After getting hit with lawsuits and objections from local officials, a Florida Senate committee on Tuesday approved scaling back a 2025 law that included temporarily blocking cities and counties from approving "more restrictive or burdensome" changes to growth plans.
The Senate Community Affairs Committee voted 8-0 to approve a bill (SB 840), sponsored by Sen. Nick DiCeglie, R-Indian Rocks Beach, that would revise the law.
DiCeglie described the bill as a “very well-balanced and thoughtful fix.” At county legislative delegation meetings across the state in recent months, lawmakers heard requests to change the law.
“This really has been one of the top issues that I heard throughout the summer,” DiCeglie said.
The controversial growth-related issues were included in a broader law passed after hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton slammed into the state in 2024. The overall bill addressed numerous issues, such as debris removal, mutual-aid agreements and building-permit and inspection fees, with backers saying it was designed to help people rebuild damaged homes.
But the law, in part, effectively froze local land-development regulations and comprehensive plans through Oct. 1, 2027, and was made retroactive to Aug. 1, 2024. DiCeglie’s bill would lead to that part of the law expiring on June 30, 2026, rather than Oct. 1, 2027.
Another part of the law placed restrictions on local land-use regulations after hurricanes for one year after landfall. It applied to counties listed in federal disaster declarations or within 100 miles of hurricane tracks.
The bill would make changes to the restrictions and narrow the areas that would be included. The proposal would apply the restrictions to areas that have received federal major disaster declarations and are within 50 miles of storm tracks.
The bill would need approval from two more Senate committees before it could go to the full Senate. Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, filed a similar House bill last week.
About two dozen cities and counties and the growth-management group 1000 Friends of Florida filed lawsuits challenging the law, including arguing that it violates local governments’ home-rule authority, violates a constitutional single-subject requirement for legislation and strips the ability of cities and counties to manage growth.
The lawsuits, which have been consolidated, remain pending in Leon County circuit court.
1000 Friends of Florida, in a legislative update issued last week, said the bill “makes some meaningful improvements” but that it is “not a full fix.”
“The bill does not repeal SB 180’s (the 2025 law’s) retroactive provisions, instead shortening their duration,” the growth-management organization said. “As a result, communities like Orange County and Manatee County remain stymied on good-faith planning decisions unrelated to storm recovery, undermining voter- and community-driven local planning efforts.”
