Florida bill could block communities from rebuilding stronger after hurricanes

Florida communities could be blocked from rebuilding stronger after a hurricane, and more than 44,000 Floridians could see higher flood insurance costs this year if Gov. Ron DeSantis signs into law a new bill designed to help the state respond to storms.

Senate Bill 180, which passed with nearly unanimous support in the House and Senate, includes some provisions to help storm-weary Floridians, like a streamlined permitting system for rebuilding homes after a hurricane and additional training for emergency management officials.

But it also would weaken local efforts to build stronger structures after hurricanes — freezing any tougher rules for at least two years, potentially allowing developers to rebuild homes under the same codes that had failed to protect property.

Another provision would mean a bump upwards in flood insurance rates for tens of thousands of Floridians in twelve communities across the state, including Hialeah and Hollywood.

But it’s the building code freeze that has drawn the most criticism, including from local leaders in Manatee County and other coastal communities — a measure that would potentially block efforts to make homes more resilient and reduce storm damage.

“It’s short-sighted,” said Kim Dinkins of 1000 Friends of Florida, a nonprofit planning advocacy group. “We said that we want to be more resilient. When is the time going to be to do that if you can’t do anything right after a storm?”

“It takes a long time to develop these types of policies.”

The bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota, says the bill is meant to prevent local governments from over regulating in response to a storm.

“When there’s a tragedy, people demand action. Lawmakers and policymakers sometimes feel that they need to pass a law to prevent this from ever happening again.”

McFarland says the bill has a fix: “For one year after a disaster, let’s take a pause,” McFarland said. “That’s what the thinking was.”

Critics say bill could prevent building back better after storms

Under the proposed law, local governments across Florida could see sweeping new restrictions on their ability to control how and where development occurs — and how they build back after storms.

One part of the bill prevents cities and counties listed in federal disaster declarations for Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton — a majority of the state — from adopting tougher development rules until October 2027. The ban is retroactive to August 2024, also threatening to undo any recent rule changes.

Another part of the bill calls for a similar one-year ban anytime a local government is listed in a federal disaster declaration and lies within 100 miles of a hurricane’s path. It could renew each time a storm strikes Florida’s coast, a regular occurrence for the storm-plagued state.

But most worrying to some local governments is a line that explicitly allows developers, or anyone, to sue a local government if it finds any changes “burdensome or restrictive.”

“Every single developer in the state benefits from this language,” said Manatee County Commission Chairman George Kruse.

Local governments, including New Smyrna Beach, Polk County, and Volusia County, all say the bill would block them from implementing already-approved updates to the drainage plans to keep their communities dry.

Rep. Linda Chaney, R-Pinellas, one of the lone representatives who voted against the bill, said in a committee hearing that Lee County had already raised concerns to her about the unintended consequences of this bill.

“Charlotte County also contacted me, saying it’s prohibiting them from addressing flooding, sea level rise, resiliency issues,” she said.

The fight is already playing out in Manatee

Manatee County is a case study for how the bill’s freeze on local development regulations could play out across Florida, and one of the bill’s sponsors directly cites it as inspiration for the provision.

When county leaders recently tried to reinstate local wetland protections meant to prevent flooding and environmental damage caused by development, state agencies claimed that the move would violate a 2023 law known as Senate Bill 250. The law bans 10 counties impacted by Hurricane Ian from passing “more burdensome or restrictive” development rules until October 2026.

“Clearly, wetlands are important when you’re getting flooded all over the place,” Kruse said. But under fear of legal action due to Senate Bill 250, commissioners voted to delay passing the environmental protections.

Now, Senate Bill 180 could expand such restrictions onto local governments statewide.

Kruse argues the legislation goes too far in limiting how communities decide to build back after storms. He also said it gives the state power to “supersede and take over control” of community planning.

“Finally, Tallahassee was passing a bill that made sense for once. And then you sneak this in under the cover of darkness … you destroyed a bill,” Kruse said.

Manatee County residents voted in a majority of the county’s board on campaign promises to rein in development and restore local environmental protections.

But as they try to make those changes, county leaders are facing opposition from state agencies and local developers who say they’d be violating state law.

Four state agencies pointed to Senate Bill 250 in letters opposing the county’s recent move to restore wetland protections. And an attorney representing local developers cited the law in objection to the county’s move to prevent thousands of new homes from being built beyond the county’s development boundary.

