STATE NEWS BRIEFS

Florida State Capitol

Changes to growth law advance

A proposal that would scale back a 2025 law that temporarily blocked cities and counties from approving “more restrictive or burdensome” changes to growth plans continued moving forward Jan. 20 in the Florida Senate.

The Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the proposal (SB 840), sponsored by Sen. Nick DiCeglie, R-Indian Rocks Beach.

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 law 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.

DiCeglie’s bill would apply the restrictions to areas that have received federal major disaster declarations and are within 50 miles of storm tracks.

Numerous cities and counties and the growth-management group 1000 Friends of Florida filed separate lawsuits in Leon County circuit court challenging the constitutionality of the part of the law dealing with growth plans.

DiCeglie’s proposal must still go before the Rules Committee before it could reach the Senate floor.

Pot smoking in public targeted

With a recreational marijuana constitutional amendment possibly going on the November ballot, a Senate committee on Jan. 20 approved a bill that would bar smoking and vaping pot in public places.

The Senate Regulated Industries Committee unanimously backed the measure (SB 986), filed by Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota.

The bill would revise a longstanding law that prevents smoking tobacco in most workplaces. It would prohibit smoking or vaping marijuana in a wide variety of places, such as streets, parks, beaches, government buildings, office buildings, lodging establishments and restaurants.

Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, a Homestead Republican who presented the bill for Gruters, said state law doesn’t currently include a prohibition on pot smoking in such places.

The political committee Smart & Safe Florida is trying to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would allow recreational use of marijuana. The committee still needs to meet a petition signatures requirement and get approval of the proposed ballot wording from the Florida Supreme Court.

Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, has filed a similar bill (HB 389) in the House.