BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

CS/HB 981 (Bankson) makes significant changes to the regulation of private airports, specifically addressing vertiports and powered-lift aircraft. The bill does the following:

Vertiport Approval:

•Requires private airport owners or lessees intending to operate vertiports for powered-lift aircraft to obtain a powered-lift aircraft endorsement from the Department of Transportation (DOT).

Department of Transportation Department

•Mandates the DOT to designate a subject matter expert for advanced air mobility, focusing on powered-lift aircraft and electrification of aviation.

•Requires the DOT to provide annual reports to the Governor and Legislature on advanced air mobility industry status, technological advances, federal regulations and recommendations for land use compatibility around vertiports.

•Mandates the DOT to serve as a resource for local governments and stakeholders in powered-lift aircraft and vertiport development.

Advanced Air Mobility Test Site:

•Designates the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority as the advanced air mobility test site for the state. (Branch)

SB 1774 (Powell) and HB 1477 (Williams) require that parks, youth recreation or sports facilities owned or operated by a local government have a functioning automated external defibrillator (AED) on premises at all times. The bills also specify that employees and volunteers at these facilities have proper training. (Wagoner)

SB 854 (Martin) and HB 1643 (Rommel) require airport authorities, special districts created by the Legislature, to only allow aircraft to land if they meet Federal Aviation Administration noise standards and weight limits set by the International Civil Aviation Organization. Authorized aircraft within the weight range of 75,000 to 125,000 pounds may face restrictions on landing frequency, increased landing fees, or higher charges for hangar and storage facilities. The airport authority can request documentation confirming an aircraft's compliance before its first landing and annually thereafter. (Branch)

HB 119 (Melo) and SB 188 (Brodeur) – Trespass on Commercial Agricultural Property

HB 997 (Gottlieb) – Expedited Foreclosure Proceedings for Abandoned Real Property

SB 1370 (Torres) – Abandoned Residential Real Property

HB 1229 (Porras) and SB 1068 (Rodriguez) – Marketable Record Title to Real Property

HB 1621 (Beltran) authorizes municipalities to impose an enhanced fine for the unauthorized demolition of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places or designated as a local historic landmark if the code enforcement board or special magistrate makes specific findings. Fines imposed may not exceed an amount that is 20% of the property appraiser’s evaluation of the fair market value. (Cruz)

HB 397 (Cross) and SB 404 (Rouson) expand the urban agricultural pilot project to allow for commercial agricultural use of residential property in certain circumstances. (Cruz)

CS/HB 1647 (Roach) and CS/SB 1526 (Avila) restricts local governments from prohibiting, restricting, or preventing the demolition of nonconforming or unsafe structures. The bills authorize the demolition of a structure and automatic replacement without requiring the new structure to have historical features or characteristics. The bills also prohibit local governments from imposing additional restrictions on the demolition or redevelopment that depart from existing requirements for a similarly situated parcel. The bills specify the provisions do not apply to a structure individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places or a contributing structure listed prior to 2000, a single-family home, or a structure located on a barrier island in a municipality with a population less than 10,000, which has at least six city blocks that are not located within flood zones V, VE, AO or AE, as identified in Flood Insurance Rate Map issued by FEMA. (Cruz)

HB 1635 (Steele) and SB 1796 (Burgess) require local governments to provide compensation for a nonmonetary exaction equal to the fair market value of the exaction imposed. The bills require a local government that adopts and collects impact fees by ordinance to ensure the impact fee is collected only if the relevant property receives the service for which the fee was assessed. The bills also require local governments to establish impact fee zones or districts to assist local governments in ensuring the fee is expended to provide additional capital facilities within the appropriate zone or district. HB 1635 places the maximum amount an impact fee may charge depending on the type of development in state law. The bill also prohibits the imposition of both an impact fee and a mobility fee for master planned unit developments and planned home developments. (Cruz)

SB 1184 (Ingoglia) and CS/CS/HB 1221 (McClain) are comprehensive bills relating to land use and development regulations. The bills amend various regulations relating to comprehensive plans. The bill would restrict optional elements of a comprehensive plan from containing a policy restricting density and intensity. The bills amend definitions of intensity, density, urban service area and urban sprawl to promote the construction of additional single-family, two-family and fee simple townhomes. The bills require local governments to adopt minimum lot sizes with single-family, two-family and fee simple townhouse zoning districts to accommodate the maximum density authorized in the comprehensive plan. The bills require local governments to adopt infill redevelopment regulations to administratively approve the development of infill single-family, two-family and fee simple townhouses. HB 1221 also contains a provision that would require the automatic rezoning of agricultural land for single family housing in certain circumstances. This provision is not found in SB 1184. CS/CS/HB 1221 has been significantly amended in committee. Relevant to municipal operation, the amendments inserted a provision that preempts local regulation relating to the building of new self-storage facilities and removed provisions related to the rezoning of agricultural enclaves. The bill was amended further to permit a final order or decision by a municipally established historic preservation board or commission to be appealed to the board of county commissioners. (Cruz)

CS/HB 1177 (Duggan) and SB 1110 (DiCeglie) amend various provisions related to land development regulations in Florida. The bills amend the Community Planning Act to require modifications to transportation concurrency system requirements for local governments, change to the adoption of impact fees by special districts, and adjustment provisions governing credits against local impact fees. The bills also address revisions in procedures regarding local government review of changes to previously approved developments of regional impact (DRIs), specifying certain types of changes that won't necessitate local government review. The bills allow for modifications to multimodal pathways in previously approved DRIs under specific conditions and outline that certain changes to comprehensive plan policies and land development regulations won't apply to developments with vested rights. Additionally, the legislation revises the criteria that constitute acts of reliance by a developer to vest rights. (Cruz)

