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HomeMy Public PortalAboutLTC 080-2023 - Legislative SessionBAL HARBOUR V I L L A G E - OFFICE OF THE VILLAGE MANAGER LETTER TO COUNCIL NO. 080-2023 To: Mayor Jeffrey P. Freimark and Members of the Village Council From: Jorge M. Gonzalez, Village Manager VPG' Date: May 19, 2023 Subject: End of the Florida Legislative Session 2023 The purpose of this Letter to Council (LTC) is to transmit the attached reports provided by our Village lobbyist Ron L. Book. • End of Session 2023 Report • The Florida Senate 2023 Summary of legislation Passed Committee on Regulated Industries —Condominium and Cooperative Associations If you have any questions or need any additional information, please feel free to contact me. 1�e7/TNI r Row1d 1. Book, P R. t0W Offl(O PROFUJ On0t 6000110n End of Session 2023 Report Enclosed is our 2023 end of Session report. Please note this report is submitted before many of the items within have been acted upon by the Governor. Please let us know if you have questions on issues included in this report, or on any other issue of concern. • Housing: SB 102 has been signed into law, Chapter No. 2023-17 • School Choice/Universal Voucher: HB 1 has been signed into law, Chapter No. 2023-16 • Civil Remedies: HB 837 has been signed into law, Chapter No. 2023-15 Legislative Issues: • Environmental Protection: (HB 1379 passed) • Solid Waste Management (HB 975/SB 798 did not pass) • Sovereign Immunity: (SB 604/HB 401 did not pass) • Recall of County Officers and Commissioners: (SJR 1066/HJR 131/HB 209 did not pass) • Financial Disclosure for Elected Officials: (SB 774 passed and has been signed by the Governor) • Local Ordinances/Business Impact Estimate: (SB 170 passed) • Condominium and Cooperative Associations: (SB 154 passed) • Homestead Tax Exemption/Senior/Low-income/Long-term Residents: (SB 126/HB 159 did not pass) • Vacation Rentals: (SB 714/HB 833 did not pass) • Local Regulation of Nonconforming or Unsafe Structures: (SB 1346/HB 1317 did not pass) • Public Nuisance/threatening actions/hate crime: (HB 269 passed and has been signed by the Governor) • Municipal Utilities: (HB 1331/SB 1712 did not pass) • Land Use and Development Regulations: (SB 1604 passed and has been signed by the Governor) • Careless Driving / The Anthony Reznik Act: (SB 544 did not pass) Environmental Protection: (SB 1632/HB 1379) Language contained in this bill renames this grant program the Water Quality Improvement Grant and expands eligibility for a myriad of projects and locations around the state. This bill addresses a number of topics, however, specific to local governments, this bill expands the wastewater grant program to include areas and types of waterbodies that would be eligible, expands the types of projects to include additional wastewater projects, stormwater projects, and regional agricultural projects, removes the requirement that each grant have a minimum 50% local matching funds but it does allow DEP prioritize those with the local matching funds, and requires DEP to coordinate with local governments to identify the most effective and beneficial water quality improvement projects. Regarding sanitary sewer services, the bill requires local governments to develop a plan to provide sanitary sewer services for developments of more than 50 residential lots that have more than one OSTDS per acre within a 10-year planning horizon (not required for rural areas of opportunity), requires local governments to update their comprehensive plans to include the sanitary sewer planning element by July 1, 2024, and requires local governments that are subject to a BMAP (or located within the basin of waters not meeting applicable nutrient -related water quality standards) to provide DEP with an annual update on the status of the construction of sanitary sewers to serve such areas. HB 1379 has passed. CS/CS/HB 1379 engrossed and enrolled: https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/1379/BillText/er/PDF Solid Waste Management (HB 975/SB 798) This legislation stalled, having been heard in only one committee, and a Senate similar companion bill which was not been heard. Did not pass. Sovereign Immunity: (SB 604/HB 401) The bills as drafted would have substantially raised the sovereign immunity caps for damages sought against local governments. The cap amounts were in negotiations but stalled mid -Session. We expect this issue to be filed next Session. Did not pass. Recall of County Officers and Commissioners: (SJR 1066/HJR 131/HB 209) Senate and House joint resolutions propose an amendment to the State Constitution to authorize in statute the recall of County officers and Commissioners. HB 209 would implement this into statute. Did not pass. Financial Disclosure for Elected Officials: (SB 774/HB 37) The bill would require mayors and municipal elected officials to begin filing Form 6 for the annual financial disclosure starting January 1, 2024. Current law requires that these officials file only the limited disclosure of financial interests, Form 1, and current law requires that state legislators file Form 6. This bill does not include non -elected managers. SB 774 would take effect upon becoming law. , SB 774 has passed and has been signed by the Governor, Chapter No. 2023-49 Local Ordinances/Business Impact Estimate: (SB 