ANNA MARIA – Mayor Dan Murphy is growing increasingly confident that the Florida Legislature’s latest attempt to preempt vacation rental regulation to the state will once again fail.
Proposed and supported by the Florida Legislature earlier this year, Senate Bill 280 and its matching companion bill, House Bill 1537, seek to take short-term vacation rental regulation and the regulation of short-term rental advertising away from Florida cities and counties and place that authority solely with the state.
Sen Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton) and State Rep. Will Robinson Jr. (R-Bradenton) are among the many state legislators who voted in favor of the proposed legislation.
To become new state law, the proposed legislation must be transmitted to Gov. Ron DeSantis. If the governor supports the legislation, he can sign it into new state law effective July 1 or allow it to become new state law without his signature of support. He can also kill the proposed legislation by vetoing it.
“The bill has not been placed on the governor’s desk,” Murphy told the Anna Maria City Commission on May 23.
Murphy said he and the city’s contracted lobbyist have no idea if or when the proposed vacation rental regulation will ever be transmitted to the Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“The good news is the governor’s staff has a multitude of concerns about the bill itself, starting with some of the input we gave them,” Murphy said.
The proposed state legislation would eliminate Anna Maria’s existing short-term vacation rental occupancy limits and replace them with more generous occupancy limits that would be virtually impossible for the city to enforce.
The city input the mayor referenced pertains to Anna Maria’s vacation rental guest population quickly increasing by an estimated 32% if the city’s occupancy limits are eliminated, which the mayor said would further strain the city’s already-strained infrastructure systems.
Murphy said DeSantis’ staff also has political concerns about the legislation, including a carve-out exemption for Flagler County, the home of Speaker of the House Paul Renner. The proposed carve-out would create a grandfathering exemption for Flagler County’s current vacation rental regulations.
“They’ve got a list of concerns. When I get the word that it’s headed to the governor’s desk – and we should get at least a day or two of advance notice – we’ll crank up HomeRuleFl.com to bombard letters to the governor for a veto,” Murphy said.
“We’re in a very good spot. That’s what our lobbyist said, but it’ll be back next year. It’s not going to go away. This is going to be a continual struggle,” Murphy cautioned.
When asked, the mayor and city attorney said they didn’t know when the deadline is to transmit bills to the governor.
