsibility of the condominium owner or association

•Requires multifamily residential buildings that are greater than three stories in height to have a milestone inspection performed by December 31 of the year in which the building reaches 30 years of age and every ten years thereafter

•Requires multifamily residential buildings located within 3 miles of a coastline and are greater than three stories in height to have a milestone inspection performed by December 31 of the year in which the building reaches 20 years of age and every seven years thereafter

•Requires any multifamily residential building whose certificate of occupancy was issued on or before July 1, 1992, to have their initial milestone inspection performed before December 31, 2024

•Requires the architect or engineer who performed the inspection to submit a sealed copy of the report to each condominium unit owner and to the building official of the local government of jurisdiction

•Allows the local enforcement agency the ability to prescribe timelines and penalties with respect to compliance with the above section

•Requires the Florida Building Commission to develop comprehensive structural and life safety standards for maintaining and inspecting all building types and structures by December 31, 2022

•Requires condominium and cooperative associations with a residential building that is three stories or more in height to conduct a reserve study at least once every three years

•Provides guidelines for an association or developer to waive reserves

•Requires unit developer and non-developer unit owners to give prospective buyers of a unit a copy of the most recent reserve study and milestone inspection report before the applicable voidability period

•Expands unit owner access to records and provides additional disclosures relating to the funding of reserves. (Branch)

CS/HB 7069 (Pandemics & Public Emergencies Committee) does the following:

•Creates a statewide building recertification requirement for condominiums and cooperative buildings that are three stories or more 30 years after initial occupancy and for buildings located within three miles of the coast, 25 years after initial occupancy

•Requires periodic recertifications every 10 years after a building’s initial recertification

•Requires an additional, more intensive inspection, or a “phase 2” inspection, if a building recertification reveals substantial damage to certain structural or life-safety systems

•Requires building officials to provide written notice to associations when buildings must be recertified

•Requires recertification and phase 2 reports be submitted to building officials and unit owners

•Provides local building officials with the ability to assess penalties for failing to comply with the requirements for building recertifications and phase 2 inspections

•Requires condominiums and cooperatives to conduct reserve studies every 10 years for buildings that are three stories or more and prohibits waiver of funding for certain reserves

•Requires developers to complete reserve studies for every building that is three stories or more prior to turning over an association to the unit owners

•Repeals the ability of developers to waive the collection of all types of reserve funds

•Requires reserve study inspections and recertification and phase 2 inspections to be performed by licensed engineers or architects

•Provides that reserve studies and recertification and phase 2 inspection reports are a part of an association’s official records and must be provided to a potential purchaser of a unit

•Provides for an additional way for condominium associations to terminate if the cost of repairs identified in a phase 2 inspection are more than 65% of the total fair market value of the units in the association

•Requires the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) to enforce the reserve studies and recertification and phase 2 inspection requirement 

•Requires associations to notify DBPR about the number of buildings in their association that are three stories or more. CS/HB 7069 passed the House (114-0) and is awaiting action by the Senate. (Branch)

SB 1942 (Pizzo) and HB 1393 (Geller) address inspection and reserve requirements for community associations. Of interest to municipalities, the bills:

•Require the local jurisdiction to issue a notice or required recertification inspection to the association when the condominium building is 20 years of age or older

•Requires the architect or engineer who performed the inspection to submit a sealed copy of the report to the local authority within seven days after the board receives the completed report

•Require the Condominium Board to complete any repairs or modifications within six months after receipt of the recertification report according to the Florida Building Code

•Requires the Board, under a seal signature of a licensed architect or engineer and within seven days of the completion of repairs or modifications, to provide the local authority a copy affirming that the remedial action has been completed

•Require the Board of Directors to provide a copy of the reserve study or financial statement to the local authority having jurisdiction within a specified time

•Authorize the local authority having jurisdiction to order a mandatory evacuation of the residential condominium under certain circumstances. (Branch)

SB 1780 (Pizzo) and HB 1391 (Geller) address inspection requirements for community associations. Of interest to municipalities, the bills require each association to include in their bylaws the following: for a building that is four stories or more and located within a one-half mile radius of the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean, the Board must have the building inspected by a licensed architect or engineer once the building reaches 30 years of age and every five years thereafter, and provide that report to the local authority having jurisdiction. (Branch)

CS/CS/SB 758 (Diaz) and CS/CS/HB 865 (Rizo) are comprehensive bills that create the Charter School Review Commission within the Florida Department of Education. Of interest to cities, the bills amend local government regulations dealing with zoning of charter schools. CS/CS/SB 758 removes the requirement that any facility used as a charter school obtain a special exemption from existing zoning and land use designations. CS/HB 865 was amended to provide the following: 

•Prohibit a charter school from being subject to any land regulation that would not be required for a public school in the same location.