170/HB 1515) The bill requires counties and cities to produce a "business impact estimate" before passing a local ordinance and authorizes courts to assess and award reasonable attorney fees and costs and damages in civil actions filed against local governments specific to this legislation. SB 170 has passed. CS/CS/SB 170 engrossed and enrolled: hops://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/170/BillText/er/PDF Condominium and Cooperative Associations: (SB 154/HB 1395) SB 154 addresses the following issues: • Further revises the milestone inspection requirements. • Requires the Florida Building Commission to establish by rule, a building safety program to implement the milestone inspection requirements. This must include inspection criteria, testing protocols, standardized inspection and reporting forms that are adaptable to an electronic format, and record maintenance requirements for the local authority having jurisdiction. • The bill amends s. 627.351, F.S., to exempt unit owner polices from the flood insurance requirement for Citizens personal lines property coverage. The bill also revises the provision requiring flood insurance coverage to base the dates by which flood insurance coverage must be obtained on the dwelling replacement cost instead of property value. • Revises the reserve funding requirements relating to condominium and cooperative associations. • Revises structural integrity reserve study requirements • Revises and clarifies those who have access to records — both any association member and any authorized by the association • Appropriates $1,301,928 in recurring funds and $67,193 in nonrecurring funds from the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes Trust Fund to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and to authorize 10 full-time employees. SB 154 has passed. CS/CS/SB 154 engrossed and enrolled: hiti}s://www.flsenate.2ov/Session/Bill/2023/154/BillText/er/PDF Homestead Tax Exemption for Senior, Low-income, Long-term Residents: (SB 126/HB 159) SJR 126 proposes an amendment to the Florida Constitution to raise the eligible real estate value for the optional full homestead exemption on long-term, low-income seniors from $250,000 to $300,000. If adopted by the Legislature, the proposed amendment will be submitted to Florida's electors for approval or rejection at the next general election in November 2024. If approved by at least 60 percent of the electors, the proposed amendment will take effect on January 1, 2025 Did not pass. Vacation Rentals: (SB 714 and HB 833) We continued this year to voice opposition to further regulation on vacation rentals. This bill was slow to begin movement this Session, and as it moved, working with the Florida League of Cities and lobbyists representing affected municipalities, we continued work on this legislation. As has happened in the past, as a collective group, we were able to voice enough opposition to both the House and Senate, and neither were able to come to an agreement on language. The later iterations of this legislation had various facets, including the ability for local governments to levy fines for non -registration and regulation on parking and garbage requirements (for all areas, not only the vacation rentals); would have required local governments to accept or deny a registration application in 15 days, and allowed for "grandfathered" local ordinances adopted on or before June 1, 2011. The later versions allowed local governments to restrict maximum occupancy, if applied across all rented properties within their jurisdiction, allowed a fee for inspections after registration, though never settling on a specific, agreed upon amount. The Senate bill included a limited amount of funding and six full time positions for DBPR to implement this legislation. SB 714/HB 833 — SB 714 passed the full House Wednesday of the last week of Session with a bad amendment by Representative Duggan, (bar code 433635). Along with the League of Cities and others, we worked to secure no votes on the amendment, however House leadership whipped the votes on both the amendment and the bill and it passed the House by a vote of 73 — 39. At that point, it was sent in messages back to the Senate. On the last day of Session, Friday, May 5, the Senate refused to concur with the Duggan amendment and requested the House to recede. The House did not, and the bill did not pass. Did not pass. Local Regulation of Nonconforming or Unsafe Structures: (S13 1346/HB 1317) The bills provided that a local government cannot prohibit, restrict, or prevent the demolition of the following structures for any reason other than public safety: nonconforming structures located within one-half mile of the coastline which are also within zones V, VE, AO, or AE, as identified in the Flood Insurance Rate Map issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, any structure determined to be unsafe by a local building official, any structure ordered to be demolished by a local government that has proper jurisdiction. Additionally, the bill provided that a local government must authorize replacement structures to be developed to the maximum height and overall building size authorized by local development regulations. It also would prohibit a local government from imposing additional regulatory or building requirements