BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

CS/HB 3 (Grant, M.) and CS/SB 1336 (Perry) expressly preempt the licensing of occupations to the state. The bill defines occupation to include a paid job, work, trade, employment or profession and defines licensing to include any training, education, test, certification, registration, procedure or license that are required for a person to perform an occupation. The bills provide limited exceptions for specified local licenses and any local government licensing of occupations that was expressly authorized by general law. The bills will prohibit a local government from requiring a person to obtain a license for a job scope that does not substantially correspond to the job scope of certain contractor categories set forth in Chapter 489, Florida Statutes. In addition, the bills will authorize local governments to issue journeyman licenses in specified trades. The bills are effective July 1, 2020. CS/SB 1336, was amended in committee to grandfather all existing local regulations on professions. (Cruz)

CS/CS/HB 637 (DiCeglie) and CS/CS/CS/SB 1066 (Gruters) are comprehensive bills regarding impact fees. The Senate bill prohibits the application of a new or increased impact fee to pending permit applications unless the result is to reduce the total impact fees or mitigation costs imposed on the applicant. CS/CS/CS/SB 1066 authorizes local governments with charters that contain provisions providing for school capacity to require contributions related to public education that are used to mitigate impacts not otherwise funded by impact fees or other exactions related to public education facilities, under certain circumstances. Lastly, CS/CS/CS/SB 1066 provides that impact fee credits are assignable and transferable at any time after establishment within the same impact fee zone or impact fee district, or an adjoining zone or district within the same local jurisdiction. CS/CS/CS/SB 1066 is awaiting final action in the Senate.

The House and Senate bill differ on various key points. CS/CS/HB 637 requires an annual financial report for each impact fee trust fund. Local governments would be prohibited from collecting impact fees earlier than the date the building permit is issued. Under the House bill, each municipality is required to establish an impact fee review committee composed of two members from the local government, two members of the business community, two local contractors and one at large member. CS/CS/HB 637 was amended in committee to define the term "infrastructure" and in doing so, limits the use of impact fee revenue to capital expenditures specifically listed in the definition. (Cruz)

CS/HB 537 (Donalds) and SB 778 (Perry) define a "home-based business" and preempt local governments from licensing and regulating home-based businesses. Local governments would be prohibited from enacting or enforcing any ordinance, regulation or policy regarding home-based businesses. However, such home-based businesses could not substantially increase traffic, noise, waste or recycling.  CS/HB 537 was amended to specify that a home-based business may not be regulated or licensed in a manner that is different from other businesses within a local government's jurisdiction. The bill now allows a party to challenge any local government action that violates the preemption. The prevailing party is entitled to recover attorney's fees and costs. (Cruz)

CS/CS/SB 772 (Hutson) and CS/CS/CS/HB 647 (Drake) preempt local government regulations to allow any recreational vehicle park that is damaged or destroyed as a result of wind, water or other natural disaster to be rebuilt on the same site using the same density standards that were approved or permitted before the park was damaged or destroyed. CS/CS/CS/HB 647 adds an exemption from supervision and regulation by the Department of Health for certain surf pools. (Cruz)

CS/SB 1128 (Diaz) and CS/CS/HB 1011 (Fischer) change current law relating to vacation rentals, also known as short-term rentals (STRs). The bills were amended to:

•clarify the definition of an advertising platform and narrow it by removing print

advertisements from its scope.

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

•require the department 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.

Additionally, CS/CS/HB 1011 now requires sexual predators to notify the sheriff's office of a temporary residence within 24 hours of arrival. Language carving out the Florida Keys from certain elements of the preemption was also added to the bill. 

CS/SB 1128 was temporarily postponed in Senate Rules which is not scheduled to meet again. CS/CS/1011 is on the House Special Order Calendar and is awaiting action by that body. (Cook)

HB 283 (Toledo) and CS/SB 802 (Judiciary) – Liens and Bonds

CS/CS/HB 733 (Smith, D.) and CS/SB 802 (Perry) revise the Marketable Record Title Act (MRTA) to clarify an exception to its main provisions and to bolster the current prohibition on discriminatory deed provisions. Specifically, the bills amend Section 712.04, Florida Statutes, to include covenants or restrictions based on a zoning requirement or development permit among the types of interests extinguished by MRTA. The bills, in contrast to a recent court opinion, provide that the rights extinguished by MRTA include restrictive covenants that were recorded in connection with a zoning regulation. The bills provide for summary removal of discriminatory restrictions from the governing documents of a property owners’ association. (Cruz)

