HB 479 Florida House · 2026 Regular Session

Land and Water Management

Summary

Land and Water Management; Prohibits counties & municipalities from adopting laws, regulations, rules, policies, or ordinances that prohibit adjacent upland activities that are outside certain wetland buffers; repeals provisions relating to land management review teams.

Issues: ✗ Environment

Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Nov 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Nov 19, 2025 Last action Mar 13, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

H 479 Filed → H 479 c1 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was completely rewritten to shift its focus from broad state preemption of local water and wetland regulations to a specific prohibition on local laws that ban upland activities near wetlands. This change removes the state's authority to block local environmental rules and instead prevents local governments from restricting development in areas within 15 to 25 feet of wetlands.

Scope change

The bill's scope changed from a broad preemption measure affecting all local water and wetland regulations to a narrow restriction specifically targeting local ordinances that limit adjacent upland activities.

SCOPE

Removed the state's power to preempt local laws regarding water quality, quantity, pollution control, and wetland delineation.

REQUIREMENT

Added a specific prohibition preventing counties and municipalities from adopting laws that ban upland activities outside a wetland buffer of 15 to 25 feet.

ENFORCEMENT

Changed the enforcement mechanism from a general violation notice to a specific restriction on local legislative actions.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Jan 16, 2026

Lower · Passed

Now in Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittee

lower

Jan 16, 2026

Committee

Referred to State Affairs Committee

lower

Jan 16, 2026

Committee

Referred to Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittee

lower

Jan 13, 2026

Lower · Passed

Reported out of Natural Resources & Disasters Subcommittee

lower

Jan 13, 2026

Lower · Passed

Favorable with CS by Natural Resources & Disasters Subcommittee

lower

Jan 9, 2026

Lower · Passed

PCS added to Natural Resources & Disasters Subcommittee agenda

lower

Nov 24, 2025

Lower · Passed

Now in Natural Resources & Disasters Subcommittee

lower

Nov 24, 2025

Committee

Referred to State Affairs Committee

lower

Nov 24, 2025

Committee

Referred to Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittee

lower

Nov 24, 2025

Committee

Referred to Natural Resources & Disasters Subcommittee

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors