2026 Legislative Items Being Watched

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The 2026 Legislative session is scheduled to officially kick off January 13, 2026.  In the interim, House and Senate committees are busy meeting to formulate priorities and file bills by the January 9 deadline.  Other key dates are March 3 which will be the last day for committees to meet, and March 13 which is the scheduled last day of the regularly scheduled session.  Of note to remember is that in the November 2026 elections, all 120 seats in the Florida House of Representatives, and 1/2 (20 of the 40 seats) of the seats in the Florida Senate will be up for election.  This event will without a doubt frame how some elected officials approach legislation that is filed this year - especially in regard to discussions on property tax reform.  

Senator Jim Boyd (R - Bradenton) has been elected as the next President of the Senate, and Representative Sam Garrison (R - Fleming Island) will assume the role of Speaker of the House.  Republicans have maintained control of both legislative chambers.  The election for Florida's Cabinet and Governor's Office will also occur in November 2026.

This session is imperative for all local governments to carefully watch the progression of proposals to reform Florida's property tax system.  Any reform will have impact on local government budgets, and some suggested plans could be devastating for FY 27.  We encourage you to stay abreast of any conversation on this issue as it will directly impact parks and recreation services at the local level.  


Below is a list of bills we have identified on your behalf.  This listing will be regularly updated, and will include any action that you, your agency, your city/county may wish to consider taking.  We encourage you to review the bills below, including reading the text of the proposals which can be found by clicking on the links for each bill.  As proposals make their way through their first committees and have Committee Substitutes filed.  we will provide you the link to the Committee Substitute in the tables which show progress on each of the individual bills.  As always, we suggest that you analyze the language and conduct your own assessment of how the language may impact any local policies, procedures, or practices that you may have within your agency/city/county.

As always we encourage you to bookmark this page and review it on a regular basis as things happen quickly during session.

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PROPERTY TAX REFORM

Due to the large volume of legislative proposals relative to Property Tax Reform, we have created a dedicated page for this subject.  The page will have legislative proposals (in the same format as the bill listings below), as well as helpful resources you can utilize for informing your constituents.  
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ADOPTION AND DISPLAY OF FLAGS BY GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES

SB 426 by Senator Yarborough
HB 347 by Representative Borrero

Prohibiting a governmental entity from displaying, placing, or causing to be placed certain flags on real property; providing a penalty; specifying flags a governmental entity may display on such property; prohibiting a local government from adopting certain ordinances or regulations relating to the flag of the local government, etc.

Status of SB 426

Status of HB 347

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ASSESSMENTS LEVIED ON RECREATIONAL VEHICLE PARKS

SB 118 by Senator Truenow
HB 39 by Representative Nix

Providing that certain special assessments on recreational vehicle parks levied by counties, municipalities, and special districts, respectively, may not be levied against a certain portion of a recreational vehicle parking space or campsite; requiring counties, municipalities, and special districts, respectively, to consider a recreational vehicle park’s occupancy rates for a certain purpose, etc.
FRPA Position:  Monitor only

Status of SB 118

Status of HB 39

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CARRYING A HANDGUN, WEAPON, OR FIREARM

HB 321 by Representative Hunschofsky
SB 406 by Senator Polsky

Prohibits person from carrying weapon or firearm into certain locations; provides criminal penalty.

Status of HB 321

Status of HS 406

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NATURE BASED SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING COASTAL RESILIENCE

SB 302 by Senator Garcia

Nature-based Solutions for Improving Coastal Resilience; Requiring the Department of Environmental Protection to adopt rules and guidelines for nature-based solutions for improving coastal resilience; requiring the department, in consultation with the Division of Insurance Agent and Agency Services of the Department of Financial Services, to conduct a statewide feasibility study regarding the value of nature-based solutions being used for a specified purpose, etc. APPROPRIATION: $250,000

Status of SB 302

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SEXUAL OFFENDERS AND SEXUAL PREDATORS

SB 212 by Senator McClain
CS/HB 45 by Representatives Plakon; Baker; Barnaby

Revises definitions of terms "public swimming pool" & "public pool"; defines "public bathing place"; revises residency restrictions for persons convicted of certain sexual offenses; revises requirements for search of sexual predator or sexual offender registration information by state agency or governmental subdivision before appointing or employing person to work; revises special conditions for certain sexual offenders subject to conditional release supervision; revises standard conditions of probation or community control for certain sexual offenders.
FRPA Position: Support

Status of SB 212

Status of CS/HB 45

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SUITS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT

HB 145 by Representative McFarland

Suits Against the Government; Increases statutory limits on liability for tort claims against state & its agencies & subdivisions; authorizes subdivision of state to settle claim in excess of statutory limit without legislative action regardless of insurance coverage limits; prohibits insurance policy from conditioning benefits on enactment of claim bill; specifies that limitations in effect on date claim accrues apply to that claim; revises period within which certain claims must be presented; revises exceptions relating to instituting tort claims against state or agencies or subdivisions; revises period after which failure of certain entities to make final disposition of claim shall be deemed final denial of claim for certain purposes; revises statute of limitations for tort claims against state or agencies or subdivisions & exceptions thereto.

Increases statutory liability limits for tort claims against governmental entities, streamlines claim procedures, and adjusts statutes of limitation and insurance provisions while creating new exceptions for specific victims.

• Raises sovereign immunity caps in multiple phases, reaching as high as $600,000 per individual claim and $1.2 million per incident after October 1, 2031.
• Empowers local governments to settle claims in excess of these limits without further legislative action and prohibits insurers from requiring enactment of a claim bill as a condition of coverage.
• Shortens from 3 years to 18 months the timeframe for presenting tort claims to an agency and reduces the statute of limitations for negligence suits from 4 years to 2 years.
• Removes the time limit for filing claims arising from sexual battery against a minor under age 16 and updates notice requirements for certain wrongful death or medical malpractice claims.
• Amends and reenacts numerous statutory references to align with the updated liability limits and procedures.
  

FRPA Position:  The portion of this proposal that increases the limits for tort claims is not favorable to local governments.  However, the portion that reduces the statue of limitations on claims and time of claim filing does appear to be better than existing law.

Status of HB 145

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SWIMMING LESSON VOUCHER PROGRAM

HB 85 by Representative Kendall
SB 428 by Senator Yarborough

Revises age requirements for children receiving voucher through Swimming Lesson Voucher Program from 1-4, to 1-7.
FRPA Position:  Support

Status of HB 85

Status of SB 428

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TOURIST DEVELOPMENT TAXES

SB 454 by Senator Smith
Deleting a provision requiring that a specified percentage of all tourist development tax revenues be used to promote and advertise tourism, etc.

Status of SB 454

SB 456 by Senator Smith
Authorizing the use of proceeds from the tourist development tax to fund public safety improvements, affordable housing, and workforce housing, etc.

Status of SB 456

SB 458 by Senator Smith
Revising the percentage of tourist development tax revenues that must be spent to promote and advertise tourism in order for any tourist development tax revenues to be used for a specified purpose, etc.

Status of SB 458

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