SB 250 (Berman) and HB 6019 (Casello) would repeal a provision of HB 7103 that was passed during the 2019 session regarding challenges of development orders. Current law now allows the prevailing party in a challenge to a development order to recover reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred in defending the development order. SB 250 and HB 6019 bill would repeal this attorney fees provision. (Cruz)

HB 6063 (Jenne) and SB 1680 (Berman) repeal legislation passed in 2018 regarding customary use. Under current law, a governmental entity may not maintain an ordinance or rule that is based on customary use granting access to the public on private property of a beach above the mean high-water line unless it is based on a judicial declaration. (Cruz)

SB 748 (Flores) and HB 587 (Rashcein) provides that a local government entity located within an area of critical state concern shall split with the state any award of compensation, costs, attorney fees and prejudgment interest awarded to a property owner if the court has found liability against the state and the local government. The bills also state that a governmental entity is not liable for post-judgement interest on a judgement entered against another governmental entity. (Cruz)

CS/CS/HB 637 (DiCeglie) and CS/CS/SB 1066 (Gruters) are comprehensive bills regarding impact fees. The bills require a financial report for each impact fee trust fund annually. Local governments would be prohibited from collecting impact fees earlier than the date the building permit is issued. The bills allow impact fee credits to be transferred from one development to another within the same impact fee jurisdiction for the same type of facility. Each municipality is required to establish an impact fee review committee composed of two members from the local government, two members of the business community, two local contractors and one at large member. CS/CS/HB 637 was amended in committee to define the term infrastructure and in doing so, limit the use of impact fee revenue to capital expenditures specifically listed in the definition. This would include any fixed capital expenditure or fixed capital outlay associated with the construction, reconstruction or improvement of public facilities that have a life expectancy of five or more years; any related land acquisition, land improvement, design, engineering and permitting costs; and all other professional and related costs required to bring the public facilities into service. Previously under CS/SB 1066, an impact fee was not necessarily required to be used in the area that was impacted by development. However, CS/SB 1066 was amended in committee to further restrict the transferability of impact fees to allow, for purposes of impact fee credit transfers, that a benefit be recognized within any zone or district located within five miles of the zone or district where the credit was generated. (Cruz)

CS/HB 537 (Donalds) and SB 778 (Perry) define a "home-based business" and preempt local governments from licensing and regulating home-based businesses. Local governments would be prohibited from enacting or enforcing any ordinance, regulation or policy regarding home-based businesses. However, such home-based businesses could not substantially increase traffic, noise, waste or recycling.  CS/HB 537 was amended to specify that a home-based business may not be regulated or licensed in a manner that is different from other businesses within a local government's jurisdiction. The bill now allows a party to challenge any local government action that violates the preemption. The prevailing party is entitled to recover attorney's fees and costs. (Cruz)

SB 772 (Hutson) and CS/CS/CS/HB 647 (Drake) preempt local government regulations to allow any recreational vehicle park that is damaged or destroyed as a result of wind, water or other natural disaster to be rebuilt on the same site using the same density standards that were approved or permitted before the park was damaged or destroyed. CS/CS/CS/HB 647 adds an exemption from supervision and regulation by the Department of Health for certain surf pools. (Cruz)

CS/SB 410 (Perry) and CS/CS/HB 203 (McClain) would require local governments to adopt by July 1, 2023, a new mandatory element in their comprehensive plans that addresses the protection of private property rights. CS/SB 410 was amended to require the Department of Economic Opportunity to give funding preference for technical assistance to certain counties and municipalities. CS/CS/HB 203 now provides that a municipality may not annex an area within another municipal jurisdiction without consent from the other municipality. The amended bill also provides that a Development of Regional Impact may be amended by the development order process, allowing a change in land use if the change does not increase impact to public facilities. The bill also allows existing Developments of Regional Impact agreements that are classified as essentially built out and were valid on or before April 6, 2018, to exchange land uses under certain circumstances. As amended, the bill now provides that on or after July 1, 2020, a municipality may not extend new water or sewer services into the unincorporated area of a county without consent of the county if the county already provides the same service. The amended bill requires that all utility permit applications for use of the public right of way be processed within the timeframe that currently applies only to permit applications submitted by communications services providers. (See also HB 7099.) The bill now requires the Department of Economic Opportunity to give preference to counties and municipalities with populations less than 200,000 when selecting applications for funding for technical assistance related to certain determinations that need to be made when developing or amending a local government's comprehensive plan. Lastly, the amended bill allows the prevailing party in a challenge to certain local ordinances for local growth policy and land development regulation to seek attorney fees and costs. (Cruz)

