Interoffice Memorandum
DATE: July 1, 2025
TO: Mayor Jerry L. Demings and County Commissioners
THROUGH: N/A
FROM: Jon V. Weiss, P.E. Deputy County Administrator
CONTACT: Jon V. Weiss, P.E. Deputy County Administrator
PHONE: (407) 836-5393
DIVISION: N/A
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Senate Bill 180 Impacts. All Districts.
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PROJECT: N/A
PURPOSE: On June 26, 2025, Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 180 into law - an act relating to emergencies. This act went into effect on July 1, 2025. While there are a number of important sections of this legislation, there are two notable sections of S.B. 180 that have a broad and immediate impact to the County - Section 18 and Section 28.
Section 18 creates Section 252.422, Florida Statutes (Restrictions on county or municipal regulations after a hurricane). This new section prohibits an impacted local government, defined as a county listed in a federal disaster declaration located entirely or partially within 100 miles of the track of a storm declared to be a hurricane by the Nation Hurricane Center while the storm was categorized as a hurricane or a municipality located within such a county, from proposing or adopting for one year after a hurricane makes landfall:
1. A moratorium on construction, reconstruction, or redevelopment of any property.
2. A more restrictive or burdensome amendment to its comprehensive plan or land development regulations.
3. A more restrictive or burdensome procedure concerning review, approval, or issuance of a site plan, development permit, or development order as those terms are defined in Section 163.3164, Florida Statutes.
Section 28 prohibits each county listed in the Federal Disaster Declaration for Hurricane Debby, Hurricane Helene, or Hurricane Milton, and each municipality within, from proposing or adopting:
1) any moratorium, on construction, reconstruction, or redevelopment of any property damaged by such hurricanes;
2) more restrictive or burdensome amendments to its comprehensive plan or land development regulations; or
3) more restrictive or burdensome procedures concerning review, approval, or issuance or a site plan, development permit, or development order, to the extent that those terms are defined by Section 163.3164, Florida Statutes, before October 1, 2027, and any such moratorium or restrictive or burdensome comprehensive plan amendment, land development regulation, or procedure shall be null and void ab initio. Critically, this prohibition applies retroactively to August 1, 2024.
As the Board is aware, the County has adopted a number of comprehensive plan amendments and updates to its land development regulations since August 1, 2024, and has directed staff to pursue future amendments. As part of the Discussion item, staff will discuss S.B. 180 provisions and legal implications, and its impacts on recent and current County initiatives; and near- and longer-term actions to ensure compliance with this legislation.
BUDGET: N/A