BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

SB 1142 (Hutson) and HB 827 (Barnaby) prohibit the drawings of districts from favoring or disfavoring an incumbent county commissioner, municipal official or school board member. The bills require municipalities to fix the boundaries of their districts in only odd-numbered years to keep them as nearly equal in proportion to the population as possible. (Branch)

CS/HB 7049 (Judiciary Committee) gives a governmental agency the option to publish legal notices on a publicly accessible website of a county instead of a print newspaper. If a government chooses to make this change, they must show it results in a cost savings. Notices must be published in a searchable format and indicate the date it was first published. Also, they must run at least annually in a newspaper of general circulation or another publication that is mailed or delivered to all residents and property owners within the government’s jurisdiction with a notice indicating that those individuals may elect to receive public notices from the governmental agency by first-class mail or email upon registering their information with the agency. The agency must also maintain a list of the individuals who opt to directly receive notices. The bill was amended to require governmental agencies with a population under 160,000 to first hold a public hearing and determine that there is sufficient internet access in the area before public notice changes can be made. CS/HB 7049 passed the House (78-39) and is awaiting action by the Senate. (Taggart)

CS/HB 1035 (Williamson) and SB 1554 (Diaz) require communities to reach a 60% approval in a local nonbinding referendum before presenting an incorporation bill to the state Legislature. This referendum requirement would be in addition to the already required feasibility study and city charter. The bills require that the feasibility study be presented to the Legislature no later than August 31 of the year before the regular session of the Legislature during which the municipal charter would be enacted. (Branch)

CS/HB 1355 (Snyder) and CS/SB 1808 (Bean) revise the definition of "sanctuary policy" to include specified laws, policies, practices, procedures or customs which limit or prohibit law enforcement agencies from providing immigration information to a state entity. The bills require law enforcement agencies operating county detention facilities to enter into an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and would require such agency to report specified information concerning such agreement quarterly to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. (Cruz)

CS/HB 707 (Learned) and CS/SB 1158 (Jones) define “home kitchen operations” as a person or business entity that sells directly from their home to the consumer any food product (excluding raw milk and raw oysters). The bills exempt these operations from the requirements imposed on traditional public food service establishments. Additionally, the bills specify that local governments are preempted from directly regulating these operations; however, they must comply with any applicable home-based business regulations. A home kitchen operation cannot exceed annual gross sales of $250,000 and is limited to producing 10 individual meals per day. (Taggart)

HB 49 (Bartleman) and SB 200 (Rodriguez) expand the eligibility for first responder post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) workers' compensation benefits to also include certain correctional officers, 911 public safety telecommunicators, and all volunteer law enforcement officers and firefighters. Current law only covers law enforcement officers and firefighters. The bills require the employing agency to provide at least one hour of educational training related to mental health awareness, prevention, mitigation and treatment annually. (Cruz)

SB 98 (Burgess) creates the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund within the Executive Office of the Governor. SB 98 passed the House (99-17) and the Senate (34-1) and was signed by the Governor on February 17, 2022. The bill is effective upon becoming law, except as otherwise provided. Chapter No. 2022-002. CS/SB 96 (Burgess) authorizes the Legislative Budget Commission (LBC) to convene to transfer or appropriate funds to the Emergency Preparedness Response Fund. Under the bills, after approval from the LBC, the Governor could transfer, expend and request additional moneys into the fund. CS/SB 96 passed the House (95-22) and the Senate (31-4) and was signed by the Governor on February 17, 2022. The bill is effective upon becoming law, except as otherwise provided. Chapter No. 2022-001. (Branch)

CS/HB 215 (DiCeglie) and CS/SB 254 (Brodeur) provide that an emergency order may not expressly prohibit a religious institution from regular religious services or activities. CS/SB 254 passed the Senate (31-3) and the House (88-29) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (Branch)

CS/SB 714 (Hooper) and CS/HB 667 (McClain) are a broad agency package for the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Of importance to municipalities, CS/HB 667 was amended to add provisions that state outdoor kitchen equipment are not required to be separately covered, have overhead protections or hoods or be enclosed. The amendment also prohibits local governments from prohibiting, or have the effect of prohibiting, the use of outdoor kitchen equipment. CS/SB 714 passed the Senate (37-0) and is awaiting action by the House. (Taggart)

SB 450 (Jones) and HB 857 (Nixon) repeal multiple provisions from HB 1, which passed in the 2021 Legislative Session, including allowing specified elected officials to appeal a municipal law enforcement operating budget that contains a funding reduction. (Hughes)

