BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

HB 1239 (Tomkow) and SB 1592 (Burgess) exempt from sales and use tax certain equipment purchased, leased or sold by providers of communications services or internet access services. 

The bills require municipal electric utilities to provide broadband providers access to and use of municipal electric utility poles. The municipal electric utility must adopt rates, terms and conditions for such access that are consistent with the provisions of 47 U.S. Code s. 224 and any Federal Communications Commission regulations and decisions. The rates, terms and conditions must be nondiscriminatory, just and reasonable and may not favor a pole owner or an affiliate of the pole owner. The municipal electric utility must maintain and make available to a broadband provider all records, including specified information, necessary to calculate the rate it charges to the provider. The bill requires the municipal electric utility to rearrange, expand, replace or otherwise reengineer any utility pole upon the request of a broadband provider, and the utility may require a reimbursement only of actual cost. The municipal electric utility must complete pole replacements and any work needed to accommodate the broadband provider’s attachment within 90 days after receiving a complete attachment request. A municipal electric utility or broadband provider may submit a written request to negotiate any agreement or amendment to an existing agreement addressing attachments by the broadband provider to conform any agreements. (Hughes)

HB 1053 (Overdorf), SB 1874 (Burgess) and SB 102 (Burgess) will have the effect of limiting or prohibiting various civil actions and class action matters by local governments including recent class actions involving opioids, PFAS and predatory lending. The bills authorize the attorney general to unilaterally declare circumstances involving economic loss or harm to governmental entities in five or more counties as a “matter of great governmental concern.” Upon such a declaration, the attorney general would have sole authority to file a civil action on behalf of the affected governmental entities. The bills authorize the attorney general to intervene in any pending civil proceeding in federal or state court (including pending appeals) and dismiss, consolidate, settle or take any action he or she believes to be in the public interest. A declaration by the attorney general that a matter is of great governmental concern will operate to abate or stay any pending civil action unless and until the attorney general takes an action in the proceeding. The bills require governmental entities that are parties to any action that has been declared a matter of great governmental interest to notify the attorney general of the existence of the action and provide that any settlement or resolution of a proceeding by a governmental entity after the attorney general’s declaration and without the attorney general’s consent is void. The declaration of a matter of great governmental concern is not “final agency action” subject to review under the Administrative Procedure Act. The bills provide a process by which governmental entities may apply to a court to recover attorney fees and costs incurred prior to the attorney general’s declaration, but they fail to identify a source of funding, responsible party or conditions for obtaining such recovery. (O’Hara)

CS/SB 64 (Albritton) and CS/HB 263 (Maggard) require certain domestic wastewater utilities to submit a plan to the Department of Environmental Protection by November 2021 for eliminating non-beneficial surface water discharges (e.g., treated effluent, reclaimed water or reuse water) within a five-year time frame. The bills require DEP to approve such plans if a plan meets the following conditions: The plan will result in eliminating the surface water discharge, the plan will result in meeting statutory requirements relating to ocean outfalls or the plan does not provide for the complete elimination of the surface water discharge but affirmatively demonstrates that specified conditions are present. The conditions are: The discharge is associated with an indirect potable reuse project, the discharge is a wet weather discharge in accordance with a permit, the discharge is into a stormwater system for subsequent withdrawal for irrigation purposes, the utility has a reuse system that achieves 90% reuse of reclaimed water or the discharge provides direct ecological or public water supply benefits. In addition, CS/SB 64 (but not CS/HB 263) requires DEP to also approve a plan if a utility demonstrates that it is technically, economically or environmentally infeasible to implement the requirements within five years; that implementing the requirements would create severe undue economic hardship on the community served and that the plan implements the requirements to the extent feasible. Plans approved by DEP must be fully implemented by January 2028 except for plans that implement a potable reuse project, in which case such projects must be implemented by January 2030. A utility that fails to timely submit an approved plan may not discharge to surface waters after January 2028. Violations of the bills’ requirements are subject to administrative and civil penalties. The bills require utilities to update plans on an annual basis and demonstrate whether statutory conditions and exemptions remain applicable. The bills require DEP to submit an annual report to the governor and Legislature detailing implementation status. The bills exempt the following domestic wastewater facilities from its requirements: facilities located in a fiscally constrained county, facilities located in a municipality that is entirely within a rural area of opportunity and facilities located in a municipality having less than $10,000 in total annual revenue. The bills authorize DEP to establish a potable reuse technical advisory committee, provide that potable reuse projects are eligible for alternative water supply funding and provide that potable reuse projects are eligible for expedited permitting and priority state funding. CS/SB 64 requires local governments to offer density or intensity bonuses to developers to fully offset the developers’ capital costs of purchasing and installing residential graywater technologies in proposed or existing developments containing at least 25 residential dwellings; CS/HB 263 requires local governments to offer a 15% density or intensity bonus instead of a full offset. (O’Hara)