CS/HB 519 (Grant, J.) and CS/SB 1766 (Lee) open the door for an explosion of potential lawsuits against cities by making one-sided changes to the Bert J. Harris Act and leaving taxpayers to pay the price. The Harris Act gives landowners a way to seek compensation when a local government takes action that impacts the use/potential use of their property. The Harris Act is detailed and fair. It allows local governments to negotiate with property owners who are filing a claim and calls on courts to consider the unique conditions of each claim.

The bills require any settlement reached on a Bert Harris claim to be automatically applied by the government entity to all "similarly situated" residential properties that are subject to the same rules or regulations. In essence, this provision would undo legislative action a government entity undertakes by requiring a settlement on one case to be applied across the board, turning Harris Act settlements into quasi class-action lawsuits. The bills do not define what a similarly situated property is, which opens the door for more litigation. The bills significantly amend the attorney fee provisions of the Harris Act, allowing only property owners to recover costs if they prevail. Additionally, the legislation would now include business losses as part of a Bert Harris claim. The Florida League of Cities opposes making one-sided changes to the Harris Act that only benefit attorneys and leaves taxpayers footing the bill.

CS/HB 519 was amended in the House Civil Justice Committee to provide an additional avenue for resolving disputes concerning comprehensive plan amendments. The amendment allows comprehensive plan amendment challenges initiated by citizens to now follow the dispute process from the Florida Land Use and Environmental Dispute Resolution Act.

CS/SB 1766 was substantially amended in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Senate bill no longer contains the similarly situated concept. It no longer has any provisions affecting how attorney fees are determined, nor does it open the door to include business damages as part of any Harris claim. Currently, the Senate bill reduces the presuit timeframe to respond to claims from 150 days to 90 days and a provision that address the “ripeness” of claims by allowing a property owner to bring a claim prior to being officially denied a permit. (Cruz)

SB 168 (Cruz) and HB 139 (Jenne) – Drinking Water in Public Schools

SB 318 (Stewart) – Sale of Sunscreen

SB 338 (Rodriguez) – Energy Efficiency in State Agencies

HB 237 (Roth) – Agricultural Products

SB 386 (Bradley) and HB 1333 (Stone) – Water Management District Boundaries Levy County

HB 401 (Jacobs) and SB 680 (Hutson) – Shark Fins

HB 921 (Brannan) and SB 1514 (Albritton) – Department of Agriculture & Consumer Service

HB 935 (Webb) and SB 1290 (Berman) – Solar Energy Systems in Schools

SB 1042 (Albritton) and HB 1061 (Massullo) – Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve 

HB 1047 (Avila) and SB 1618 (Diaz) – Construction Materials Mining Activities 

HB 1067 (Hattersley) and SB 1360 (Rodriguez) – Fla. Endangered & Threatened Species Act

SB 1474 (Taddeo) and SB 1842 (Powell) – Required Flood Disclosures for Real Property Sales

SB 1772 (Montford) – Environmental Value of Agricultural Lands

HB 6081 (Eskamani) – Conservation Easements

CS/CS/SB 712 (Mayfield) and CS/HB 1343 (Payne) make changes to current law relating to water quality improvements: septic systems, basin management action plans, stormwater management systems, land application of biosolids, sanitary sewer overflows and wastewater projects grants. 

•Transfer of Septic Tank Program – The bills transfer regulation of septic tanks from the Department of Health to the Department of Environmental Protection and directs DEP to develop rules for the location of septic tanks to prevent groundwater and surface water contamination and to protect public health. The bills establish a septic tank technical advisory committee to submit recommendations for advanced nutrient removal technologies and other regulatory matters. CS/HB 1343 includes additional provisions authorizing hardship variances for certain property subject to the one-septic tank/acre constraint in springs protection areas.