CS/HB 1051 (Tuck) and SB 1082 (Collins) prohibit a governmental entity from adopting or enforcing legislation inhibiting the construction or installation of housing for agricultural workers on agricultural land. The bills establish criteria for the construction and installation of these housing units, including adherence to federal, state and local building standards, minimum distance requirements between units, limitations on the square footage of climate-controlled facilities and specified setbacks from property boundaries. The bills prohibit local governments from adopting land use regulations that are more restrictive than certain state and federal regulations, while requiring property owners to maintain records of all approved permits for at least three years. The bills also outline conditions under which housing sites may cease to be used or be required to be removed, including non-use for over a year or loss of agricultural land classification. The bills are set to take effect on July 1, 2024. (Cruz)

CS/HB 479 (Robinson, W.) and SB 688 (Martin) revise and provide additional guidance concerning the use of mobility plans and the collection of mobility fees. The bills provide definitions for “mobility fee” and “mobility plan” to be used within the Community Planning Act. The bills prohibit local governments from charging for transportation impacts if they are not the local government that is issuing a building permit, require that local governments collect for extra jurisdictional impacts if they are issuing building permits and prohibit local governments from assessing multiple charges for the same transportation impact. Concerning impact fees, the bills provide that local governments adopting and collecting impact fees by ordinance or resolution must use localized data available within the previous 12 months of adoption for the local government’s calculation of impact fees. (Cruz)

HB 31 (Edmonds) and SB 64 (Osgood) – Landlords and Tenants

HB 557 (Stevenson) – Moveable Tiny Homes

HB 1467 (Driskell) and SB 1504 (Davis) – Affordable Housing

SB 7028 (Banking and Insurance) and HB 1263 (LaMarca) – My Safe Florida Home Program

HB 1299 (Cross) and CS/SB 1440 (Calatayud) grant counties and municipalities the authority to exclude specific accessory dwelling units from ad valorem taxation meeting certain affordable housing requirements. (Branch)

SB 386 (Osgood) requires local governments to reduce parking requirements necessary for development approval for “Live Local” developments where at least 75% of the residential units are affordable for at least 30 years and the development is located within one-half mile of a major transportation hub. (Branch)

HB 1603 (Gantt) and SB 1742 (Jones) amend the current statute regarding inclusionary housing ordinances. The bills remove the option for developers to contribute to a housing fund or explore other alternatives instead of constructing affordable housing units. (Branch)

CS/CS/SB 328 (Calatayud) and CS/HB 1239 (Lopez, V.) amend various provisions of the Live Local Act (act), passed during the 2023 Regular Session. The bills do the following:

•Adjust the height allowances for parcels adjacent to single-family residential uses within a single-family neighborhood.

oProvides that if a proposed development is “adjacent to, on two more sides, a parcel zoned for single-family residential use that is within a single-family residential development with at least 25 contiguous single-family homes, the local government may restrict the height of the proposed development to 150% of the tallest building on property within one-quarter mile of the proposed development or three stories, whichever is higher.”

•Prohibit qualifying developments within one-quarter mile of a military installation from utilizing the act’s administrative approval process and exempt certain airport-impacted areas from the act’s provisions.

•Clarify that a local government’s “currently allowed” density, height, and floor area ratio does not include any bonuses, variances, or other special exceptions provided in their regulations.

•Modify parking reduction requirements for qualifying developments located near certain transportation facilities.

•CS/CS/SB 328 and HB 1239 propose funding the Hometown Hero Program at $100 million. (Branch)

SB 426 (Garcia, I.) – Community Associations

HB 229 (Payne) and SB 364 (Collins) – Public Service Commission Rules

HB 1279 (Gregory) and SB 1326 (DiCeglie) – Review of Agency Rules 

SB 366 (Yarborough) and HB 81 (Brackett) – Gas Safety

SB 404 (Rouson) – Urban Agriculture Pilot Projects

SB 1530 (Martin) and HB 1365 (Garrison) prohibit counties and municipalities from permitting public sleeping or camping on public property, at public buildings or on public rights-of-way within their respective jurisdictions without a lawfully issued temporary permit. The bills authorize municipalities and counties to designate certain public property for public sleeping or public camping subject to the following conditions, the sufficiency of which must be determined by the Florida Department of Children and Families: minimum sanitation levels, including access to restrooms and running water; security present and onsite at all times; access to behavioral health services; prohibition on drugs and alcohol; and the designated area may not be in a location that adversely and materially affects existing residential or commercial properties. The bills authorize a person or business to bring a civil action against any county or municipality to enjoin a violation of the prohibitions and conditions and to recover their attorney fees and costs. The bills provide an exception for a state of emergency declared by the Governor. (O’Hara)

HB 759 (Andrade) prohibits panhandling within 50 feet of the following: an entrance to or exit from a commercially zoned property; a bus stop or facility; an automatic teller machine or bank entrance; a parking lot, parking garage, parking meter or parking pay station; or a public restroom. It prohibits panhandling within 100 feet of a child care facility or Pre-K through 12 school; on a right-of-way or road defined in section 334.03; at a public transit stop or in a public transit vehicle; while the person being solicited is waiting to be admitted to a commercial establishment; by touching the person being solicited; with the use of profane or abusive language; while under the influence of alcohol or illegal controlled substance; and between the hours of 4 p.m. and 9 a.m. The bill prohibits a person from approaching an operator or other occupant of a motor vehicle for the purpose of panhandling. The bill specifies penalties for violations. Finally, the bill requires individuals engaged in solicitation on specified roads, rights-of-way or facilities to clearly identify the name of the charitable organization or named individual on whose behalf contributions are being solicited and to clearly identify the charitable purpose for which contributions are being solicited. (O’Hara)