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 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/CS/SB 50 (Gruters) and CS/HB 15 (Clemons) require retailers with no physical presence in Florida to collect Florida’s sales tax on sales of taxable items delivered to purchasers in Florida if the retailer makes a substantial number of sales into Florida or provides for the taxation of sales facilitated through a marketplace provider. The bills also delete a provision that exempts an out-of-state dealer that makes retail sales into Florida from collecting and remitting any local option surtax. CS/HB 15 was amended to divert increased collections in sales tax, due to this bill, to the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund. (Hughes)

HB 1101 (Persons-Mulicka) and SB 1380 (Rodrigues) amend the Bert J. Harris, Jr., Private Property Rights Protection Act to facilitate private property owner to bring a lawsuit against a government entity. Under current law, with a few exceptions, a property owner must file an application with a government entity before being able to initiate a Bert Harris Act lawsuit. These bills authorize the filing of a Bert Harris Act lawsuit based upon the adoption of an ordinance, resolution, regulation, rule or policy. (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. (Cruz)

CS/CS/HB 55 (Overdorf) and CS/SB 284 (Perry) preempt local governments from adopting zoning and development regulations that require specific building design elements for single- and two-family dwellings, unless certain conditions are met. The bills define the term “building design elements” to mean exterior color, type or style of exterior cladding; style or material of roof structures or porches; exterior nonstructural architectural ornamentation; location or architectural styling of windows or doors; and number, type and layout of rooms. The bills were amended to exempt historic districts, CRAs and planned unit developments created before July 1, 2021. (Taggart)

SB 152 (Diaz) and HB 65 (Sabatini) – Regulatory Reform

HB 77 (Overdorf) and SB 1082 (Albritton) – Diesel Exhaust Fluid

HB 103 (Thompson) and SB 1204 (Thurston) – Elections

HB 143 (Fabrico) and SB 962 (Diaz) – Construction Materials Mining Activities

SB 336 (Rouson) and HB 1535 (Clemons) – Large-scale Agricultural Pollution Reduction Pilot Program

SB 358 (Berman) – Water Safety

HB 217 (Hunschofsky) and SB 588 (Book) – Conservation Area Designations

SB 82 (Baxley) – Sponsorship of Identification Disclaimers

SB 658 (Taddeo) – Violations of the Florida Elections Code

HB 943 (Shoaf) and SB 1278 (Ausley) – Apalachicola Bay Area of Critical State Concern

HB 1051 (Fernandez-Barquin) and SB 964 (Diaz) – Environmental Compliance Costs

HB 1145 (McClain) – Regulatory Restriction Reduction

SB 94 (Brodeur) – Water Storage North of Lake Okeechobee

SB 834 (Cruz) and HB 1257 (Hunschofsky) -- Drinking Water in Public Schools

SB 1626 (Albritton) – Administrative Procedures

HB 1311 (Payne) – Public Meetings/Public Service Commission

SB 1668 (Rodriguez, A.) – Seagrass Mitigation Banks

SB 1652 (Pizzo) and HB 1337 (Geller) – Anchoring Limitation Areas

SB 1752 (Rodriguez, A.) – Independent Special District Utilities

HB 1487 (McCurdy) – School Resiliency Pilot Programs

HB 869 (Valdes) and SB 1528 (Cruz) – Vote by Mail Ballots

SB 90 (Baxley) – Vote-by-Mail Ballots

SB 188 (Berman) and HB 551 (Hardy) – Solar Energy Systems Located on Property of an Educational Facility

