the public nuisance statutes<\/a>.<\/p>\n[BELOW: Florida Senate OKs new speed limit for E-Bikes]<\/p>\n
But it doesn\u2019t just end with gambling houses. The bill also revises the penalties that local governments can impose on public nuisances in general, including:<\/p>\n
Higher Fines: Increasing maximum daily fines from $250 to $500 if the nuisance activity persists beyond one year<\/p>\n
Foreclosure: Allowing foreclosure on liens that remain unpaid for three months, and mandating foreclosure if the nuisance continues after two years<\/p>\n
Court Jurisdiction: Permitting continued jurisdiction over the property in one-year increments that renew until the nuisance is abated<\/p>\n
Beyond that, the bill also removes a $15,000 cap on total fines and eliminates restrictions that keep local governments from pursuing other remedies against public nuisances.<\/p>\n
[BELOW: New Florida bill changes what it means to be a \u2018criminal gang members\u2019]<\/p>\n
Public nuisances have a limited definition, though, applying under current state law to anywhere that\u2019s been used:<\/p>\n
To manufacture or sell illicit drugs more than twice within six months<\/p>\n
As the site of a murder, attempted felony murder, or aggravated battery with a deadly weapon more than twice within six months<\/p>\n
For the illegal or unlicensed sale of alcoholic beverages more than twice within a year<\/p>\n
SB 168 was approved unanimously by lawmakers in the House and Senate, meaning that the bill is now headed to the governor\u2019s desk for final approval.<\/p>\n
If he signs off on it, the legislation is set to take effect on July 1.<\/p>\n
[BELOW: Florida bill could let lawmakers rename Orlando International Airport]<\/p>\n
Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n
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Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 This week, Florida lawmakers approved a new bill that dubs certain properties as a \u201cpublic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[265,28,30,100,29,2174,99,232,13782],"class_list":["post-198813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-crime","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-legislature","tag-florida-news","tag-lake-county","tag-politics","tag-tallahassee","tag-tavares"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}