BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

HB 83 (Duran) and SB 668 (Book) define specified afterschool recreation programs as “government-sponsored recreation programs,” such programs are exempt from specified child care facility requirements and are authorized such programs to waive such exemption by notifying the Department of Children and Families. (O’Hara)

HB 6015 (Andrade) repeals provisions relating to the testing and approval of sparklers, sale of fireworks, seizure of illegal fireworks, restrictions upon storage of sparklers and penalties for violations. (Cook)

CS/SB 476 (Hooper) and CS/HB 307 (LaMarca) provide that community associations may not prohibit a law enforcement officer who is a unit owner from parking his or her law enforcement vehicle in an area where the unit owner or his or her guest otherwise has a right to park. (Cook)

HB 669 (Newton) and SB 1106 (Baxley) require local governments and other entities that operate a place of public accommodation or public building or facility to install and maintain at least one universal changing place at locations in a family or assisted-use restroom facility for persons of either sex who have a physical disability. (Cook)

CS/CS/HB 625 (Newton) and SB 888 (Perry) address public nuisance properties. The bills:

•extend and increase the frequency of notice so a property owner has sufficient time to receive notice and correct the use of the property. 

•allow for shorter notice where the public nuisance presents a danger of immediate and irreparable injury. 

•provide more detail on what must be provided in the notice and serving the notice.

•delete the requirement that a criminal gang or member or associate of such gang must use a location “on two or more occasions” for the purpose of engaging in a criminal gang-related activity for such use to qualify as a public nuisance that can be abated or enjoined.

•provide that any place or premises that has been used on more than two occasions within a six-month period as the site of dealing in stolen property, assault, aggravated assault, battery, aggravated battery, burglary, theft or robbery by sudden snatching may be declared a public nuisance and may be abated or enjoined. 

•provide that a rental property that is declared a public nuisance based upon the previously described circumstances may not be abated or subject to forfeiture under the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act if the nuisance was committed by someone other than the owner of the property and the property owner commences rehabilitation of the property within 30 days after the property is declared a public nuisance and completes the rehabilitation within a reasonable time thereafter. (Cook)

HB 4533 (Antone) appropriates $5 million to the Department of Management Services to fund a grant program through Cyber Florida – Local Government Training and Technical Assistance. (Cook)

CS/CS/CS/SB 1120 (Harrell) and CS/CS/CS/HB 649 (Caruso) address individuals who have been disqualified for employment with substance abuse service providers following a failed background screening. The bills require the Department of Children and Families to provide exemptions from employment disqualification for certain offenses and condense several background screening sections of current law into a single set of requirements. The bills modify patient-brokering laws to exempt discount, waivers of payment, or payments not prohibited by federal anti-kickback statutes. The bills also apply such exemptions to all payment methods by a federal health care program and provide that patient-brokering constitutes a first-degree misdemeanor. Finally, the bills provide that any person who willfully and knowingly facilitates patient brokering is guilty of a first-degree misdemeanor. (Cook)

HB 581 (Aloupis) and SB 918 (Brandes) establish minimum requirements for a student to complete a civic literacy practicum beginning with the 2021-2022 school year to help students evaluate the roles, rights and responsibilities of United States citizens and determine methods of active participation in society, government and the political system. The civic literacy practicum must be nonpartisan, focus on addressing at least one community issue and promote civil discourse. (Cook)

HM 525 (Hill) is a memorial bill urging Congress to support the State Cyber Resiliency Act and to direct the United States Department of Homeland Security to administer state and local cybersecurity grants to assist state, local and tribal governments in preventing, preparing for, protecting against and responding to cyberthreats. (Cook)

CS/HB 7 (Fine) and SB 1340 (Gruters) allow a governmental agency the option to publish legally required advertisements and notices on a publicly accessible website if certain conditions are met. The bills require a governmental agency to publish a notice at least once a year in a newspaper of general circulation that the resident or property owner may receive legally required notices or advertisements via first class mail or email by registration of his or her name, address and email address with the local governmental agency. (Cook)

HB 31 (Hill) preempts the ability of local governments to remove, alter, rename or otherwise disturb a memorial or monument on public property placed in memory of a veteran or war. This preemption includes the removal of Civil War memorials made to honor or commemorate the war, soldiers or government officials that aided the war effort. The legislation specifies that a remembrance erected, named or dedicated on or after March 22, 1822, on public property may be relocated, removed, altered, renamed, rededicated or otherwise disturbed only if necessary to accommodate construction, repair or improvements to the remembrance or to the surrounding property on which the remembrance is located. Additionally, the bill requires that a remembrance on public property that is sold or repurposed must be relocated to a location of equal prominence as the original location. (Cruz)

HB 1237 (Avila), SB 1698 (Diaz) and SB 1700 (Diaz) preempt any local government ordinance or regulation that prohibits or regulates pet stores. The bills specify requirements for sourcing, sale or transfer of animals from a pet store as well as impose inspections and other conditions on the pet store. SB 1698 creates the Florida Pet Protection Act requiring the Florida Department of Professional Regulation to adopt procedures and oversee the licensures and inspections of pet stores. SB 1700 requires a fee of $25 to acquire or maintain a pet store license. (Cook)

CS/CS/HB 133 (McClain) and CS/CS/SB 1332 (Hooper) require local governments to establish maximum rates for the towing and immobilization of vessels and prohibit a county or municipality from enacting a rule or ordinance that imposes a fee or charge on authorized wrecker operators. The bills provide that an authorized wrecker operator may impose and collect an administrative fee and is required to remit the fee to the county or municipality only after it has been collected. The bills prohibit local governments from adopting or enforcing ordinances or rules that impose fees on the registered owner or lien holder of a vehicle or vessel removed and impounded by an authorized wrecker operator. The bills provide that a wrecker operator that recovers, removes or stores a vehicle or vessel must have a lien on the vehicle or vessel that includes the value of the reasonable administrative fee or charge imposed by a county or municipality. The bills exempt certain counties with towing or immobilization licensing, regulatory or enforcement programs as of January 1, 2020, from the prohibition on imposing a fee or charge on an authorized wrecker operator or on a towing business. The bill prohibits a municipality or county from enacting an ordinance or rule requiring an authorized wrecker operator or towing business to accept credit cards as a form of payment.

CS/CS/SB 1332 was amended to remove the lien holder of a vehicle or vessel as an entity that may be assessed a charge or fee by a county or city when the vehicle or vessel is towed from public property by a towing business or by an authorized wrecker operator. (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)