Florida Housing Law

IN GENERAL

 Florida lawmakers wrapped up an emotionally-charged session on April 30 and passed the second smallest number of bills in12 years.

Lawmakers responded to the spent time on a series of measures critical of Washington D.C. including the handling of the federal budget and federal health care reform. The final day of the session was consumed by a four-hour debate on abortion provisions added to a health care bill.

Legislators passed a nearly $70.4 billion budget, a jobs/tax relief bill, approved the gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida and voted for sweeping education reforms. Some of the issues that died in session were an overhaul of the state's $19 billion Medicaid system and a proposal to allow oil drilling near Florida's coast.

Here's the significant legislation that lawmakers did pass. These bills will proceed to the desk of the governor, who once he receives a bill, has 15 days to sign into law, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature.

HB 5001 is the $70.4 billion budget bill, that combined spending cuts, federal stimulus money, more than $400 million in money from the Seminole Tribe of Florida and again decided to sweep nearly $600 million out of various trust funds, including $160 million from the state's road building fund.

The budget includes a mostly flat amount of money for public schools, cuts reimbursement rates for nursing homes, county health departments and hospitals and reduces the funding for Healthy Start programs. Lawmakers approved an 8 percent tuition hike for community colleges and state universities and set aside $15 million for Florida Forever and up to $50 million for the Everglades restoration project.

HB 7033 makes the minimum unemployment compensation rate charged per employee $25.20 instead of $100.30 charged under existing law. The bill also lowers the maximum rate from $459 per employee to $378 per employee and allows employers to make quarterly payments in 2010 and 2011 without interest or penalties.

The legislature and the governor also approved a comprehensive package of tax credits and spending designed to help bolster's the state's fragile economy. The measure, SB 1752, will cost nearly $74 million in the coming year and includes everything from a sales tax cap on the sale of boats ($18,000), money to help Space Florida, a film and television production tax credit, and a $1,000 tax credit per hire to qualified businesses for hiring someone who has been out of work for at least 30 days.

HB 483 brings back the sales tax holiday. This bill exempts clothes and books worth $50 or less from sales taxes as well as school supplies worth $10 or less and will be held from August 13 through August 15.

Florida lawmaker and the governor were able to reach a deal that is expected to bring more than $1 billion in revenue to the state over the next five years. SB 622 allows the Seminole tribe to operate banked card games at five of its seven facilities for the five year period, and allows the tribe to run slot machines at all of its casinos for the next 20 years.

While Florida's courts and court clerks were not hit with deep budget cuts this year, legislators did not approve a request from the state Supreme Court to pay for 37 new circuit judges and 53 new county court judges.

Legislators agreed to spend almost $10 million to ease the backlog in court filings associated with the foreclosure crisis.

A handful of measures dealing with lawsuits were passed and signed by the governor. HB 437 sets a $50 million cap on contingency fees that can be earned by private attorneys working for the Attorney General. Two other bills, SB 2440, dealing with parental waivers, and HB 689, dealing with slip and fall cases.

The sovereign immunity limits for lawsuits filed against state and local governments were increased for the first time in 30 years. SB 2060 takes effect in October of next year and doubles the cap from $100,000 per individual claim to $200,000 and raises the amount in the aggregate from $200,000 to $300,000.

HB 1 also passed. It eliminates the statute of limitations for wrongful death suits from acts described in the murder or manslaughter statutes.

The Legislature reacted sharply to the federal government's national health overhaul, HJR 37 will gives voters the right to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment that makes clear that no state or federal health care mandates, including one that requires you to buy insurance, apply in Florida. This amendment must be approved by 60 percent of the voters;

Legislators passed SB 1484, which authorizes the Agency for Health Care Administration to seek a three-year extension of the waiver the state has for parts of its Medicaid system.

HB 7179 establishes the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program which allows local governments to loan homeowners and businesses money to install renewable energy devices or make improvements to protect buildings from storm damage.

State legislators approved funding $15 million for Florida Forever, the state's conservation land-buying program. The Legislature also approved up to $50 million for Everglades restoration, however, these funds will only be available if there is federal matching money.

Lawmakers approved SB 550, which requires septic tank inspections every five years for any mobile home park that uses septic tanks. The Florida Department of Health has until January 1, 2016 to develop the inspection program.

SB 1196 is a comprehensive condominium bill. This bill includes provisions that would allow bulk buyers of condos to avoid assuming some of the liabilities of a condo developer, changes some of the condo insurance requirements, exempts some condos from fire alarm system requirements, and extends the time needed to retrofit fire sprinkler systems in common areas by five years.

SB 846 exempts Florida from new nationwide building code requirements that require the installation of fire sprinkler system in one and two-story homes.

SB 1752 requires that an agency or entity that receives county funds for economic development purposes pursuant to a contract must submit a report on the use of the funds. The bill also authorizes counties and municipalities to extend economic development ad valorem tax exemptions under certain circumstances.

HB 1411 establishes an optional foreclosure process for time shares when there are unpaid assessments owed by the owner of the unit. This bill creates a "trustee" process for the foreclosure of liens against timeshare interests.

HB 965 creates a tax break for home owners who unknowingly bought homes with tainted drywall. The bill would require property appraisers to adjust the value of the property when affected by the tainted drywall after remediation.

HB 325 provides that drivers who are caught on camera running red lights will be required to pay a $158 fine. The revenue will be split among several sources but with a large chunk going to the state. The counties and cities where the traffic violations occurred will collect the fine and will electronically submit payment to the Department of Revenue (DOR).