Legislators defend Senate Bill 180

McFarland, the house sponsor, said characterizations of the bill as a “sneak attack” on home rule are unfair.

“That language was in the bill from the very moment I filed it,” she said. ”We worked on it, we amended it. We heard from the League of Cities and the Association of Counties. I worked with them super closely on the bill. I was surprised that suddenly people seem to have an issue with it.”

“We’re back in session in January. If OPPAGA comes up with some alternative ideas for local governments to make changes to their comp plans, I’m absolutely open to making changes,” he said. “I’m not convinced that this is going to have a significant negative impact on the ability of local governments to deal with development.”

Specifically, DiCeglie points to Manatee County and St. Pete Beach as the inspiration for this portion of the bill. Both places considered a moratorium on development for a short period, but neither ultimately passed one.

“What I don’t want to see is those local jurisdictions use a natural disaster as an excuse for a development moratorium,” he said. “These moratoriums paralyze recovery.”

Both sponsors waved away concerns that the provision would have “unintended consequences” beyond barring the moratoriums it was designed to stop. McFarland said she was not aware of how similar language in Senate Bill 250 has proved to be a roadblock for counties like Manatee that are trying to make local planning changes unrelated to storm recovery.

“That’s interesting,” McFarland said.

When asked about New Smyrna Beach, where city officials said the proposed bill would block their much-needed drainage improvements after a previous hurricane, DeCeglie said he didn’t see how it would impact stormwater regulations and said he’d need to learn more about it.

DeSantis has yet to sign the bill into law or veto it, as some local governments have asked. DiCeglie said he worked with the governor’s office to develop the bill, as well as alongside the state’s emergency management department.

“I can’t imagine the governor wouldn’t want to support this,” he said.

Is your flood insurance going up?

Another provision of the bill would raise flood insurance rates for tens of thousands of Floridians and make it easier for residents to avoid doing what disaster experts say the state desperately needs to do — elevate more homes.

It bans a practice that adds to the already complicated formula for deciding if someone with a storm-ravaged home can simply rebuild as-is or tear it all down and start over. It brings the state back to the bare minimum required by FEMA and the Florida Building Code, which says that a home with storm damage totaling more than 50% of the value of the home must raze and rebuild.

“If we can keep one more person in their home to keep them out of the 50% rule, that’s one person that does not have to deal with the incredibly stressful situation of tearing down their home and elevating,” said DiCeglie.

It’s a long-standing practice in some coastal communities, where experts say it forces people to rebuild stronger — and higher — to face the next storm by lowering the threshold where people have to elevate their properties. Banning the practice would result in fewer elevated homes, said Del Schwalls, a floodplain management consultant who works for many communities in Florida.

“It’s really frustrating. It prevents anybody from trying to fix this flood, repair, flood, repair cycle,” he said.

But, after three hurricanes flooded tens of thousands of homes on the Gulf Coast last year, exposing more people to the practice, the tide turned. The state conducted a study of the practice, which found that it “constrains renovation activity” and does not necessarily lead to more people purchasing flood insurance in those communities.

If DeSantis signs the bill into law, it would bar communities from using this cumulative practice. Of the 122 communities that use it, state data show 44 communities would lose points toward discounts on flood insurance premiums. And 12 of those communities would lose enough points that they would no longer qualify for their current level of discount.

Per the state study, the communities are: Bay County, Leon County, Orange County, Dania Beach, Jupiter Beach, Palm Springs, Estero, Lake Mary, Hialeah, Bonita Springs, Hollywood and the Pensacola Beach Santa Rosa Island Authority.

That would drop about 8,600 Hollywood residents from a 20% discount to a 15% discount, an increase of about $38 for the average policyholder with a premium of $737 a year, according to the study.

Statewide, the study found, this change would affect about 44,000 people and raise the cost of flood insurance by $1.6 million statewide, or an average of $36 per person, per year.

It’s unclear how long it would take from the time the bill is signed until residents face higher flood insurance prices, but it could occur in October, when the agency reviews discounts in all communities. A FEMA spokesperson said the agency does not comment on pending legislation, “and determinations about CRS retrogrades are made in consultation with local and state officials.”

Those communities could go after other policy changes to regain points and re-attain the discount, but it could take months or years to pass those policies through city or county commissions, as well as earn state approval, Schwalls said.

“It’s not as easy as just go get more points,” he said. “It could take a while.”

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