Interoffice Memorandum
DATE: August 18, 2025
TO: Mayor Jerry L. Demings and County Commissioners
THROUGH: Jeffrey J. Newton, County Attorney
FROM: Debra Babb-Nutcher, Senior Assistant County Attorney
CONTACT: Debra Babb-Nutcher, Senior Assistant County Attorney
PHONE: 407-836-7320
DIVISION: County Attorney's Office
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Approval and execution of Resolution 2025-M-32 of the Orange County Board of County Commissioners regarding authorization to participate in a lawsuit seeking, among other things, to challenge the legality of Senate Bill 180's imposition of a statewide prohibition on the exercise of home rule authority over land use development and zoning regulations, and retaining Weiss Serota Helfman Cole + Bierman to bring the Lawsuit; and providing for an effective date.
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PROJECT: N/A
PURPOSE: Senate Bill (SB) 180, signed into law on June 26, 2025, created Section 252.422, Florida Statutes, which imposes significant restrictions on a local government's ability to regulate comprehensive land use development and zoning following a hurricane. Specifically, Section 252.422, Florida Statutes, entitled Restrictions on County or Municipal Regulations after a Hurricane, prohibits an "impacted local government," defined as a county or municipality within 100 miles of the track of a hurricane, from enacting "more restrictive or burdensome" amendments to its comprehensive plan, land development regulations, or related procedures for one year after landfall. Section 252.422, Florida Statutes, does not adequately define a "track of a hurricane" nor does it adequately define what constitutes a "more restrictive or burdensome" amendment or procedure.
In addition, Section 28 of SB 180 imposes a retroactive statewide prohibition, effective August 1, 2024, through October 1, 2027, on any such amendments by counties and municipalities listed in Federal Disaster Declarations for Hurricane Debby, Hurricane Helene, or Hurricane Milton. Because al...
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