•Stormwater – The bills direct the DEP and water management districts to initiate rulemaking to update stormwater design criteria by January 2021. The bills direct the agencies, as part of the rulemaking, to address low-impact design best management practices and design criteria to increase nutrient removal and measures for consistent application of the net improvement performance standard to ensure significant reductions of pollutant loadings. The bills also direct DEP to evaluate performance data relating to stormwater “self-certification” and to recommend improvements to the program to the Legislature. (The Senate bill imposes a January 2021 deadline.) DEP and the Department of Economic Opportunity, with local government cooperation, are charged with developing a model stormwater management program that will include model ordinances that target nutrient reduction and green infrastructure.

•BMAPs – The bills require a BMAP to include a wastewater plan if DEP determines wastewater treatment facilities are contributing more than 20% of nutrient pollution or if deemed necessary to achieve the nutrient total maximum daily load (TMDL) for the BMAP. The wastewater plan is to be developed by each responsible local government, and the plan must address the facility upgrades or changes necessary to meet TMDL requirements. The wastewater plan must include a timeline for projects and estimated costs, and the plan must be adopted by July 2025. The bills prohibit DEP from requiring a higher cost project option for a wastewater plan if a lower cost option would achieve the same load reductions. The bills require a BMAP to include a septic remediation plan if DEP determines that septic tanks are contributing more than 20% of nutrient pollution or if deemed necessary to achieve the nutrient TMDL for the BMAP. The septic remediation plan must be developed by each responsible local government and must identify projects necessary to reduce nutrient loads and include an inventory of existing septic tanks. The septic remediation plan must also identify septic tanks that will be connected to central sewer, replaced or upgraded, and it must include estimated costs to implement projects. The septic remediation plan must be adopted as part of the BMAP by July 2025. The bills also require DEP to submit a report to the Legislature by July 2021 evaluating the costs of all septic system and wastewater treatment projects identified in BMAPs and identifying funding plans for the projects on a five-year basis. In addition, the bills require DEP to submit a report to the Legislature by July 2021 assessing the water quality monitoring being conducted for each BMAP that is subject to nutrient load reductions.

•Agriculture – The bills require the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to collect fertilizer and nutrient records from producers enrolled in the agricultural best management practices program and provide such records to DEP. Both bills require DACS to conduct onsite inspections of enrollees every two years. The bills also authorize the creation of a “cooperative agricultural regional water quality improvement element” for agricultural nonpoint sources as part of a basin management action plan under specified conditions and establish qualifications for participating in the element.

•Wastewater Grant Program – The bills establish a wastewater grant program in DEP to provide a 50% match for specified projects intended to reduce nutrient loads and identify projects that shall receive priority funding. 

•Biosolids – CS/CS/SB 712 expresses legislative intent to expedite implementation of the Biosolids Technical Advisory Committee. Both bills direct DEP to adopt rules for biosolids. CS/CS/SB 712 requires biosolids application sites to comply with DEP rules in effect at the time of permit renewal and requires such sites to be enrolled in the DACS best management practices program. In addition, the Senate bill requires a permittee to conduct the application of biosolids in accordance with an adopted BMAP and requires the use of groundwater monitoring for specified application sites. The Senate bill also limits or prohibits the application of biosolids on certain sites based on water table levels until the effective date of biosolids rules adopted by DEP. CS/HB 1343 specifies conditions for new biosolid land application permits or renewals of existing permits after July 2020, including limitations on the application on soils where certain water table conditions exist and a requirement to be enrolled in the DACS best management practices program. CS/HB 1343 also requires all permits to meet the requirements of the biosolids rules to be adopted by DEP no later than two years after the effective date of such rules. CS/HB 1343 requires legislative ratification of DEP’s biosolids rule; CS/CS/SB 712 does not require legislative ratification. Both bills grandfather certain existing local ordinances relating to biosolids adopted prior to November 2019.