•Expand the list of properties or facilities that may provide space to charter schools within their facilities under their preexisting zoning without needing to obtain a special exception. (Branch)

CS/CS/HB 423 (LaMarca) and CS/CS/CS/SB 644 (Brodeur) do the following:

•Increase the minimum hours of training required in multifamily training programs for a fire safety inspector to qualify to take the building inspector or plans examiner certification exam

•Allow those that have completed a four-year internship certification program with a private provider (instead of with a local government) to qualify to take the building inspector or plans examiner certification exam

•Prohibit the Florida Building Code Administrators and Inspectors Board from requiring employment with a local government as a condition for the issuance of a provisional certificate

•Clarify that applicants that use private providers can only be charged permit fees based on the costs actually incurred by the local government to process the permit.

•Require that local governments give private providers equal access to permitting and inspection documents.

•Require building officials to issue occupancy or completion certificates within 10 days of a "deemed granted" certificate

•Allow an owner, builder or an association of owners located in Florida that has a valid building permit issued by a local government for a fee to bring a civil action under certain circumstances 

•Provide that a local government may not prohibit or restrict a property owner to obtain a building permit to demolish any single-family residential structure located in certain flood hazard areas provided that the permit otherwise complies with applicable building code requirements. (Branch)

SB 1020 (Perry), SB 976 (Perry) and CS/CS/HB 635 (Maggard) prohibit local building code administrators, inspectors and fire safety marshals from making changes to certain building plans under specified circumstances once the local building department has approved and sealed the plans. 

HB 1281 (DiCeglie) and SB 976 prohibit any governmental entity from requiring participation in a paid subscription service to access solicitations of competitive bids or proposals which must be publicly advertised. The bills require that such solicitations be available on the publicly accessible website of the applicable governmental entity after the solicitation has been advertised. (Branch)

HB 35 (Roach)  and SB 244 (Gruters) – Partisan Elections for Members of District School Boards

SB 442 (Rodriguez) and HB 571 (Mooney) – Powers of Land Authorities

HB 309 (Fetterhoff) and SB 856 (Brodeur) – Private Provider Inspections of Onsite Sewage Treatment  and Disposal Systems

SB 536 (Diaz) and HB 337 (McClain) – Administrative Procedures

SB 690 (Rodriguez, A.) and HB 691 (Slosberg) – Resilience-related Advisory Committees

HB 421 (Truenow) and SB 834 (Brodeur) – Long-term Cleanup of Water Bodies

SB 602 (Rodriguez, A.) and HB 449 (Mooney) – Land Acquisition Trust Fund (Florida Keys)

HB 603 (Bell) and SB 1400 (Burgess) – Land Acquisition Trust Fund (Heartland Headwaters)

HB 441 (Fabricio) and SB 984 (Diaz) – Construction Materials Mining Activities

HB 6071 (Fabricio) – Construction Materials Mining Activities Admin Recovery Act

HB 6073 (Fabricio) – Construction Materials Mining Activities Admin Recovery Act

HB 579 (Melo) and SB 1128 (Harrell) – Aquatic Plant Management

SB 840 (Albritton) and HB 841 (DiCeglie) – Residential Property Riparian Rights

HB 513 (Bartleman) and SB 1326 (Rodriguez) – Comprehensive Review Study of the Central and Southern Florida Project

SB 1000 (Albritton) and HB 1291 (McClure) – Nutrient Application Rates

HB 6085 (Eskamani) and SB 1102 (Farmer) – Farming Operations

HB 711 (Diamond) and SB 238 (Jones) – Endangered and Threatened Species

SB 1110 (Rouson) and HB 1177 (Chaney) – Grease Waste Removal and Disposal

HB 901 (Chambliss) and SB 1212 (Polsky) – Roadside Farm Stand Signage

HB 7003 (Public Integrity  and Elections Committee) – Implementation of Constitutional Prohibition Against Lobbying by a Former Justice of Judge

SB 1432 (Rodriguez) and HB 1065 (Mooney) – Vessel Anchoring

SB 1352 (Brodeur) and HB 921 (Drake) – Limitations on Political Contributions

SB 416 (Garcia) and HB 1129 (Avila) – Mangrove Planting  and Restoration

SB 1914 (Taddeo) and HB 1353 (Thompson) – Elections

SB 1722 (Jones) and HB 6105 (Hinson) – Elections

SB 1586 (Polsky) and HB 1217 (Diamond) – Elections 

HB 1381 (Silvers) – Retail Petroleum Fuel Measuring Devices

SB 1612 (Ausley) and HB 1289 (Alexander) – Department of Agriculture  and Consumer Services

SB 1678 (Gibson) and HB 1285 (Hinson) – Energy Equity Task Force

SB 1584 (Gruters) – Outstanding Florida Springs

SB 208 (Farmer) creates the Stop Fracking Act. The bill prohibits extreme well stimulation, which is defined to include the various forms of fracking used to increase the production at an oil or gas well. (O'Hara)

HB 349 (Sirois) authorizes the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund (Board) to grant easements for mitigation banks under certain conditions. The bill also exempts certain docks on recorded easements from state permit requirements and authorizes such docks to use submerged lands upon the Board's approval. (O'Hara)

