BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

HB 1129 (Fernandez-Barquin) and SB 1678 (Diaz) increase the statutory limits on liability for tort claims against government entities. Current law sets the statutory limits at $200,000 per claim and $300,000 per incident. The bills seek to increase these limits to $500,000 per claim and $1 million per incident. The legislation would tie these limits to a consumer price index so they would automatically increase with inflation every year. The bills set limitations of liability to take effect on the date a final judgment is entered and therefore could apply retroactively to pending claims. (Cruz)

CS/HB 7 (McClure) and CS/SB 72 (Brandes) provide heightened legal protections against liability as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic to certain business entities, educational institutions, governmental entities and religious institutions. The legislation defines governmental entity to include municipalities. The legislation requires the plaintiff to make a detailed account to their claim and submit an affidavit signed by a physician collaborating the belief that the plaintiff’s COVID-19-related damages, injury or death occurred as a result as stated. If the plaintiff fails to do either, the court must dismiss the action without prejudice. The court must also determine whether the business or government entity made a good faith effort to substantially comply with the authoritative or controlling government health standards or guidance at the time the cause of action occurred. The burden of proof lies with the plaintiff to prove that the business or government entity did not make a good faith effort. If the business or government entity is found to have made a good faith effort, they are immune from civil liability. If the court finds that a good faith effort was not made, the plaintiff may proceed with the action. The plaintiff must prove gross negligence (a higher standard than negligence). The bills increase the standard of evidence needed on a COVID-19-related claim. If the plaintiff fails to prove these heightened requirements, the business or government entity is not liable for any act or omission relating to a COVID-19-related claim. The civil action for a COVID-19-related action must be commenced within one year of the alleged incident. The bills will apply retroactively but will not apply to civil suits commenced before the effective date of the act. CS/SB 72 passed the House and Senate and was approved by the governor. The bill is effective upon becoming law (March 29, 2021). Chapter No. 2021-001.  (Cruz)

HB 6091 (Eskamani) and SB 1790 (Torres) – Local government Communications Services

CS/CS/HB 1567 (DiCeglie) and CS/SB 1944 (Albritton) give very broad authority to the Public Service Commission to regulate and enforce rates, charges, terms and conditions in situations in which a pole owner is unable to reach an agreement with a party seeking pole attachments. The bills define "redundant pole" and require that attaching entities remove their pole attachments from a redundant pole within 180 days of a written request by the pole owner. Under certain circumstances, the pole owner may transfer or relocate the pole attachment to a new pole at the non-compliant attaching entity's expense, unless the pole attachments are owned by an electric utility. (Hughes)

HB 6045 (Eskamani) repeals the Advanced Wireless Infrastructure Deployment Act that relates primarily to the installation of small wireless facilities in public rights of way. (Hughes)

CS/CS/SB 1560 (Ausley) and HB 1339 (Goff-Marcil) expand the duties of the Florida Office of Broadband within the Department of Economic Opportunity. The bills expand the Office’s local technology planning teams’ duties to focus on rural, unserved and underserved areas. CS/CS/SB 1560 creates the Broadband Opportunity Program, administered by the Office, to award grants for the expansion of broadband Internet service in unserved and underserved areas of Florida. The program is subject to appropriation. (Hughes)

CS/CS/HB 1239 (Tomkow) and CS/CS/SB 1592 (Burgess) require municipal electric utilities, through July 1, 2024, to offer broadband providers a discounted rate of one dollar per attachment per year for any new pole necessary to make broadband service available to an unserved or underserved consumer within the utility’s service territory.

The bills provide terms for these discounted attachments. The bills also provide safety and reliability standards for pole attachments and specify each party’s responsibility for costs associated with replacement poles. CS/CS/HB 1239 also creates a program within the Florida Office of Broadband to award grants, subject to appropriation, to applicants who seek to install or deploy infrastructure that expands broadband service to unserved areas.

 (Hughes)

CS/HB 753 (Clemons) creates the Florida Broadband Opportunity Program within the Office of Broadband within the Department of Economic Opportunity to award grants to applicants who seek to expand broadband internet service to unserved areas of the state. The bill reallocates 50% of the revenues currently allocated to the M-CORES (Multi-Use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance) program to the Office for purposes of administering the grant program. The bill authorizes certain entities, such as political subdivisions, to apply for grants that are to be used for the installation and deployment of infrastructure that supports broadband internet service. The bill only allows the Office to award grants to governmental entities if no broadband internet service providers are deployed in that area. The bill provides application requirements, the criteria for evaluating applications and that the grant award combined with other government funding may not fund more than 50% of the project's total costs. Additionally, the bill authorizes existing broadband Internet providers to challenge grant applications if service is already provided or is planned in the area at issue. (Hughes)

CS/SB 2004 (Burgess) requires the Florida Office of Broadband's strategic plan to include short-term and long-term goals for increasing the availability of and access to broadband internet service in this state. The bill requires the updated plan to be submitted to the governor, the chief justice of the Supreme Court and the Legislature by June 30, 2022, and updated biennially. The bill as amended appropriates $1.4 million in nonrecurring funds for fiscal year 2021-2022 for the purpose of commissioning a broadband feasibility study. (Hughes)

CS/CS/SB 522 (Diaz) and CS/HB 219 (Fischer) change current law relating to vacation rentals, also known as short-term rentals (STRs). The bills would:

•Clarify the definition of an advertising platform to capture online marketplaces.