HB 457 (Arrington) and SB 830 (Polsky) – Political Party Affiliations of Qualifying Candidates

SB 774 (Gainer) and HB 635 (Maney) – Super Voting Sites

SB 546 (Farmer) and HB 1575 (Jenne) create the Stop Fracking Act. The bills define extreme well stimulation to include the various forms of fracking used to increase the production at an oil or gas well and prohibit well stimulation in the state. (O’Hara)

CS/SB 64 (Albritton) and CS/HB 263 (Maggard) require certain domestic wastewater utilities to submit a plan to the Department of Environmental Protection by November 2021 for eliminating non-beneficial surface water discharges (e.g., treated effluent, reclaimed water or reuse water) within a five-year time frame. The bills require DEP to approve such plans if a plan meets the following conditions: The plan will result in eliminating the surface water discharge, the plan will result in meeting statutory requirements relating to ocean outfalls, or the plan does not provide for the complete elimination of the surface water discharge but affirmatively demonstrates that specified conditions are present. The conditions are: The discharge is associated with an indirect potable reuse project, the discharge is a wet weather discharge in accordance with a permit, the discharge is into a stormwater system for subsequent withdrawal for irrigation purposes, the utility has a reuse system that achieves 90% reuse of reclaimed water, or the discharge provides direct ecological or public water supply benefits. In addition, CS/SB 64 (but not CS/HB 263) requires DEP to also approve a plan if a utility demonstrates that it is technically, economically or environmentally infeasible to implement the requirements within five years; that implementing the requirements would create severe undue economic hardship on the community served and that the plan implements the requirements to the extent feasible. Plans approved by DEP must be fully implemented by January 2028 except for plans that implement a potable reuse project, in which case such projects must be implemented by January 2030. A utility that fails to timely submit an approved plan may not discharge to surface waters after January 2028. Violations of the bills’ requirements are subject to administrative and civil penalties. The bills require utilities to update plans on an annual basis and demonstrate whether statutory conditions and exemptions remain applicable. The bills require DEP to submit an annual report to the governor and Legislature detailing implementation status. The bills exempt the following domestic wastewater facilities from its requirements: facilities located in a fiscally constrained county, facilities located in a municipality that is entirely within a rural area of opportunity and facilities located in a municipality having less than $10,000 in total annual revenue. The bills authorize DEP to establish a potable reuse technical advisory committee, provide that potable reuse projects are eligible for alternative water supply funding and provide that potable reuse projects are eligible for expedited permitting and priority state funding. CS/SB 64 requires local governments to offer density or intensity bonuses to developers to fully offset the developers’ capital costs of purchasing and installing residential graywater technologies in proposed or existing developments containing at least 25 residential dwellings; CS/HB 263 requires local governments to offer a 15% density or intensity bonus instead of a full offset. (O’Hara)

SB 1860 (Jones) and HB 1435 (Smith, C.) direct the Office of Energy within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to establish an application process for electric utilities, natural gas utilities and water/wastewater utilities to complete before it may receive utility customer assistance funds to provide assistance to residential customers for nonpayment of utility bills. The bills provide eligibility criteria for utilities to receive customer assistance funds and specifies criteria for a utility’s COVID-19 relief repayment plan. The bills require participating utilities to provide a report of all related accounting by December 2021. The bills specify that in addition to utility customer assistance funds provided in the bills, utilities must use funds allocated from the federal coronavirus relief funds of Public Law 116-136 to provide direct subsidy payments on behalf of residential customers whose accounts are more than 60 days past due. The bills direct the Legislature to appropriate $100 million to the Office of Energy for customer assistance funds. (O’Hara)

SB 1396 (Gruters) and HB 1167 (Snyder) expand the current law preemption of local government regulations pertaining to “dangerous” trees on residential property. The bills expand the definition of “residential property” to include manufactured or modular homes, mobile home parks, duplexes, triplexes, quadruplexes, condominium units or cooperative units. (O’Hara)

