Lazaro Aleman
news@greenepublishing.com
Two bills introduced in the Florida Legislature for the coming 2026 legislative session aim to correct some of the problems created by last year's controversial law that prevents local governments from updating their comprehensive plans and land-use regulations if they were affected by any of three major hurricanes in 2024.
House Bill 217 and Senate Bill 218, both titled "Land Use Regulations" and filed on Oct. 16 in the respective chambers, redefine the term 'impacted local government,' thereby narrowing the number of counties subject to the regulations put in place by Senate Bill 180, which became law in June of 2025.
SB 180, which critics decry as a handout to developers, essentially freezes the ability of local governments in the state from updating their comprehensive plans or land-use regulations until Oct. 1, 2027, if they were impacted by Hurricanes Debby, Helene or Milton in 2024. It basically states that local governments can't impose any rule that is 'restrictive or burdensome," without defining the two terms.
The restriction, moreover, applies retroactively to local land-use decisions dating back to Aug. 1, 2024. This means that nearly every county in the state is subject to the restriction. If a county were to be impacted by a hurricane subsequently, the restriction period would extend beyond 2027.
The solution to the problem that HB 217 and SB-218 offers is to redefine the term 'impacted local government' to mean a city or county that was listed in a federal disaster declaration for Hurricanes Debby, Helene or Milton and designated for both individual and public assistance, with 'both' being the operative word.
Individual Assistance (IA) provides financial aid and direct services to persons and households affected by a storm. Public Assistance (PA) provides funds to state, tribal, and local governments for emergency work, public infrastructure repair and general recovery efforts. In brief, IA aims to help individuals recover from disasters, and PA helps communities and their governments do the same.
Of Florida's 67 counties, only 14 received individual assistance following the three named hurricanes. This is the problem with HB 217 and SB 218, as critics see it. The two measures offer relief to only 11 counties in Northwest Florida and three in the rest of the state, because they alone were eligible for public assistance.
The exempted counties are those in the Florida Panhandle west of Tallahassee, excluding coastal Gulf and Franklin counties. For the rest of the state, the excluded counties are Nassau in the northeast corner of the state and Monroe and Miami-Dade in South Florida. The remaining 53 counties are still subject to SB-180.
SB-180 contained a series of measures intended to help recovery efforts following the three major hurricanes that hit the state in 2024. Among other things, it required that local governments annually set in advance at least one debris-management site; develop plans for businesses and homeowners about post-storm permitting processes; establish mutual-aid agreements to bring in help from elsewhere if needed; and set plans for post-storm staffing. The bill also prohibited local governments from increasing building-permit and inspection fees for 180 days after emergencies are declared for hurricanes or tropical storms.
The sticking point was that SB 180 also prohibited local governments from adopting new comprehensive plan changes or land use regulations that could be interpreted as being a 'more restrictive or burdensome' form of growth-management policy absent a clear definition of what constituted 'more restrictive or burdensome.'
Developers, according to critics, quickly took advantage of the new law to threaten litigation if their proposed projects were rejected, arguing that whatever the local rule was, it was overly restrictive or overly burdensome.
Since, multiple cities and counties across the state have filed a lawsuit in circuit court challenging the new law's constitutionality, with the outcome still pending.
Critics of the two bills applaud the attempt to rectify SB 180 but say the two measures fall far short of the goal. Two organizations that oppose the bills are 1,000 Friends of Florida, a nonprofit, smart-growth advocacy organization and Defending Rural Florida, a self-described grassroots movement and advocacy group dedicated to preserving Florida's rural areas, farmlands and ranches from rapid urban development.
"While we appreciate the acknowledgement that SB 180 needs correction, these bills do not solve the issue," states 1,000 Friends of Florida. "These bills would exempt roughly a dozen counties, but the majority of Florida's local governments would remain constrained. More importantly, these bills fail to address SB 180's core flaw: it still extends far beyond hurricane-impacted areas and properties. Until that's fixed, the law will continue to undermine local planning and resilience across the state."
Defending Rural Florida took a like stance relative to the two new bills.
"While SB 218 and HB 217 would provide relief to 14 of Florida's 67 counties, the harm caused by SB 180 extends far beyond any single region," the organization states on its website. "Defending Rural Florida cannot support a partial fix. We will continue to advocate this session for comprehensive legislation that protects all counties and municipalities from the overreach and consequences of SB 180. Florida needs legislation that safeguards all Floridians, not just those in select counties."