{"id":5467,"date":"2025-10-15T21:13:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T21:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/5467\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T21:13:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T21:13:07","slug":"diceglie-addresses-storm-bill-lawsuits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/5467\/","title":{"rendered":"DiCeglie addresses storm bill lawsuits"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new Florida law that restricts local governments from regulating development faces over two dozen lawsuits. Sen. Nick DiCeglie has pledged to amend the legislation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Pinellas County Republican used lessons learned<\/a> from a devastating 2024 hurricane season to draft Senate Bill 180, which dictates how local governments must prepare for and respond to natural disasters. However, what became law July 1 also restricts city and county officials from adopting \u201cmore restrictive or burdensome\u201d land-use and zoning regulations until October 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An influx of recent litigation<\/a> claims that SB 180 violates the single-subject rule by bundling unrelated policy changes into an emergency-management bill and undermines the Florida Constitution\u2019s \u201cnatural resources\u201d clause by blocking local efforts to protect the environment. A lawsuit filed Oct. 7 also alleges that the bill \u201callows \u2018any person\u2019 to sue to invalidate a plan, amendment, regulation or development order without needing to show that they are impacted by it in any way, and to receive attorney\u2019s fees and costs if they succeed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fully committed to making those necessary changes,\u201d DiCeglie told the Catalyst. \u201cThere are a lot of great provisions in the bill. But unfortunately, we\u2019re going to have to go back and clean that up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

DiCeglie told City Council members in July<\/a> that he \u201cpaid very close attention\u201d to St. Petersburg\u2019s storm preparedness and recovery efforts and wanted to incorporate many of those aspects into SB 180. He also singled out beach communities for lacking comprehensive plans to mitigate a disaster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The legislation encompasses permitting procedures, debris collection, repair guidelines, resource coordination and construction crane safety<\/a>. DiCeglie subsequently explained that he and his colleagues also \u201cdidn\u2019t want local governments to get in the way\u201d of post-storm rebuilding efforts by adopting development moratoriums.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re unfortunately in a situation where there have been a lot of threats of lawsuits from developers saying that you can\u2019t make simple changes, because it would be, in fact, restrictive and burdensome,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd local governments say, \u2018Wait a minute, this has nothing to do with storm recovery.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Smart-growth advocate 1000 Friends of Florida has noted that over a dozen local governments statewide have received letters from the Department of Commerce declaring that proposed planning or land-use changes are \u201cnull and void\u201d under SB 180. The organization alleges that most of those were to protect natural resources or prevent urban sprawl.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lawsuit defendants include Florida Secretary of Commerce J. Alex Kelly, Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie, Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson, Department of Revenue Executive Director Jim Zingale and Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, DiCeglie will lead efforts to rectify the situation. He has already had \u201ctons of conversations\u201d with colleagues in the House and Senate, who all want to ensure SB 180 is \u201cdirectly tied to hurricane response.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the spirit of the bill \u2013 from top to bottom,\u201d DiCeglie said. \u201cIt\u2019s my full commitment to make a very challenging situation at the moment much, much better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

State Sen. Nick DiCeglie.<\/p>\n

A \u201csurgical approach\u201d to bill amendments will take some time. The next legislative session<\/a> does not begin until January, and lawmakers have yet to draft any language.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DiCeglie said they could set a retroactive date for the new provisions, or those could start immediately following the governor\u2019s approval. Local Rep. Linda Chaney is among his\u00a0supporters in the House.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DiCeglie hopes Gov. Ron DeSantis will sign the amended bill if the Senate and House can \u201clay out a good reason why we need these changes.\u201d He also noted that \u201cwe\u2019re far away from that at this point.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

An Orange County resident and 100 Friends of Florida seek declaratory and injunctive relief that would block SB 180\u2019s effects. The court system typically moves at a snail\u2019s pace, and DiCeglie plans to address the issues \u201cbefore any ruling.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think whatever we do in the Legislature will be a heck of a lot quicker than what we see out of the courts,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DiCeglie explained he deleted the land-use and zoning language from a previous version of SB 180 before sending it back to the House for approval. However, state representatives had \u201creal-world examples\u201d of local governments impeding storm rebuilding efforts through development moratoriums.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those were enough to pass the final, now-contested version of the bill. DiCeglie said that\u00a0 \u201c90% of the time there are no issues\u201d with new laws, and he remains willing to tweak the remaining 10% according to feedback from constituents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery bill sponsor is different, but for me, I\u2019m always open to going back and taking a look to improve what we\u2019ve done,\u201d DiCeglie said. \u201cWe try to avoid this at all costs, obviously, but sometimes you just don\u2019t know exactly how legislation works until you see some real-world examples.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think we\u2019ve got plenty of those here in the last several months with Senate Bill 180.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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