SB 1954 (Rodrigues) and HB 7019 (Environment, Agriculture & Flooding Subcommittee) establish the Resilient Florida Grant Program within the Department of Environmental Protection, subject to appropriation, to provide grants to local governments to fund the costs of community resilience planning and vulnerability assessments. The bills specify criteria and qualifications for grant applications under the program. The bills direct the Department to develop, by July 2022, a comprehensive statewide flood vulnerability and sea level rise dataset sufficient to conduct a statewide flood vulnerability and sea level rise assessment. The bills direct the Department to complete the statewide vulnerability assessment by July 2023 and use the state data set and incorporating local and regional analyses of vulnerabilities and risks. The Department must update the data set and assessment every three years. The bills direct the Department to develop, by December 2021, a Statewide Flooding and Sea-Level Rise Resilience Plan on a three-year planning horizon. The Plan must consist of ranked projects that address risks to coastal and inland communities, and the total amount of funding proposed in the Plan may not exceed $100 million. The bills specify information and eligibility requirements for projects listed in the Plan. The bills require water management districts, by September 2021, to submit a list of proposed projects that address risks of flooding and sea level rise for inclusion in the Department’s Plan, which may include projects submitted by local governments. Projects in the water management districts’ submissions must have a minimum 50% cost share and be ranked according to a scoring system. The bills encourage local governments to participate in regional resilience coalitions for planning and coordinating intergovernmental solutions to address flooding and sea-level rise and authorize the Department to provide funding to such coalitions when funds are specifically appropriated. The bills establish the Florida Flood Hub for Applied Research and Innovation within the University of South Florida to coordinate efforts between academic and research institutions in the state. The bills also require the Office of Economic and Demographic Research to include information relating to inland and coastal flood control in its annual assessment of expenditures and funding needs including an analysis of any gap between estimated revenues and projected expenditures. (O’Hara)

HB 283 (Eskamani) and SB 720 (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 2060. The bills create the Renewable Energy Workforce Development Advisory Committee within the Department. (O’Hara)

CS/SB 856 (Hutson) and CS/HB 839 (Fabrico) expressly preempt the regulation of transportation energy infrastructure to the state. “Transportation energy infrastructure” means infrastructure supporting the production, import, storage and distribution of fuel. The bills prohibit a local government from implementing or enforcing any policy, resolution or ordinance that has the effect of prohibiting, restricting or requiring the construction of new or the expansion, upgrade or repair of existing transportation energy infrastructure. The bills also prohibit local governments from imposing requirements that are more stringent than state law. (O’Hara)

SB 1008 (Hutson) and HB 761 (Overdorf) provide that solar facilities (including solar farms and related buildings, transmission lines and substations) are a permitted (as-of-right) use in local government comprehensive agricultural land use categories and certain agricultural zoning districts within unincorporated areas. The bills require solar facilities to comply with minimal criteria such as setbacks and buffering applicable to similar uses within the agricultural district. The bills authorize counties to adopt ordinances specifying buffer and landscaping requirements for solar facilities if the requirements do not exceed requirements for other permitted uses within an agricultural district. The bills also include solar facilities with capacities of less than 150 megawatts within the current definition of “electrical power plant” in the Power Plant Siting Act and allow such solar facilities the option of whether to use the Act’s certification process for siting the facilities. (O’Hara)

HB 705 (Andrade) provides airports are not liable for costs, damages or penalties relating to contamination, discharge, evaluation, assessment or remediation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and directs the Office of Program Policy Accountability and Analysis (OPPAGA) to conduct a study of assessment and cleanup of soil and groundwater contamination in other states and submit a report on its findings to the governor and Legislature. (O’Hara)

SB 1058 (Burgess) and HB 773 (McClure) amend current law that authorizes municipalities and counties to create an evaluation and rehabilitation program for sanitary sewer laterals on private property for the purpose of reducing leaks. The bills authorize a local government to access any sanitary sewer lateral within its jurisdiction for the purpose of investigating, cleaning, repairing or replacing the lateral. The bills establish procedures for implementing the lateral program. The bills require the local government to notify the property owner that it intends to access the owner’s property to address the problem and that the owner will not be held liable for the repair. The bills provide that under a locally established program the local government is responsible for repair and cleanup and also must specify requirements for repair work. (O’Hara)