Florida Senate - 2025                                     SB 712
       
       
        
       By Senator Grall
       
       
       
       
       
       29-00802-25                                            2025712__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to construction regulations; creating
    3         s. 125.572, F.S.; defining the term “synthetic turf”;
    4         prohibiting local governments from adopting or
    5         enforcing any ordinance, resolution, order, rule, or
    6         policy that prohibits, or is enforced to prohibit,
    7         property owners from installing synthetic turf on
    8         their land; prohibiting local governments from
    9         adopting or enforcing any ordinance, resolution,
   10         order, rule, or policy that regulates synthetic turf
   11         installed in specified single-family residential
   12         areas; authorizing the Department of Environmental
   13         Protection to adopt rules; creating s. 218.755, F.S.;
   14         requiring local governmental entities to approve or
   15         deny certain price quotes and provide notice to
   16         contractors within a specified timeframe; requiring
   17         denials to specify alleged deficiencies and actions
   18         necessary to remedy such deficiencies; providing that
   19         a local governmental entity that fails to provide such
   20         information with a denial is liable to the contractor
   21         for specified overhead; prohibiting contracts from
   22         altering specified duties of a local governmental
   23         entity; amending s. 255.0992, F.S.; prohibiting the
   24         state or political subdivisions that contract for
   25         public works projects from penalizing or rewarding
   26         bidders for performing larger or smaller volumes of
   27         construction work, respectively, for the state or
   28         political subdivisions; amending s. 553.79, F.S.;
   29         prohibiting local enforcement agencies from requiring
   30         ancillary documentation between permit applicants and
   31         their clients for issuing building permits or as a
   32         requirement for submitting building permit
   33         applications; providing an effective date.
   34          
   35  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   36  
   37         Section 1. Section 125.572, Florida Statutes, is created to
   38  read:
   39         125.572 Regulation of synthetic turf.—
   40         (1) As used in this section, the term “synthetic turf”
   41  means a manufactured product that resembles natural grass and is
   42  used as a surface for landscaping and recreational areas.
   43         (2) A local government may not adopt or enforce any
   44  ordinance, resolution, order, rule, or policy that prohibits, or
   45  is enforced so as to prohibit, a property owner from installing
   46  synthetic turf on his or her land.
   47         (3) A local government may not adopt or enforce any
   48  ordinance, resolution, order, rule, or policy that regulates
   49  synthetic turf installed in single-family residential areas 1
   50  acre or less in size.
   51         (4) The Department of Environmental Protection may adopt
   52  rules to implement this section.
   53         Section 2. Section 218.755, Florida Statutes, is created to
   54  read:
   55         218.755 Prompt processing of change orders.—Beginning on or
   56  after July 1, 2025, if a local governmental entity receives from
   57  its contractor a price quote for a change order issued by the
   58  local governmental entity, and the price quote conforms to all
   59  statutory requirements and contractual requirements for the
   60  project, the local governmental entity must approve or deny the
   61  price quote and send written notice of that decision to the
   62  contractor within 30 days. Any denial notice must specify the
   63  alleged deficiencies in the price quote and the actions
   64  necessary to remedy those deficiencies. If the local
   65  governmental entity fails to provide such information on a
   66  denial notice, it is liable to the contractor for all additional
   67  labor, staffing, materials, supplies, equipment, and overhead
   68  associated with the change order. A contract between a local
   69  governmental entity and a contractor may not alter the local
   70  governmental entity’s duties under this section.
   71         Section 3. Paragraph (d) is added to subsection (2) of
   72  section 255.0992, Florida Statutes, to read:
   73         255.0992 Public works projects; prohibited governmental
   74  actions.—
   75         (2) Except as required by federal or state law, the state
   76  or any political subdivision that contracts for a public works
   77  project may not take the following actions:
   78         (d) Penalize a bidder for performing a larger volume of
   79  construction work for the state or political subdivision or
   80  reward a bidder for performing a smaller volume of construction
   81  work for the state or political subdivision.
   82         Section 4. Paragraph (f) of subsection (1) of section
   83  553.79, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   84         553.79 Permits; applications; issuance; inspections.—
   85         (1)
   86         (f) A local enforcing agency government may not require a
   87  contract, or any other ancillary documentation, including, but
   88  not limited to, letters of intent, between a permit applicant
   89  and its client builder and an owner for the issuance of a
   90  building permit or as a requirement for the submission of a
   91  building permit application.
   92         Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.