•Sanitary Sewer Overflows – The bills require wastewater facilities to provide a power outage contingency plan and to develop an assessment, repair and replacement plan that complies with DEP rules that are to be adopted on this subject. The plans shall be reported to DEP and must include expenditures taken for assessment, repair and replacement. A wastewater facility’s substantial compliance with these planning and reporting requirements may be evidence for mitigating applicable DEP environmental penalties. In addition, a facility may receive a 10-year operating permit if it is meeting the goals of its action plan. The bills require wastewater facilities to provide annual reports to DEP detailing revenues and expenditures as prescribed by DEP rule, and a facility’s substantial compliance with this requirement may be evidence for mitigating DEP penalties. The bills require DEP to submit an annual report to the Legislature detailing all facilities that experienced sanitary sewer overflows over the reporting period.

•Additional DEP and Agency Reports and Rulemaking – The bills require DEP to report by July 2020 the status of upgrades by specified wastewater utilities that are required to meet advanced treatment standards under current law, and the bill also requires DEP to submit cost estimates for wastewater facility and septic system remediation projects to the Office of Economic and Demographic Research beginning July 2022. EDR is required to include these cost estimates in its annual water resources assessment.

•Monetary Penalties – The bills modify current law requirements on administrative penalties assessed by DEP. Total administrative penalties increased from $10,000 to $50,000. Wastewater violation penalties are included under the defined administrative penalties, these penalties increased by 50%: from $1,000 to $2,000 and $2,000 to $4,000, respectively.

•DEP Secretary – The bills change the appointment process for the DEP secretary. The Senate bill requires the concurrence of only one member of the Cabinet rather than three members as provided in current law; the House bill would require the concurrence of two or more members of the Cabinet. 

•Bottled Water – The bills require DEP to conduct a study on the bottled water industry in Florida and specify the subjects to be addressed in the study. The results of the study must be submitted to the governor and legislature by June 2021. CS/CS/SB 712 requires a consumptive use permit for bottled water to be approved by unanimous vote of a water management district governing board. CS/HB 1343 imposes a two-year moratorium on the renewal or issuance of a consumptive use permit that authorizes the use of the water for bottled water. 

•Water Management District Annual Reports – The bills require water management districts to submit a copy of their annual reports to the Office of Economic and Demographic Research and require the reports to include in the listing of projects to implement a BMAP, any projects converting septic systems to sewer or enhanced nutrient reducing systems. 

•Legal Standing – The bills prohibit local governments from recognizing or granting certain legal rights to the natural environment (e.g., granting legal standing to waterbodies) or granting enforcement of such rights to persons or political subdivision. (O’Hara)

SB 1786 (Stewart) prohibits a vessel operator from allowing passengers to ride on the bow of a vessel and sets forth circumstances under which causing wake to law enforcement vessels constitutes careless operation by a vessel operator. (O’Hara)

CS/HB 1095 (Fitizenhagen) and CS/CS/CS/SB 1464 (Flores) provide for noncriminal infractions relating to the transportation of certain hazardous materials regulated by the United States Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and authorize the state fire marshal or fire chief of the county or municipality in which the infraction occurs to issue a citation to any excavator or member operator who commits such infraction. CS/HB 1095 was amended to include municipal fire chiefs within this grant of authority to issue citations (current law authorizes citations to also be issued by any local or state law enforcement operator, code inspector or code enforcement officer). The bills provide for enhanced civil penalties and provide that if the citation is issued by one of the locally specified officers, the civil penalty collected by the clerk of court shall be distributed to the government entity of the employee issuing the citation. The bills specify that certain incident reports relating to the excavation of underground utilities must be submitted to the state fire marshal and specified local officers and authorize the fire marshal and local officers to issue citations and civil penalties. The bills remove provisions relating to the Division of Administrative Hearings of certain incidents relating to underground facility excavation. The bills create an underground facility damage prevention review panel under the state fire marshal to review complaints of alleged violations of the Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act to identify issues with damage prevention and enforcement. The panel is directed to determine if any statutory changes are needed to make pipes or facilities that transport hazardous materials safer and more resilient. The bills direct that panel members be appointed by Sunshine State One-Call of Florida and specify membership requirements of the panel. (O’Hara)

SB 286 (Rodriguez) and HB 1069 (Joseph) establish a carbon tax credit to reward and incent farmers in Florida to maintain or adopt agricultural practices that help maximize the state’s carbon sequestration potential. The bills define “carbon farming” as the use of strategies to reduce, mitigate and sequester greenhouse gas emissions on land to support a farm operation using the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s COMET-Planner and other quantification tools. (O’Hara)