TALLAHASSEE – As part of the Florida Legislature’s efforts to preempt local vacation rental regulation to the state, House Bill 1537 has not yet passed through the House of Representative’s Commerce Committee.
On Feb. 1, the Florida Senate approved Senate Bill 280 by a 27-13 vote. For proposed legislation to be adopted as state law, the House and Senate must approve matching bills to be sent to the governor to sign into law, approve without signing or veto.
HB 1537 was not slated for discussion at the Commerce Committees’ Feb. 15 and Feb. 8 meetings and as of Feb. 18, no additional committee meetings were scheduled.
Senate Bill 280 includes language that would require the vacation rental owner or operator to state and comply with a maximum overnight occupancy that doesn’t exceed either two persons per bedroom, plus an additional two persons in one common area; or more than two persons per bedroom if there is at least 50 square feet per person, plus an additional two persons in one common area.
House Bill 1537 doesn’t mention two-plus-two occupancy and simply says vacation rental owners and operators must state the maximum occupancy based on the number of overnight sleeping accommodations.
The 60-day 2024 legislative session ends on March 8, leaving House members less than three weeks to pass HB 1537 through the Commerce Committee and present a bill that matches the Senate bill for a final vote on the House floor.
CITY OPPOSITION
The city of Anna Maria opposes the vacation rental bills that would impact the city’s ability to annually inspect vacation rentals and cap the city’s initial annual registration fee at $150 and subsequent annual registration fees at $50. Anna Maria’s current occupancy-based registration fee is $84 per year for the specific number of occupants allowed in that unit by the city’s vacation rental ordinance.
The proposed legislation would also impact the city’s ability to enforce occupancy limits by monitoring online vacation rental advertising.
“This is an ugly bill when it comes to regulating vacation rentals,” Murphy said during the city commission’s Feb. 8 meeting.
Murphy said the city-owned Home Rule Florida website, www.homerulefl.com, had already generated 7,248 opposition letters to SB 280 and each targeted senator received 302 emails. The city’s opposition campaign generated 17,225 opposition emails sent to House members, with each relevant House committee member receiving 392 emails.
“I know it’s effective, but it doesn’t seem to be changing the votes. It’s divided by party. Democrats are voting to kill the bill. Republicans are voting for the bill,” Murphy said.
Commission Chair Mark Short said he’s disappointed with the Florida League of Cities’ lack of opposition and he encourages citizens opposed to the bill to continue utilizing the Home Rule Florida website to express their opposition.
City Attorney Becky Vose said the two-plus-two occupancy limits in SB 280 are illusionary and essentially unenforceable.
“No matter what they put in there about occupancy, there are other provisions in the proposed changes to the statute that make it virtually impossible to regulate because it doesn’t allow you to use your typical code enforcement to regulate it. They require proof of five violations over a period of 60 days. Then you have to do certain things within a certain timeframe and you’re only allowed to suspend them for a certain amount of time. It makes no sense. So many things in this statute are very cleverly done to make it look reasonable, but it’s all smoke and mirrors because they take away your enforcement ability,” Vose said.
Murphy questioned the algorithms and calculation methods included in the Senate bill for the determination of allowed occupancy.
“You couldn’t possibly enforce those rules. There’s no mechanism to do it,” he said.
RENTAL OWNER’S PERSPECTIVE
Michael Wilcox and his wife, Jennifer, own the three-unit Casa Coconut AMI vacation rental in Holmes Beach. As a rental owner, Wilcox supports preempting vacation rental regulations to the state.
Wilcox lives and votes in Bradenton and said he doesn’t feel the Holmes Beach City Commission considers non-resident vacation rental owners to be part of their constituency. He said some vacation rental owners are reluctant to criticize city officials due to fears of retribution and he believes state regulation would provide rental owners with direct representation by state legislators.
Wilcox noted vacation rental beds now outnumber hotel/motel beds, according to the Florida Vacation Rental Managers Association. He noted the state uniformly regulates hotels and motels but vacation rental regulations vary from city to city.
“Hotels are regulated the same way in every city in Florida. Why can’t that apply to vacation rentals? We don’t even have the same rules in the three Anna Maria Island cities,” he said.
Regarding city-imposed annual registration fees, Wilcox said, “This legislation reels in the cash grab from municipalities with the exorbitant rental registration fees. When I first started this, I paid $145 per unit in Holmes Beach. Shortly thereafter, it switched to $545 per unit. I have three units. My first renewal was $1,635. Who is served by me spending $1,635 for that service?”
Vacation rental owners and operators are required to collect and remit Manatee County’s 5% tourist development tax on all short-term lodging stays, in addition to the 6% state sales tax. Wilcox supports state legislators’ efforts to ensure the greater collection of vacation rental-related taxes and fees owed to the county and state.
