TALLAHASSEE – The Florida Legislature’s 2024 regular legislative session is underway and the city of Anna Maria already is opposing lawmakers’ latest attempt to preempt vacation rental regulation to the state.
The Legislature’s 60-day regular session began on Jan. 9 and noon of that day was the deadline to file bills for introduction. Feb. 27 will be the final day for regularly scheduled committee meetings and the 60-day legislative session is scheduled to end on March 8.
In addition to proposing and debating new state laws, the Legislature will help craft the annual state budget to be presented to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
VACATION RENTALS
Utilizing the city-owned, city-managed Home Rule Florida website, https://www.homerulefl.com/, the city of Anna Maria has already launched an opposition campaign regarding Senate Bill 280.
SB 280 is the Legislature’s latest attempt to preempt vacation rental regulation to the state and strip Florida cities and counties of those home rule regulatory rights. The Home Rule Florida website provides information concerning legislation and provides already-written opposition letters that can be emailed to several legislators at a time.
Sponsored by Sen. Nick DiCeglie, (R-St. Petersburg), SB 280 passed through the Senate’s Regulated Industries Committee on Dec. 13 by a 4-0 vote. Committee Chair Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota), Committee Vice-Chair Ed Hooper (R-Palm Harbor) and Senators Jason Brodeur (R-Sanford) and Jennifer Bradley (R-Fleming Island) voted in favor of forwarding SB 280 to the Senate’s Fiscal Policy Committee.
As of Friday afternoon, Jan. 5, a House of Representatives companion bill to SB 280 had not yet been filed. For new state legislation to be enacted, matching bills must successfully pass through the Senate and House and be signed into law by the governor.
LEGAL ANALYSIS
On Dec. 11, City Attorney Becky Vose provided Mayor Dan Murphy and the Anna Maria City Commission with her six-page legal analysis of SB 280.
“To a person not heavily involved in the regulation of vacation rentals, a review of SB 280 could possibly appear to be a reasonable and well-thought-out statutory scheme to standardize the regulation of vacation rentals throughout the state. However, the devil is in the details. As proposed, SB 280 would have devastating results in Anna Maria, and similarly destructive results in other municipalities and counties that have adopted vacation rental regulations similar to those currently in effect in Anna Maria,” Vose stated in her analysis.
“SB 280, in another devastating blow to home rule in Florida, would allow local governments to only impose certain specific regulations on vacation rentals, thereby eliminating the well-thought-out and well-accepted provisions of the currently existing vacation rental ordinance in Anna Maria, as well as similar ordinances in other Florida locations,” Vose stated.
“SB 280 would:
• “Allow virtually unlimited occupancy in vacation rentals due to the provision that allows local governments to cap occupancy only based on the number of ‘sleeping accommodations’ in the vacation rental. This occupancy ‘cap’ is purely illusory since it could allow up to 16 persons to sleep in a 14’ x 14’ bedroom, and who knows how many people in other parts of the vacation rental;
• “Eliminate the ability of the city to conduct annual inspections of vacation rentals for compliance with the Florida Building Code and the Florida Fire and Life Safety Codes. Such inspections would only be allowed upon the initial application for registration, or when a registration is changed;
• “Cap the cost of the initial application for registration of a vacation rental at $150, and cap all subsequent renewal fees at $50, thereby transferring the bulk of the cost of regulation and registrations of vacation rentals to the taxpayers of the city;
• “Eliminate the regulation of the number of vehicles at vacation rentals. Since occupancy would essentially be unlimited, parking would likely be a serious problem;
• “Eliminate the ability to require rental agreements and postings at vacation rentals to inform guests of a variety of local issues such as where to park vehicles, sea turtle regulations, solid waste pick up regulations, noise regulations, location of the nearest hospital and what to do in the event of an evacuation order due to a storm;
• “Make illusory the enforcement power of the State of Florida as to cease and desist orders by the state to enforce state requirements,” Vose stated in her analysis.
