FL H1515

Courts must award reasonable attorney fees, costs, and damages to prevailing parties in civil actions challenging local ordinances as expressly preempted by state law or the State Constitution; awards capped at $50,000 for arbitrary or unreasonable ordinances.

Counties and municipalities must prepare business impact estimates before enacting ordinances, posted on their websites, detailing compliance costs, new charges or fees, regulatory costs, and number of affected businesses.

Counties and municipalities must suspend enforcement of recently enacted ordinances (within 90 days) that are challenged in court if the plaintiff requests suspension in the initial complaint, with courts giving these cases priority.

Courts may impose sanctions on attorneys or parties who sign frivolous pleadings or motions challenging ordinances, including awards of reasonable expenses and attorney fees.

Effective date is October 1, 2023, except provisions on ordinance continuation procedures and business impact estimates which apply only to ordinances adopted after that date.