Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance; Designating October 14 of each year as “Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance”; authorizing the Governor to issue an annual proclamation, etc.
Maddy summarySB 218 prohibits counties and municipalities in areas affected by Hurricanes Debby, Helene, or Milton (as designated in federal disaster declarations) from imposing construction moratoriums or stricter land use rules for properties damaged by those storms. It specifically blocks local governments from adopting more restrictive land development regulations, site plan approvals, or comprehensive plan amendments related to hurricane-damaged properties until October 1, 2027. The law applies retroactively to August 1, 2024, and allows affected residents or business owners to sue to halt violations, with potential recovery of legal fees. The bill expires June 30, 2028, and directly affects rebuilding efforts in designated disaster zones.
Commercial Motor Vehicles Operated by Unauthorized Aliens; Declaring the policy of the state with respect to the operation of commercial motor vehicles by unauthorized aliens; requiring sworn law enforcement officers with certain authority to take into custody persons determined to be unauthorized aliens operating commercial motor vehicles and facilitate the transfer of such persons into the custody of a federal immigration agency; requiring the impoundment and removal of a commercial motor vehicle under certain circumstances; providing that motor carriers are liable for certain civil penalties, etc.
Required Reports of the Office of Insurance Regulation; Requiring the office to create specified reports on insurers, licensees, registrants, and their related entities, including the compensation of their executive officers; requiring the office to use a reliable and up-to-date methodology and software to create specified reports and review such methodology and software for accuracy; specifying that certain data are not considered trade secrets and may be used for certain purposes, etc.
Housing; Defining the term “primary dwelling unit”; requiring local governments to adopt, by a specified date, an ordinance to allow accessory dwelling units to be approved in certain areas; requiring the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability to evaluate the efficacy of using mezzanine finance and the potential of tiny homes for specified purposes, etc.
Assessment of Property Used for Residential Purposes; Defining the term “changes or improvements made to improve the property’s resistance to wind damage”; prohibiting the consideration of the increase in just value of a property which is attributable to changes or improvements made to improve the property’s resistance to wind damage in determinations of the assessed value of certain property, etc.
Florida Public Service Commission; Revising the membership of the Florida Public Service Commission; requiring a group of parties to certain proceedings to negotiate the terms of a settlement with the Public Counsel before presenting such settlement to the commission; requiring that orders issued by the commission contain adequate support and rationale for any conclusions made by the commission; authorizing certain persons to make a motion to intervene in a pending commission proceeding; authorizing the commission to fix affordable, in addition to fair, just, and reasonable, rates, etc.
Educational Scholarship Programs; Creating a categorical fund for implementing the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program; creating the educational enrollment stabilization program to provide supplemental state funds to address changes in full-time equivalent student enrollment; renaming the Hope Scholarship Program as the Hope Program; requiring an eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization to provide a parent with certain information on scholarship programs; requiring an eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization to create a single application for all educational scholarship programs, etc.
Utilities; Authorizing a county to adopt an ordinance for the decommissioning of certain solar facilities that have reached the end of their useful life; authorizing a county to require financial assurance from a solar facility owner to establish that the solar facility owner has the capability to satisfy the estimated cost of decommissioning the solar facility; requiring that improvements included in certain transmission and distribution storm protection plans have forecasted customer benefits that exceed their forecasted cost, etc.
Employee Protections; Providing that public officers, public employees, and local government attorneys commit a breach of the public trust when they initiate adverse personnel actions against employees of an agency or independent contractor under certain circumstances; prohibiting agencies and independent contractors from taking specified actions against employees or certain persons for disclosing certain information to the Commission on Ethics; requiring that information disclosed include specified violations or alleged violations; providing that specified provisions protect employees and persons who submit written complaints to the commission or provide information to an investigator during an investigation of a complaint or referral, etc.