on a replacement structure to be built on the property where a structure was demolished. The bill provided that a local government may review an application for a demolition permit only administratively, for compliance with applicable building and safety codes. In committee, Senator Jones offered an amendment to include federally designated and locally designated historic districts (not simply federally designated historic properties and single family homes). Senator Avila indicated that the amendment was unfriendly, and Senator Jones withdrew his amendment as anticipated, in order to maintain the language as available at a future point in time. Before he withdrew the amendment, Senator Jones discussed the critical need for this modified language. Federally and locally designated historic districts include various historic areas of historic Florida, and in multiple locations, the Federal government does not only designate individual structures, but districts. The following provisions were added to the Senate bill before it passed the Senate and was sent to the House in messages. These provisions would have excluded the following areas: • A structure individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (Individual properties not historic districts) • A single-family home. • A structure located within an area of critical state concern designated pursuant to s. 380.05. (The Florida Keys) • A structure located within a municipality that has a total population of 10,000 or less according to the most recent decennial census. (Small coastal cities across the State) • A structure located in a municipality within which there are at least three buildings that were originally erected more than 200 years ago. (St. Augustine) As the legislation progressed and was heard on the Senate floor, Senator Powell offered the amendment to included federally designated and locally designated historic districts, but the amendment failed and the bill passed the Senate, 33 - 6 In the House, the bill passed all committees but was not added to the floor agenda, nor was similar language offered as an amendment on other bills moving forward that were germane and this bill did not pass the House. Did not pass. Public Nuisance/threatening actions/hate crime: (SB 994/1113 269) Among many threatening actions, this bill would prohibit the distribution of materials that involves religious or ethnic intimidation, threat, or intent to harm, to desecrate or destroy any religious cemetery, gravesite, or grave marker, including any Holocaust memorial of any type, school or community center, public or private property, and various other heinous acts detailed in the legislation. The bill was amended to reflect the following: • Revises elements of new offenses relating to littering, harassment, and criminal mischief, including damaging any cemetery, grave, or memorial or any school or community center, unlawfully projecting images on buildings. It also revises the current offense relating to disturbing a school or place of worship to increase the penalty from a second degree misdemeanor to a first degree misdemeanor. Some offenses require evidence of religious or ethnic animus. • Creates s. 810.098, F.S., which provides it is a first degree misdemeanor for a person to trespass on the campus of a state university or Florida College System institution for the purpose of threatening or intimidating another person, and the person is warned to depart and refuses to do so. • The Senate bill specifies what constitutes prima facie evidence for the purpose of hate crimes penalty reclassification. • Requires hate -crime reporting. • Changes effective date from October 1, 2023 to upon becoming a law. HB 269 has passed and was signed into law by the Governor: Chapter No. 2023-24 Municipal Utilities: (HB 1331/S13 1712) The bill places limits on the portion of municipal utility revenues that may be used to fund or finance a municipality's non -utility related general government functions. In doing so, the bill limits the rate of transfer for municipal electric, natural gas, and water or wastewater utilities. Under the bill, the greater the proportion of customers outside of city boundaries that a municipal utility serves, the lower the cap is on transfers. Both bills remove a provision allowing water or sewer utilities to add, for consumers outside of its boundaries, a surcharge of up to 25 percent of the rates, fees, and charges imposed on consumers within its boundaries. Did not pass. Land Use and Development Regulations: (SB 1604) The bill changes to current law relating to comprehensive planning, development agreements, and electrical substations, including: • Increases the length of required planning period to 10 years and 20 years • Revises the comprehensive plan evaluation and appraisal process to ensure timely updates • Prohibits a local government from requiring building design elements for specific residential structures in planned unit developments, master planned communities, or communities with a design review board or architectural review board created on or after January 1, 2020. • Precludes independent special districts from complying with the terms of any development agreement which is executed within three months preceding a law modifying the manner of selecting members of the governing body of