•Preempt to the state the regulation of advertising platforms.

•Allow a “grandfathered” city to amend its short-term rental regulations if the amendment makes the regulation less restrictive.

•Require the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to maintain vacation rental property license information in an accessible electronic format.

•Require advertising platforms to verify a property’s license number prior to publishing its advertisement on its platform and every quarter thereafter.

•Require advertising platforms to quarterly provide the department with the physical

address of the vacation rental properties that advertise on their platforms.

•Impose a duty on advertising platforms to collect and remit taxes in relation to the

rental of a vacation rental property through its platform.

•Establish requirements that advertising platforms adopt an anti-discrimination

policy and inform their users of the public lodging discrimination prohibition found in current law.

•Clarify that the provision of the bill shall not supersede any current or future community association-governing document. 

•Require sexual predators to notify local law enforcement if they will be staying for 24 hours or more in a short-term rental.

Preemption provisions included in CS/HB 219 only:

•Preempt to the state the regulation of STRs, including licensure and inspections.

•Undo any local registration, inspection or licensing requirements specific to STRs adopted since 2014.

•Require that any ordinances (noise, parking, trash, etc.), must be applied uniformly to all residential properties, regardless of how the property is being used.

CS/CS/SB 522 was significantly amended to remove the majority of the preemptions in the bill that still remain in the House version of the bill. SB 522 also specifies that advertising platforms must comply with any applicable merchant business tax receipts on short-term rentals. (Taggart)

HB 1481 (Goff-Marcil) and SB 1988 (Pizzo) prohibit local governments from prohibiting the siting of vacation rentals from their entire jurisdiction. The bills restore authority to local governments to adopt and apply zoning and land development regulations to vacation rentals. The bills maintain the June 1, 2011, grandfather date on local ordinances adopted prior to then and specify that those ordinances can be amended without penalty. The bills improve the state licensing process by requiring applicants to do the following:

•Provide proof of inspection and compliance with local building, zoning and fire safety codes reflecting a change in use from a single-family or multi-family residence to a transient public lodging establishment.

•Provide proof that the underlying homeowner’s insurance policy allows the home to be used as a vacation rental.

•Provide a signed affidavit from the chief executive of the municipality confirming the operation of a vacation rental is allowed at that address. 

•Provide proof that the commercial mortgage is not in conflict with any prohibitions related to commercial activity in single or multi-family residential zones. (Taggart)

HB 229 (Salzman) and SB 178 (Cruz) – Hazardous Walking Conditions for K-12 Students

HB 605 (Hunschofsky) and SB 950 (Book) – Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety

HB 1199 (Altman) and SB 1440 (Jones)  – Photographic Enforcement of School Bus Safety

HB 25 (Daley), HB 27 (Daley), SB 1170 (Book) and SB 1172 (Book) – Sales of Ammunition “Jamie’s Law”

SB 144 (Brandes) – Searches of Cellular Phones and Other Electronic Devices

HB 167 (Hunschofsky) and SB 428 (Polsky) – Sale, Transfer or Storage of Firearms

SB 174 (Cruz) – School Safety Funding

SB 206 (Pizzo) and HB 527 (Benjamin) – Visiting County and Municipal Detention Facilities

HB 49 (Daley) and SB 218 (Pizzo) – Public Records Exemption for Animal Cruelty Reports

HB 291 (Hinson), HB 293 (Hinson), HB 1361 (Benjamin), HB 1363 (Benjamin), SB 664 (Farmer), SB 666 (Farmer) and SB 668 (Farmer) – Recreational Marijuana Bills

HB 1597 (Omphroy), HB 1599 (Omphroy), SB 1916 (Bracy) and SB 1918 (Bracy) – Legalization of Recreational Marijuana 

SB 294 (Farmer) – Safe Storage of Loaded Firearms

SB 330 (Farmer) – Sale and Delivery of Firearms

HB 343 (Smith, C) and SB 710 (Brandes) – Availability of Marijuana for Adult Use

SB 360 (Hooper) and HB 415 (Botana) – Fire Prevention and Control

HB 371 (Brannan) and SB 1234 (Boyd) – False Reports of Crimes

SB 388 (Wright) and HB 697 (Killebrew) – Injured Police Canines

SB 454 (Bracy) – Law Enforcement Agency Data Reporting

SB 458 (Bracy) and HB 513 (McCurdy) – Use of Force by Law Enforcement Officers

SB 460 (Bracy) – Early Intervention Systems for Law Enforcement Officers

SB 462 (Bracy) – Law Enforcement Officer Use of Force Deaths

SB 480 (Bracy) and HB 277 (Thompson) – Statewide Police Misconduct Registry

SB 560 (Farmer) – Repeal of Prohibition on Firearm Recordkeeping

SB 562 (Thurston), SB 564 (Thurston) and HB 593 (Nixon) and HB 595 (Nixon) – Medical Marijuana Retail Facilities

