May 3, 2024
Public Policy Update
Hello everyone. If you have been following these weekly updates and/or have had a chance to participate in one of our stops on the Homegrown Advocacy Tour, then you should be well aware of the new anti-squatter bill that was recently signed into law. We actually got several questions about the new law (in addition to lots of applause) while on the tour and thought it might be helpful to put together an infographic that lays out the important parts of the bill.
As the graphic indicates, the important parts to remember are the conditions that have to be met for the local sheriff to take action, and the new penalties that may apply in these situations. You can go here for a PDF or JPG version.
Hometown Advocacy Tour Makes Another Stop
This week brought the 8th stop on President Gia Arvin’s Homegrown Advocacy Tour. The public policy team joined President Arvin in Boca Raton for a visit with District 11 members. We were also honored to have Sen. Jason Pizzo, Sen. Tina Polsky, Rep. Christine Hunschofsky and Rep. Katherine Waldron join us to share their perspectives on the challenges facing Florida and the things they are working on in the legislature to address them.
The next tour stop is scheduled to happen on May 16th in District 2. For the full schedule and to register for the free event, go here.
CEO Margy Grant Speaks at FL Chamber Political Institute Candidate Interviews
Yesterday, our very own Margy Grant was invited to speak during the Orlando segment of the Florida Chamber Political Institute Candidate Interviews (FCPI). The FCPI is charged with recruiting and electing pro-business, pro-jobs candidates, chosen by rigorous candidate interview sessions. FCPI travels statewide and interviews hundreds of new candidates — in addition to reviewing each candidate’s completed questionnaire.
Florida Realtors’ participation in the FCPI is complementary to our own Realtor-led candidate screening process that is currently ongoing throughout the state.
Legal Reforms Stabilizing Insurance
Check out this follow-up article to the news we reported last week where President Arvin participated in an insurance roundtable hosted by CFO Jimmy Patronis. Here is a brief snippet from the article:
Lawsuits against property insurers declined by more than 20% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous quarter, and that’s fueling market confidence that’s beginning to stabilize homeowner insurance rates in Florida, the state’s chief financial officer said.
Homeowners say they haven’t seen rates ease yet, but officials at a roundtable insurance discussion held by CFO Jimmy Patronis in Sarasota on Thursday urged further patience, saying rate increases are slowing as a result of increased competition from new carriers entering the market.
The roundtable featured the state’s top insurance officials, elected officials from Southwest Florida, leaders of business organizations and area policyholders.
Patronis called the state’s insurance crisis a “manmade” one caused as suing insurers became a “very profitable business.” Reforms enacted in 2022 and 2023 aimed at removing the profit motive are starting to work, he said.
Examples cited by Patronis included the introduction to Florida’s insurance market of eight new insurers, success of efforts to depopulate state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp., and signs that costs of reinsurance — bought by insurers to guarantee they can pay off all claims after major storms — are leveling ahead of the upcoming hurricane season.
Fla. Leads in 2022 & 2023 Flood Insurance Payouts
Here is some more insurance-related news we thought you might be interested in.
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) paid out $913 million to U.S. homeowners last year, and $629 million of that went to residents in Florida. Major flooding from hurricanes and storm surges caused most of the payouts.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) oversees the NFIP, which is primarily funded through premiums and U.S. Treasury loans. The program was more than $20 billion in debt to the federal government as of 2022.
Florida has 1.7 million NFIP policyholders, amounting to $452 billion of total coverage, according to a 2024 NFIP report. The number of policies in the state grew by 2.8% since January 2023, increasing by 46,900 policies.
Check out the full article here.
Freedom Summer Sales Tax Holiday Gets a Nod of Approval
On Tuesday, Gov. DeSantis announced that he would be signing the Freedom Summer Sales Tax Holiday, in the budget for Fiscal Year 2024-25. The Freedom Month Sales Tax Holiday will take place the entire month of July and will make items such as fishing supplies, outdoor recreation equipment, admissions to state parks and museums sales tax free. Additionally, the governor announced that Florida State Parks will offer free admission on Memorial Day Weekend to kick off the summer for Florida’s families.
The Freedom Month Sales Tax Holiday will remove the sales tax on items families use during the summer, including:
Boating and water activity supplies:
- Goggles and snorkels ($25 or less)
- Pool toys ($35 or less)
- Coolers, Life jackets, Paddles ($75 or less)
- Inflatable water tubes and floats, Wakeboards ($150 or less)
- Paddleboards, Surfboards ($300 or less)
- Canoes, Kayaks ($500 or less)
Fishing Supplies:
- Bait and Tackle ($5 or less for individual items, $10 or less for multiple items sold together)
- Tackle boxes ($30 or less)
- Reels, Rods ($75 or less)
- Camping Supplies:
- Flashlights ($30 or less)
- Sleeping bags, Camping chairs ($50 or less)
- Tents ($200 or less)
Outdoor Supplies:
- Sunscreen ($15 or less)
- Water bottles ($30 or less)
- Bicycle helmets ($50 or less)
- Outdoor grills ($250 or less)
- Bicycles ($500 or less)
Admissions to events or performances scheduled to be held between July 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024:
- Live music events
- Live sporting events
- Movies to be shown in a movie theater
- Ballets
- Plays
- Fairs
- Festivals
Admissions purchased for any of the following:
- Museums, including annual passes
- State parks, including annual passes
- Season tickets for ballets, plays, music events, and musical theater performances
$60 Million Announced for Alternative Water Supply Projects
This week, Gov. DeSantis announced the award of $60 million in alternative water supply funding for 12 projects that will make available more than 28 million gallons of potable water each day. Alternative Water Supply Grants fund projects such as reclaimed water, aquifer recharge, and water conservation.
Alternative water supplies help Florida protect its natural systems while meeting our growing needs. Since 2019, Florida has invested $190 million in state funding to support the statewide development of alternative water supplies. This commitment has resulted in the state advancing more than 90 projects, which are anticipated to produce more than 206 million gallons per day when fully online. Included in the Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget is $55 million for the Alternative Water Supply Grant Program to help communities plan for and implement vital conservation, reuse and other alternative water supply projects.
Projects receiving funding through the Alternative Water Supply Grant Program include:
- $13 million for a brackish groundwater treatment facility being developed by the Polk Regional Water Cooperative. Project components include a reverse osmosis facility, brackish water wellfield and concentrate disposal wells that will initially provide 7.5 million gallons per day followed by incremental increases up to 12.5 million gallons per day.
- $10 million for the Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority who is working to complete the development of the Peace River Reservoir No. 3 and associated interconnects, which will couple with a future treatment facility expansion project to meet regional demands in the Southern Water Use Caution Area.
- $2.9 million for the City of Niceville for the reclaimed water main extension in the Deer Moss Creek Subdivision.
- $2 million for the City of Oakland stormwater project, which will capture and treat stormwater flows before they reach Lake Apopka, then redirect the treated stormwater through an established irrigation-only network, which will ultimately serve the residential irrigation needs of approximately 1,000 residential homes.
- $555,000 for numerous indoor and outdoor water conservation projects in the St. Johns River and South Florida Water Management Districts.
A list of all projects selected for Fiscal Year 2023-24 funding can be found 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®