After Hurricane Ian devastated Fort Myers and other Gulf Coast communities in September 2022, many residents who bought or rented mobile homes or other units discovered they were living in flood zones. Most said they would have wanted that information before signing leases or purchase agreements.

Beginning Oct. 1, real estate agents, rental management companies and private landlords in Florida will be legally required to disclose a property’s flood history and risk. The measure, Senate Bill 948, was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis and applies to both rental and purchase agreements.

Key provisions of the bill include:

• Sellers must disclose to prospective buyers any known flood damage that occurred during their ownership.

  

• Landlords must disclose any past or current flood-related insurance claims, or any assistance received for flood damage, to prospective tenants before a lease is signed.

• Mobile home park owners and residential condominium developers must provide flood-related information to potential buyers at or before the signing of a sales contract.

• If a landlord fails to disclose flood history and a tenant suffers substantial loss or damage, the tenant may terminate the lease by providing written notice and vacating the property within a specified timeframe.

The nonprofit advocacy group 1000 Friends of Florida supports the new law.

“We supported the bill because it extends the requirement to disclose prior flooding of a property to prospective tenants,” said Kim Dinkins, policy and planning director for the group. “Renters and homeowners alike should be informed of the potential to flood before they sign a lease and shouldn’t be held responsible for paying rent on a property that is uninhabitable due to damage caused by a storm.”

Although the law does not provide specific compensation for damages, it allows for legal action against landlords who fail to comply.

Fluoride, cloud seeding banned statewide

The Florida Legislature also enacted two controversial new bans: one on the use of fluoride in public water systems and another on geoengineering practices such as cloud seeding.

The fluoride ban, part of the annual Farm Bill (SB 700), went into effect July 1. It follows a wave of local bans across Southwest Florida, driven by public demand after a September 2024 federal ruling that questioned fluoridation safety levels, especially for children and the elderly.

Naples removed fluoride from its municipal water system in December 2024.

“The City Council voted to ban fluoride back in December,” said Monique Barnhart-Tiberio, communications and public relations manager for the city. “They heard both sides from citizens and voted 4-3 to remove it.”

The vote came 10 months after Collier County voted for removal in February 2024. Marco Island and Everglades City never added fluoride, and Lee County enacted a ban in February 2025. The push was led by Stand for Health Freedom, a Naples-based group that opposed fluoride use before the Collier County Commission.

Opponents argue fluoride can cause dental fluorosis, which may lead to white spots or pitting in tooth enamel if children consume too much fluoride. Medical professionals, however, cite decades of research showing that fluoride helps prevent tooth decay, rebuild enamel and reverse early-stage cavities.

DeSantis also signed Senate Bill 56, banning geoengineering — the deliberate alteration of weather patterns using chemical or technological methods.

The law prohibits weather modification practices such as:

• Stratospheric aerosol injection (spraying sulfate aerosols into the atmosphere to cool temperatures)

• Marine cloud brightening (enhancing cloud reflectivity to reduce ocean heat absorption)

Under the law, the state may no longer issue permits for weather modification. Releasing or dispersing substances into the atmosphere for weather-related purposes is now a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and fines of up to $100,000.

Beginning Oct. 1, all publicly owned airports in Florida must report the presence of aircraft equipped with geoengineering or weather modification equipment to the Florida Department of Transportation.

“Florida is not a testing ground for geoengineering,” DeSantis said. “The Free State of Florida means freedom from governments or private actors unilaterally applying chemicals or geoengineering to people or public spaces.”