SB 730 (Bracy) – Strangulation by a Law Enforcement Officer

SB 740 (Bracy) – Administration of Justice

SB 808 (Gibson) and HB 875 (Driskell) – Intelligence-led Policing

SB 836 (Jones) and HB 455 (Harding) – Gun Violence Reduction

SB 868 (Powell) and HB 521 (Benjamin) – No-knock Warrants

SB 890 (Hooper) – Law Enforcement Use of Electronic Databases

SB 1148 (Rouson) and HB 1573 (DuBose) – Use of Force by Law Enforcement Officers 

SB 1198 (Thurston) and HB 1441 (Joseph) – Duty of Law Enforcement Officers to Render Medical Assistance

HB 1451 (Driskell) – Community Safety and Criminal Justice

HB 1513 (Duran) and SB 1970 (Pizzo) – Law Enforcement and Correctional Officer Accreditation and Standards

HB 1529 (Joseph) and SB 1990 (Powell) – Law Enforcement Officer Certification Revocation and Accountability

HB 1531 (Hardy) – Local Law Enforcement Agencies

SB 1818 (Burgess) – Law Enforcement Officer Training

HB 6001 (Sabatini) – Licenses to Carry Concealed Weapons or Firearms

HB 6083 (Sabatini) – Removing Firearm Regulations

CS/CS/CS/HB 805 (Caruso) and CS/SB 1084 (Pizzo) prohibit a county or municipal government from limiting or preventing a volunteer ambulance service from responding or providing emergency medical services or transport within its jurisdiction. The bills also prevent a county or municipal government from requiring a volunteer ambulance service to obtain a license or certificate or pay a fee to provide ambulance or air ambulance services within its jurisdiction. The bills do allow a county or municipal government the ability to impose, collect or enforce payment of any occupational license tax authorized by law. CS/CS/HB 805 was amended to require the volunteer ambulance operator to complete a 16 hour emergency vehicle operator course. CS/CS/CS/SB 805 was further amended to add some accountability measures on the volunteer agency and clarify that if both the volunteer ambulance service and the local government EMS team arrives at the emergency scene at the same time and the patient is incapacitated, the local government is responsible for rescue services. (Taggart)

HB 91 (Slosberg) prohibits a person from operating a motor vehicle while holding or touching a wireless communication device. This bill does provide several exceptions such as first responders performing in their official capacity or drivers accessing safety-related information including emergency, traffic or weather alerts. (Taggart)

HB 6009 (Sabatini) preempts cities, counties and the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles from installing, maintaining or utilizing red light cameras effective July 1, 2024. (Taggart)

CS/SB 1412 (Perry) and HB 1113 (Fine) require that crosswalks located at any place other than an intersection of a public street, highway or road be controlled by pedestrian and traffic signals that meet requirements of the Florida Department of Transportation Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. The bills require signs listing the duties of pedestrians using the crosswalks. The bills also require a traffic engineering study to be conducted by a Florida licensed professional engineer who recommends the installation. The bills direct the Department of Transportation to submit a request to the federal government for authorization in replacing the yellow rectangular rapid flashing beacons with red beacons. If the federal government denies the request, the local governments must then remove all the yellow rectangular rapid flashing beacon traffic control devices from each crosswalk. (Taggart)

CS/HB 133 (Harding) and CS/SB 122 (Baxley) authorize a hospital, emergency medical services station or a fire station that is staffed 24 hours per day to utilize a newborn safety device to accept surrendered newborn infants if the device meets certain requirements. The bills also extend the allowable age of relinquishment from 7 days to 30 days old. CS/HB 133 passed the House (108-11) and is now awaiting action by the Senate. (Taggart)

HB 745 (Slosberg) and SB 1050 (Berman) authorize school districts to install cameras on school busses to aid in the enforcement of cars stopping while school busses are stopped. The bills authorize counties and municipalities to have traffic enforcement officers issue citations to those who violate the law. Notification of the citation must be sent by certified mail to the offender within 30 days, and the offender has 60 days after receiving the notification to pay the fine to the county or municipality that issued the citation or request a hearing to contest the citation. Both bills are effective October 1, 2021. (Taggart)

CS/SB 498 (Gruters) and CS/CS/HB 259 (Williamson) authorize an individual who is a licensed concealed weapons or firearms holder to carry their weapon or firearm on property of a church, synagogue or any other religious institution unless specifically prohibited by the religious institution. CS/CS/HB 259 passed the House (76-37) and is awaiting action by the Senate. (Taggart)

SB 672 (Taddeo) and HB 6033 (Daley) repeal the current statutory preemption prohibiting cities and counties from regulating firearms and ammunition. (Taggart)