the special district from election to appointment or appointment to election. The newly elected or appointed governing body of the special district must review within four months of taking office any development agreement and vote on whether to seek readoption of the agreement. These provisions expire on July 1, 2028, unless reviewed and reenacted by the Legislature. • Revises standards for electric substation approval to apply to all new and existing electric substations SB 1604 has passed and has been signed by the Governor, Chapter No. 2023-31 Careless Driving / The Anthony Reznik Act: (SB 544) This bill would revise the definition of aggressive careless driving and would provide penalties for a number of violations outlined in the bill. However, there was no House companion bill and this bill did not receive a hearing. This bill did not pass. ➢ 2023 Regular Legislative Session Dates: March 7 through May 5 6 THE FLORIDA SENATE 2023 SUMMARY OF LEGISLATION PASSED Committee on Regulated Industries CS/CS/SB 154 — Condominium and Cooperative Associations by Fiscal Policy Committee; Regulated Industries Committee; and Senators Bradley and DiCeglie The bill revises the milestone inspection requirements for condominium and cooperative buildings that are three or more stories in height to: • Limit the milestone inspection requirements to buildings that include a residential condominium or cooperative; • Provide that the milestone inspection requirements apply to buildings that in whole or in part are subject to the condominium or cooperative forms of ownership, such as mixed - ownership buildings; • Clarify that all owners of a mixed -ownership building in which portions of the building are subject to the condominium or cooperative form of ownership are responsible for ensuring compliance and must share the costs of the inspection; • Require a building that reaches 30 years of age before December 31, 2024, to have a milestone inspection before December 31, 2024; • Delete the 25-year milestone inspection requirements for buildings that are within three miles of the coastline; • Authorize the local enforcement agencies that are responsible with enforcing the milestone inspection requirements the option to set a 25-year inspection requirement if justified by local environmental conditions, including proximity to seawater; • Authorize the local enforcement agency to extend the inspection deadline for a building upon a petition showing good cause that the owner or owners of the building have entered into a contract with an architect or engineer to perform the milestone inspection and it cannot reasonably be completed before the deadline; • Permit local enforcement agencies to accept an inspection and report that was completed before July 1, 2022, if the inspection and report substantially comply with the milestone requirements; however, associations must still comply with the unit owner notice requirements, and if a local enforcement agency accepts a previous inspection as a milestone inspection, the deadline for a subsequent 10-year re -inspection is based on the date of a previous inspection; • Provide that the inspection services may be provided by a team of design professionals with an architect or engineer acting as a registered design professional in responsible charge; • Provide that the condominium or cooperative association is responsible for all costs associated with the inspection attributable to the portions of the building for which it is responsible under the governing documents of the association; • ' Require associations to give unit owners notice about the inspection deadlines, electronically or by posting on the association's website, within 14 days after they receive the initial milestone inspection notice from local enforcement agency; • Require the milestone inspector to submit a phase two progress report to the local enforcement agency within 180 days of submitting the phase one inspection report; and This summary is provided for information only and does not represent the opinion of any Senator, Senate Officer, or Senate Office. CS/CS/SB 154 Page: 1 2023 Summary of Legislation Passed Committee on Regulated Industries Clarify that an association must distribute a copy of the summary of the inspection reports to unit owners within 45 days of its receipt. The Florida Building Commission is required by the bill to establish by rule a building safety program to implement the milestone inspection requirements within the Florida Building Code. The commission must specify the minimum requirements for the commission's building safety program by December 31, 2024, including inspection criteria, testing protocols, standardized inspection and reporting forms that are adaptable to an electronic format, and record maintenance requirements for the local authority having jurisdiction. The bill exempts unit owner policies from the requirement that all personal lines residential policies issued by the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation must include flood coverage. Regarding the governance of condominium or cooperative, the bill: • Clarifies that any unit owner and any person authorized by any owner as his or her representative may inspect the official records of the association; and • Excludes insurance premiums from the calculation which permit