CS/CS/SB 1426 (Burgess) and CS/CS/HB 965 (Truenow) provide for the construction, operation, maintenance, and long-term management of offsite, regional, compensatory water treatment areas called “water quality enhancement areas.” These areas will be used to offset impacts to water quality caused by increases in nutrient loading from development projects. Under the bills, water quality enhancement credits could be purchased from a water quality enhancement area to offset such development impacts. An “enhancement credit” is defined in the bills as a standard unit of measure which represents a quantity of pollutant removed. The bills specify that water quality enhancement areas must be regulated through permits issued by the Department of Environmental Regulation. While the bills allow governmental entities to use water quality enhancement areas to address their water quality needs, the bills specify that governmental entities may not act as sponsors to construct, operate, manage, maintain, or market enhancement credits to third parties. In addition, the bills provide that local governments may not require a permit or impose regulations governing the operation of an enhancement area. A water quality enhancement area permit applicant must provide reasonable assurances that an enhancement area will achieve defined performance criteria, benefit water quality, and assure long-term pollutant reduction. The bills specify requirements for an enhancement area and require that such areas correspond to the appropriate basin management action plan boundary. The bills specify requirements for the generation of enhancement credits and provide that a local government may not deny the use of credits due to the location of the enhancement area being outside the jurisdiction of the local government. Lastly, the bills specify that whether a dwelling is owner occupied is not an eligibility criterion for a developer or homebuilder to receive density or intensity bonuses for implementing graywater technologies. (O’Hara)

CS/CS/HB 323 (Sirois) and CS/CS/SB 494 (Hutson) revise the vessel conditions that an officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (Commission) or law enforcement agency may use to determine that a vessel is at risk of becoming derelict to include vessels that are tied to an unlawful or unpermitted mooring or other structure. The bills prohibit local governments from designating public bathing beach areas or swim areas within the marked channel portion of the Florida Intracoastal Waterway or within 100 feet of the marked channel. The bills repeal Section 376.15, Florida Statutes, relating to derelict vessels and the relocation and removal of such vessels. The bills amend the definition of "abandoned property" to include vessels declared to be a public nuisance and clarify the notice requirements and procedure for vessels declared to be public nuisances. The bills authorize the Commission to establish a grant program for local governments regarding derelict vessels and vessels declared a public nuisance. (Branch)

CS/HB 481 (Duggan) prohibits counties and municipalities from enacting regulations that prevent electric utilities from installing temporary underground power panels that meet the requirements of the National Electrical Code, and prevent counties and municipalities from requiring permanent inspections if the local government has already performed a temporary inspection. CS/HB 481 passed the House (115-0) and the Senate (36-0) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (O'Hara)

CS/SB 1156 (Stewart) and HB 935 (Morales) require the Department of Environmental Protection to conduct a study on the establishment of a new long-term, statewide recycling goal. The bills specify the requirements for the study and require DEP to submit a report and any policy recommendations to the Governor and Legislature upon completion of the study. (O'Hara)

CS/SB 1940 (Brodeur) and HB 7053 (Environment, Agriculture & Flooding Subcommittee) establish the Office of Resiliency within the Executive Office of the Governor and provide for the appointment of a Chief Resilience Officer. The bills require the Department of Transportation to develop a resilience action plan for the State Highway System. The bills make various revisions to current law relating to statewide resiliency funding and planning, including: authorizing the use of Resilient Florida Grant Program funds for preconstruction activities for projects in municipalities and counties meeting certain population thresholds, but not for projects that adapt critical assets to flooding and sea-level rise; extending by one year the dates by which the Comprehensive Statewide Flood Vulnerability and Sea-Level Rise Data Set and the Assessment must be completed; and revising the $100 million cap on funding proposed for each year to a minimum threshold of $100 million. HB 7053 passed the House (114-0) and is awaiting action by the Senate. (O’Hara)

HB 81 (Eskamani) and SB 366 (Berman) prohibit the drilling, exploration or production of petroleum products in the state. In addition, the bills direct the Office of Energy within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to develop a statewide plan to generate 100% of the electricity used in the state from renewable energy by 2040 and for the state to have net-zero carbon emissions statewide by 2050. (O'Hara)

HB 745 (Alexander) and SB 1562 (Ausley) direct the Department of Environmental Protection, in coordination with the Office of Energy within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, to conduct a study of brownfield sites and closed landfill sites to determine viable locations for redevelopment as solar photovoltaic facilities. The bills specify requirements for the study and directs DEP to submit a report to the Governor and Legislature by August 2023. (O'Hara)

SB 1418 (Albritton), CS/SB 7012 (Brodeur) and HB 1475 (McClure) require the Department of Environmental Protection to adopt rules for statewide cleanup target levels for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in soil and groundwater. Such rules may not take effect until ratified by the Legislature. Until the rules for a particular PFAS constituent have been ratified by the Legislature, a person may not be subject to enforcement action by any state or local government entity to compel or enjoin site rehabilitation for that PFAS constituent. In addition, SB 1418 requires the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability to conduct an analysis of assessment and cleanup programs used in other states and submit a report to the Governor and Legislature by a specified date. (O’Hara)