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Feb. 21, 2025 | Legislative Reporter
The 2025 Legislative Session convenes on March 4, and is scheduled to end on May 2.
Committee meetings are not scheduled for next week but will pick up again the week of March 3. Note that Feb. 28 is the bill draft filing deadline for both the House and Senate. The Bill Tracking Report, as of Feb. 21, can be viewed here. Please review it to see the filed bills that APA Florida is tracking and their status. Note that if you click on the bill number, you will be linked to more information about the bill. If you would like any bills added to this report or would like more information about a specific bill, please contact Stefanie Svisco at ssvisco@floridaplanning.org. Since the Feb. 14 Reporter, the following bills of interest have been filed: SB 110 (Sen. Simon) amends various Florida Statutes to support rural communities by establishing funding, guidelines, and programs across multiple sectors. (Note that yesterday Senate President Albritton issued a memo regarding Florida’s Rural Renaissance addressed in this bill.) HB 651 (Rep. Tuck) is a bill related to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services which revises multiple regulations concerning agriculture, utilities, consumer services and health; includes a provision that lands owned or leased by an electric utility as defined in s.361.11(2) which may also be the site of solar energy systems as defined in s.212.02(26) and bona fide agricultural uses of the land, and which comply with all other provisions of s.193.461, must be classified agricultural by the property appraiser; includes a requirement that if a proposed power plant site is located on land that has, at any time during the previous 5 years, been classified as agricultural lands pursuant to s.193.461, the electric utility must submit the plan to the county commission of the county in which the proposed site is located and the county must provide the Public Service Commission with the county commission’s findings upon completion of the preliminary study of the proposed plan; provides that a local government may not adopt any ordinance, regulation, rule, or policy to prohibit, restrict, regulate, or otherwise limit any activities of public educational facilities and auxiliary facilities constructed by a board for agricultural education, for Future Farmers of America or 4-H activities, or the storage of any animals or equipment therein. [Note that SB 700 (Sen. Truenow), identified in the Feb. 14 Legislative Reporter, also deals with issues related to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.] HB 661 (Rep. Albert) is a resolution which expresses support for a “one-water” approach to managing all of Florida’s water resources holistically to support future growth and avoid water shortages. Feb. 21, 2025 | Committee Week | Legislative Reporter
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