LEGISLATIVE SESSION 2026

An Opinion By Jan Bergemann

Published January 13, 2026

Today starts this year’s LEGISLATIVE SESSION. According to the planned time-line SINE DIE will be on Friday, March 13, 2026. For a state of th size of Florida it’s really a short session, considering the huge amount of bills that have already been filed. Some of the bills that deal with community associations may be helpful for owners, others are outright horrible. For a complete list of all interesting bills that have been filed please visit our PRIORITY BILLS 2026 webpage.

In my opinion the worst bills filed are the companion bills HB 465 (Rep. Danny Nix) and SB 822 (Sen. Joe Gruters). Are the legislators who filed these bills aware that they increase the cost of managing community associations even more, often totally in opposition of the owners living in these communities? Media reports show that CAMs and management companies are often involved in costly lawsuits or are even named in embezzlement cases? Not sure who these legislators are listening to, but these bills are definitely against the interest of millions of Floridians living in community associations. I will make sure to post the names of all legislators willing to vote in favor of such horrible bill.

Quite a few of the bills that have been filed – and are published – still lack the necessary companion bills, but that may still change in the next few days.

The big fight this year will be about PROPERTY TAXES. Lots of bills have been filed dealing with this issue. Who will prevail. Governor Ron DeSantis has already threatened to veto a bill approved by House and Senate that wouldn’t give enough relief to private property owners. It looks like they are all in agreement not to touch property taxes for commercial sites.

Talking Special Session: Governor Ron DeSantis issued a proclamation calling for a special session in April. Lawmakers will convene in Tallahassee commencing at 12:00 p.m., Monday, April 20, and extend no later than 11:59 p.m., Friday, April 24. During this time, the Legislature is convened for the sole and exclusive purpose of considering legislation relating to the drawing of Congressional districts for the state of Florida and appropriating additional funds for any legal challenges thereto.

Time will tell if Florida’s legislators can come up with some good new laws, or if they do more damage than good!