There are many legislative bills in play this session with implications around issues like development, water quality, resilience, land acquisition and more. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida team has identified a handful of these bills that we are tracking and that might be of interest to our members.
Click the green buttons under each legislative bill below to stay updated.
Senate Bill 840/House Bill 217: Land Use Regulations for Local Governments Affected by Natural Disasters
SB 840/HB 217: Last year, the state legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 180, a bill that was aimed primarily at emergency response and hurricane recovery. However, there were some included provisions (sections 18 and 28) that largely slipped under the radar. Both provisions introduced a chokehold on local government’s broader ability to implement any changes that could be considered “more restrictive or burdensome” to their comprehensive plans and land development codes, even in cases unrelated to building hurricane resilience or rebuilding post-storm.
Current bill SB 840 is likely the best vehicle to fix the problems caused by SB 180, but it currently has no companion bill in the House. We are supporting the passage of this bill in the Senate and urging the House to also support these important changes. Please keep an eye on our socials as we are currently exploring whether there are additional steps to take as these bills work their way through the legislative process. We thank everyone who has helped so far!
Senate Bill 354/House Bill 299: Blue Ribbon Projects
SB 354/HB 299: Blue Ribbon Projects, are two bills making their way through the Florida House and Senate that would grant big landowners the right to ignore local land use controls and protections of rural areas. These bills would green-light large projects with little oversight. The Blue Ribbon Projects could also put taxpayers at risk, leaving them to pay for the creation and upkeep of road networks and other infrastructure needed to support these sprawling developments.
We are fighting these bills and saying NO to sprawl. Please keep an eye on our socials as we are currently exploring whether there are additional steps to take as these bills work their way through the legislative process. We thank everyone who has helped so far!
SJR 1364: Joint Resolution/Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
SJR 1364: This joint resolution builds on efforts from last legislative session to seek reform of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), our state’s wildlife agency, which are headed by appointed Commissioners. Concerns have grown in recent years that the individuals with a fish and wildlife biology or ecology background are missing from the Commission, and this legislative effort seeks to establish science-based education and background requirements to serve as an FWC Commissioner. While the filed joint resolution is a good start highlighting this important issue, additional changes to the language will be needed to achieve the desired outcome. FWC Commissioners make important choices about the management, protection, and conservation of our state’s wildlife resources. FWC Commissioners voted on the Florida black bear hunt, and on the protection of rare and imperiled species. More robust requirements for those appointed to fill this critical job is important to Florida’s future, and therefore we hope this will be scheduled to be heard soon.
Senate Bill 302/House Bill 1035: Coastal Resiliency
SB 302/HB 1035: This set of bills focuses on the use of nature-based and hybrid strategies for building resilience within the state. A similar set were introduced during the 2025 session but never made it over the finish line. While this year, these bills are moving, an extensive amendment process has caused them to evolve significantly over recent weeks. The content of both was brought into alignment early February. They included a section tweaking some of the existing statutes around Biscayne Bay aquatic preserve and aquatic preserves more generally to favor the use of more natural solutions to address building resiliency and stabilizing eroding shorelines. The second half of both bills directed the Department of Environmental Protection to develop multiple guidelines around the use of nature-based solutions within the state in addition to directing them to undergo more substantial rulemaking supporting a clear permitting process for these options. Since then, both have passed all their respective committee stops. However, the House bill has since been amended to take out the whole latter half of the language in its version. So, it remains to be seen if a final bill will pass and if it becomes particularly narrow in scope.
Senate Bill 1628/House Bill 1035: Net-zero Policies by Governmental Entities/Prohibited Governmental Policies Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions
SB 1628/HB 1217: Especially over recent legislative sessions, multiple bills have been passed that remove any acknowledgement of and focus on climate mitigation (reducing greenhouse gas emissions as part of reducing future potential climate impacts) from our state energy policies and other forms of planning. These current bills now take aim at pre-empting the ability of local governments to proactively address greenhouse gas concerns, even while the state continues to be vulnerable to extreme weather events and increasing numbers of high heat days. This also takes away local choice around options that may also result in significant financial savings. While the Senate bill has stalled out at the end of January after getting through just 1 of its 3 committee stops, the House bill cleared its second stop at the end of last week.
Senate Bill 208/House Bill 399: Land Use and Development Regulations
SB 208/HB 399: A big theme of this legislative season amongst a number of bills seems to be loosening the existing regulatory process around land use changes, making it potentially easier for unchecked development and sprawl to occur. Both of these bills initially had language that fit in with that theme, but during session, SB 208 was amended to be less damaging, while HB 399 still retains some concerning language. It directs the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) to conduct a study on the “the effect of removing the Urban Development Boundary 135 (UDB) or similar boundaries in Miami-Dade County and other counties.” These types of boundaries, that also exist in places like Orange and Seminole counties, can be important tools for protecting agricultural lands, water resources, and environmentally sensitive lands like the Everglades. HB 399 also would change what’s required for local governments to change their comprehensive plans around future land use, downgrading from a currently required supermajority vote to just a majority vote.
Read our 2026 legislative priorities here: https://conservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/CSWFL-Legislative-Priorities-2026.pdf