- FL Legislature 2024
Meanwhile, groups supporting and opposing the measure have been contacting the governor’s office for months
For more than two months now, a measure passed in the Legislature that would give more state control over the regulation of short-term vacation rental properties remains stuck — it hasn’t even been sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his consideration on the bill.
Now, a Florida mayor in the Tampa Bay area is challenging the bill sponsor to a debate over SB 280.
Redington Beach Mayor David Will sent a letter to Pinellas County Republican Sen. Nick DiCeglie last week asking for him to accept his invitation to meet somewhere in the county soon to debate the merits of the proposal.
“Since the best way to bring out the positives and negatives of legislation is through education and debate (similar to the debate that should occur in legislative committees but which all too often is artificially constrained by time limits such that the average speaker in Tallahassee gets little to no time to even speak before a vote), I would like to invite you to debate the merits of Senate Bill 280 with me in a public forum hosted at a location here on the Pinellas beaches where your interested constituents could attend,” Will wrote in a letter to DiCeglie dated May 24, 2024. “Since it would be beneficial to have the debate in advance of the Governor’s consideration of the bill, I would appreciate it if you would find time in your schedule now that session is over to have the debate in the next two weeks.”
The Legislature passed the bill in the last days of the 2024 legislative session, a major achievement considering that similar bills had failed to get across the finish line in recent years.
It was approved by only a nine-vote margin in the state House, 60-51. And the vote was 23-16 in the Senate, with several Republicans joining Democrats in opposing the measure.
Since its passage, organized groups both opposing and supporting the measure have sent messages to DeSantis advocating that he either oppose or support the legislation.
The billsaysthat the maximum overnight occupancy for a vacation rental is two people per bedroom, with an additional two people in one common area; or more than two persons per bedroom if there is at least 50 feet per person, plus an additional two persons in one common area, whichever is greater.
It also requires that owners pay a “reasonable” registration fee, always have someone available over the phone to respond to complaints, and lets local governments suspend a rental’s registration for repeatedly breaking city rules.
Will has been a regular visitor to Tallahassee during the past two legislative sessions to lobby state lawmakers to oppose the legislation. He has been joined by local government officials throughout the state who fear the new law would take away more controls at the local level to regulate short-term vacation rental platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo.
But others say that the bill gives local governments considerable tools that they’ve been lacking over the years to hold vacation rentals more accountable.
DiCeglie hascalled the legislationa “fair and balanced” approach to an issue that has divided residential communities and the rights of property owners in recent years.While conceding that every community in Florida is separate and distinct, he said that a state law is needed to prevent local ordinances, which he says are being used by local governments “as a weapon to stop vacation rentals from operating at all.”
At a bill signing press conference with DeSantis in Pinellas County last month, DiCeglie told the Phoenix that he and Senate President Kathleen Passidomo were planning to get some time in the weeks ahead of DeSantis to advocate for him to sign the legislation.
DiCeglie’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the idea of holding a debate on SB 280 before it goes to the governor’s desk.
Overall, there are still 77 bills that passed in the Florida Legislature this past session that have yet to be sent to DeSantis’ desk.
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