HB 117 (Fetterhoff) and SB 774 (Gruters) add COVID-19 and infectious diseases to the list of conditions that, if suffered by an emergency rescue or public safety worker, are presumed to have been contracted while at work for purposes of workers' compensation. Unlike similar presumptions in current law for hepatitis, meningococcal meningitis and tuberculosis, the bills do not require the public safety worker or emergency rescue worker to receive immunization against COVID-19 in order to receive the presumptive eligibility provisions afforded by workers' compensation coverage. (Cruz)

HB 233 (Willhite) and SB 408 (Jones) require businesses to accept cash payments for any good or service if the customer is physically present at the place of business. The bills exempt transactions above $5,000. Of interest to local governments, the bills exempt parking facilities owned by a municipality regardless of who operates the parking facility. (Taggart)

CS/CS/CS/SB 706 (Perry) and CS/CS/CS/HB 851 (McClain) require developers to tender, rather than execute, a written, legally binding commitment to provide proportionate-share mitigation. The bills further require the local government to issue a final decision on the developer’s tendered commitment within 60 days from the date of receipt. If the local government fails to issue a final decision within 60 days, the tendered commitment will be deemed approved. Lastly, the bills require a school board to set aside and not spend any proportionate-share mitigation if there is no school capacity improvement identified in the five-year school board educational facilities plan until such time as such an improvement has been identified. CS/CS/CS/HB 851 was amended to require the district school board to notify the local government that capacity is available for the development within 30 days after receipt of the developer’s legally binding commitment. CS/CS/CS/SB 706 passed the Senate (38-0) and is awaiting action by the House. (Cruz)

SB 1824 (Brodeur) and HB 1415 (Robinson, W.) revise the requirements and best practices for local governments applying mobility plans rather than impact fees. The bills require a local government adopting a mobility plan to evaluate appropriate levels of service and potential impacts of development by using the elements of its comprehensive plan. Local governments that adopt mobility plans must adopt the mobility plan and a mobility fee system into its comprehensive plan. (Cruz)

CS/HB 219 (Tuck) and CS/SB 1380 (Rodriguez, A.) revise that rights that are not affected or extinguished by Marketable Record Titles Act (MRTA) and require persons with certain interests in land that may be extinguished by this act to file a specified notice to preserve their interests. The bills establish a bright-line rule to clarify MRTA's operation in light of the 2016 court decision and clarify that a property conveyance subject to existing encumbrances identified in a muniment of title does not restart MRTA's 30-year marketability period on such encumbrances. The bills add covenants, restrictions, zoning requirements, and building or development permits to the list of encumbrances extinguished by MRTA but excepts them from extinguishment. Additionally, the bills authorize owners or operators of private property used for motor vehicle parking to establish rules, rates and fines governing private persons parking on the property. The bills prohibit counties and municipalities from enacting any ordinance or regulation attempting to restrict or prohibit the owner or operator from adopting such rules, rates or fines. CS/SB 1380 was amended to add a required notice to invoices for parking on private property. CS/SB 1380 passed the Senate (39-0) and is awaiting action by the House. (Cruz)

CS/HB 739 (Borrero) and SB 1248 (Gruters) specify that a county or municipality must review applications for development permits or orders within 30 days of receiving the application and issue a letter indicating that all required information is submitted or specifying any areas that are deficient. In an attempt to make a more uniform process for future developments, the bills also require that each local government adopt residential infill development standards in its land use regulations by October 1, 2022. The legislation requires local governments to adopt certain guidelines when adopting its residential infill development standards that may preempt existing land use regulations. CS/HB 739 was amended to revise the requirement for local governments to adopt RID standards to only apply to local governments with $10 million or more in total revenue, provides safeguards for water quality standards, and replaces the checklist in the bill as filed with a series of statements that the developer must confirm. (Cruz)

HB 681 (Rodriguez) and SB 1030 (Taddeo) clarify that impact fee credits are assignable and transferable any time after establishment from one development or parcel to any other as long as it falls within the same impact fee zone or district, or that is within the same impact fee zone in the county or municipality. (Cruz)

CS/CS/HB 1411 (Avila) provides that a floating solar facility must be a permitted use in appropriate land use categories in each local government's comprehensive plan. The bill requires each local government to amend its development regulations to promote the expanded use of floating solar facilities. The bill would allow for a municipality to adopt an ordinance regarding buffer and landscaping requirements for floating solar facilities. CS/CS/HB 1411 passed the House (112-0) and the Senate (39-0) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (Cruz)

HB 1089 (Woodson) and SB 1924 (Rodriguez, A.) – Affordable Housing

HB 6017 (Eskamani)and SB 580 (Torres) – Rent Control Measures

SB 1170 (Brandes) and HB 1553 (Plakon) create a State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) Block Grant Program. Instead of entitlement municipalities receiving direct SHIP funding, the bills would distribute all the monies to counties. A county would not be required to share any of the funding with any of the municipalities within their boundaries. (Branch)