No. CS/CS/HB 433
Filed under Agriculture.
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; Prohibits counties & municipalities from enacting or enforcing any law that restricts or prohibits use of gasoline-powered farm equipment or gasoline-powered landscape equipment or that distinguishes such equipment from any other equipment; requires Acquisition & Restoration Council to determine whether certain surplused lands are suitable for bona fide agricultural purposes; prohibits local governmental entity from transferring future development rights for surplused lands determined to be suitable for bona fide agricultural purposes; requires DEP, in coordination with DACS, to determine whether state-owned conservation lands are suitable for bona fide agricultural purposes; authorizes DEP to surplus specified state-owned lands determined to be suitable for bona fide agricultural purposes; establishes Citrus Research and Field Trial Foundation, Inc., as a DSO of DACS; prohibits person from wearing or displaying item that displays words "concealed weapon permit" or "concealed weapon permit holder" with intent to mislead another to believe that person is authorized to wear or display such item; prohibits possession, manufacture, sale, importation, distribution, or use of signal jamming device.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDCounties and cities lose the power to ban, restrict, or single out gasoline-powered farm and landscape equipment, including leaf blowers and mowers. Existing local ordinances become unenforceable, and new ones are barred outright.
Florida's county fair law is restructured: most counties may charter only one fair association, a newspaper-notice step for new charters is dropped in favor of department approval, and fair-size categories collapse into one definition.
Two new crimes appear: owning, selling, or using a signal-jamming device becomes a misdemeanor, and commercial solicitation at a home posted with a specific no-solicitation sign becomes a punishable offense.
The state may sell conservation land found suitable for farming, licensed contractors must pay subcontractors within 45 days, the citrus research foundation moves from university to department control, and new grant programs fund veterinary loans and food deliveries.
AICounties and municipalities can no longer enact, keep, or enforce any ordinance, rule, or policy that restricts or bans gasoline-powered farm or landscape equipment, or that treats it differently from electric equipment in retail or manufacturing.
AIBeginning July 1, 2026, the department may not approve a new fair association charter in a county that already has one, unless the Commissioner of Agriculture waives the rule; existing associations are grandfathered in.
AIThe Department of Environmental Protection may surplus state-owned conservation land bought since 2024 once it and the Department of Agriculture determine the land is suitable for bona fide agricultural use, notwithstanding other law protecting it.
AIA licensed contractor must compensate a subcontractor or supplier within 45 days of receiving payment, or on the contract's own terms, unless a genuine dispute over the amount exists; violating this exposes the contractor to discipline.
AIThe Citrus Research and Field Trial Foundation replaces the Citrus Research and Development Foundation as a direct-support organization of the Department of Agriculture instead of the University of Florida, with a smaller, commissioner-appointed board.
AIPossessing, manufacturing, selling, importing, distributing, or using a signal jamming device becomes a first-degree misdemeanor, with narrow exceptions for federal or military law enforcement and people authorized by the FCC.
AIA person who engages in commercial solicitation at a dwelling displaying a required sign commits a noncriminal violation on a first offense and a second-degree misdemeanor for any repeat violation.
AIA proposed fair association charter no longer needs to be published in a local newspaper once a week for four weeks before a judge can approve it; department and county commission approval alone is now required.