Launch Pad

April 26, 2024

Public Policy Update

Hello everyone. This was certainly a news-filled week that we are excited to catch you up on. 

First and foremost, as you can see in the image above, your own 2024 Florida Realtors President, Gia Arvin, was invited to participate in CFO Jimmy Patronis’ Putting Policyholders First Roundtable yesterday. She was joined by state legislators, insurance industry leaders, regulators, and other stakeholders who have been working to make Florida’s insurance market healthy and affordable. 

President Arvin did a fantastic job summarizing the concerns of our members and explaining the difficulty that escalating insurance premiums have placed on Florida homeowners and those looking to buy a home in the state. She was also able to reinforce the positive news that has been resulting in recent insurance reforms, such as new carriers entering the market, more policies being taken out of Citizens and a decrease in insurance-related litigation.

You can watch the full roundtable here, which includes some great commentary throughout. Give it a listen if you can, as there is a lot of factual information that you can share with your clients and colleagues.

Next on the list is a big congratulations to your 2024 Florida Realtors President-Elect Tim Weisheyer, who was named as the new chair of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority Board. President-Elect Weisheyer was appointed to the GOAA Board in May 2021 by Gov. DeSantis and has also served as the chairman of the Orlando Executive Airport Advisory Commission. Read the full announcement here.

And lastly, before we get into some of our regular updates, we had two more of our legislative priorities signed into law this week!  On Wednesday, Gov. DeSantis signed SB 7028 and HB 1029.

SB 7028 provides $200 million for the My Safe Florida Home (MSFH) program which is expected to fund more than 18,000 mitigation grants for homeowners. If you recall, the program provides homeowners with free wind mitigation inspections and matching grants to homeowners to help reduce their insurance premiums and strengthen their homes against future wind damage.  

Relating to that, the governor also signed HB 1029 which creates the My Safe Florida Condominium Pilot Program. The Fiscal Year 2024-2025 budget provides $30 million for the pilot program to help condo associations harden their condo infrastructure, similar to the MSFH program. The governor’s announcement on the signing of these bills can be found here.

Both of these programs are run by the Florida Department of Financial Services so they will be the entity taking point on the application process, distribution of funds and the marketing of the program to homeowners. As soon as they have information available regarding this new round of funding we will pass that information along to you so you can take advantage of the programs and help spread the word about them.

Preliminary Approval of NAR Settlement Granted

On Tuesday, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri granted preliminary approval of the National Association of Realtors®’ proposed settlement agreement that would end litigation of claims brought on behalf of home sellers related to broker commissions.

Plaintiffs filed a motion last Friday for preliminary approval of the settlement agreement in the Western District of Missouri. The court acted quickly to preliminarily approve the motion, calling the agreement “fair, reasonable and adequate.” The plaintiffs’ filing initiated the 60-day period during which all Realtor®-owned MLSs, brokerages with total residential transaction volume above $2 billion in 2022 and non-Realtor MLSs that want to be covered by the settlement must act. The deadline to submit the opt-in agreements is June 18.

Get all the details in this Florida Realtors news article.

Funding for Red Tide Mitigation Announced

On Tuesday, Gov. DeSantis signed HB 1565, the Florida Red Tide Mitigation and Technology Development Initiative, which removes the sunset provision of the initiative and directs the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and MOTE Marine Laboratory to continue to coordinate efforts to innovate technologies to address the impacts of red tide on Florida.

Read the full announcement here.

$1.5 Billion for Everglades Restoration and Water Quality Improvements Announced

On Monday, Gov. DeSantis announced his commitment to approving $1.5 billion included in the Fiscal Year 2024–25 budget to support Everglades restoration and water quality improvements. 

Of the $1.5 billion in funding, approximately $850 million will go towards Everglades restoration projects, including $614 million to support the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) and the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir. This is the largest state investment in a single year since CERP was established in 2000.

Additionally, this funding includes $100 million for the second phase of the C-51 Reservoir, which will support the water needs of Palm Beach and Broward counties while also reducing freshwater discharges to the Lake Worth Lagoon.

Also included in the $1.5 billion investment is approximately $530 million for targeted water quality improvement projects, including $135 million for the Water Quality Improvement Grant Program which funds projects that reduce harmful nutrients in our waterways like septic-to-sewer and wastewater treatment upgrades. $100 million is committed to support the Indian River Lagoon. The Governor will also approve $45 million for water quality improvements in Biscayne Bay and the Caloosahatchee Estuary.

Read the full announcement here.

NAR Property Rights Wins at Supreme Court

In the span of just a few days, NAR and property owners won two decisive victories at the Supreme Court in support of property rights. On Friday, April 12, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously (9-0) in support of property owners in Sheetz v. El Dorado County, and on Tuesday, April 16, they once again ruled unanimously in favor or property rights in DeVillier v. Texas. NAR submitted amicus briefs in support of upholding property rights for both cases. 

Read more about the victories here.

NAR Submits Comment on FinCEN Proposed Rule

NAR submitted a formal comment on the Financial Crime Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) notice of proposed rulemaking regarding Anti-Money Laundering Regulations for Residential Real Estate Transfers. FinCEN, with this proposed rule, is seeking to develop a more formal framework for tracking and reporting non-financed, all-cash residential real estate transactions with the goal of eliminating the Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs), which have been in place since 2016. Additionally, FinCEN is seeking to work to effectively combat money laundering and illicit financial crimes involving real estate. 

The proposed rule outlines a cascading reporting mechanism where settlement agents, title agents, and attorneys would be primarily responsible for filing new “Real Estate Reports” with FinCEN. While NAR believes that a predictable and consistent framework is needed, NAR remains concerned about the cost of compliance for this proposed rule, and that the rule is too broad in scope by requiring the reporting of transfers of real estate that are not likely high risk in nature in any way.

Read the full story here.

Please reach out to us at publicpolicy@floridarealtors.org with any questions you may have.

Sincerely,

Andy Gonzalez
Vice President of Public Policy
Florida Realtors®