members to petition for a substitute budget if assessments increase by 115 percent. The reserve funding requirements relating to condominium and cooperative associations are revised by the bill to: • Require associations that are subject to the structural integrity reserve study (SIRS) requirement to base a budget adopted on or after January 1, 2025, on the findings and recommendations of the association's most recent SIRS; • Clarify that reserves are required for the SIRS items for which the association is responsible under the condominium declaration; • Clarify that reserves for replacement costs do not need to be maintained for any item with an estimated remaining useful life of greater than 25 years, but the SIRS study may recommend a deferred maintenance expense amount for such item; • Permit associations that are not subject to the SIRS requirement to waive reserves if approved by a majority vote of the total voting interests of the association; • Permit multicondominium associations to waive reserves if an alternative funding method has been approved by the division; and • Provide that reserve assessments may be adjusted for inflation. The bill amends the SIRS requirements to: • Limit the SIRS requirement to residential condominiums and cooperatives; • Clarify that the SIRS recommendation must include a reserve funding schedule; • Include the building structure as a SIRS building component, consisting of load -bearing walls and other primary structural members and primary structural systems as those terms are defined in s. 627.706, F.S., and delete "floor" and "foundation" from the list; • Permit the visual inspection portion of the SIRS to be verified by an engineer or architect; This summary is provided for information only and does not represent the opinion of any Senator, Senate Officer, or Senate Office. CS/CS/SB 154 Page: 2 2023 Summary of Legislation Passed Committee on Regulated Industries Permit persons who have been certified as a reserve specialist, or professional reserve analyst by the Community Associations Institute or the Association of Professional Reserve Analysts to perform or verify the visual inspection portion of the SIRS; Exempt from the SIRS requirement: o Single-family, two-family, or three-family dwellings with three or fewer habitable stories above ground; and o Any portion or component of a building that has not been submitted to the condominium or cooperative form of ownership; or any portion or component of a building that is maintained by a party other than the condominium or cooperative association. Permit associations that are required to complete a milestone inspection on or before December 31, 2026, to complete the SIRS simultaneously with the milestone inspection, but the associations must complete the SIRS by December 31, 2026; and Permit associations to satisfy the SIRS requirement with a previous milestone inspection, or an inspection performed for a similar local requirement, if the inspection had been performed within the previous five years. Effective July 1, 2027, the bill permits condominium and cooperative unit owners to use the mediation process in this section for specified disputes related to compliance with the milestone inspection or SIRS requirements. Regarding the turnover inspection report that a developer must provide to the association when condominium and cooperative unit owners other than the developer are authorized to elect the majority of the board, the bill permits reserve specialists and professional reserve analysts to prepare the turnover report in addition to engineers and architects, and adds the turnover inspection report to the required presale disclosures. The bill also provides additional presale notice requirements in contracts for sales of a unit by a developer or nondeveloper. A developer and a nondeveloper must give a prospective buyer of a condominium or cooperative unit a copy of a turnover inspection report completed on or after July 1, 2023, if applicable, and a copy of the inspector -prepared summary of the milestone inspection, if applicable. This provision is similar to current contract notices to unit owners obligated to furnish certain governing documents to the prospective buyer of a unit more than three days before closing for sales by a nondeveloper or 15 days before closing for sales by a developer. A contract that does not conform to these notice requirements is voidable at the option of the purchaser prior to closing. The bill also provides an appropriation ($1,301,928 recurring and $67,193 nonrecurring) to the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshare, and Mobile Homes within the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to implement the requirements in the bill, including funds for 10 additional full-time employees. This summary is provided for information onlyand does not represent the apinion of any Senator, Senate Officer, or Senate Office. CS/CS/SB 154 Page: 3 2023 Summary of Legislation Passed Committee on Regulated Industries If approved by the Governor, or allowed to become law without the Governor's signature, these provisions take effect upon becoming law. Vote: Senate 39-0; House 118-0 This summary is provided for information only and does not represent the opinion of my Senator, Senate Officer, or Senate Office. CS/CS/SB 154 Page: 4