The Florida Legislature’s 2025 session begins March 4. Lawmakers will consider creating standards for using natural methods to protect beaches; awarding tax credits to people who build with hurricane-resistant materials; and prohibiting the construction of hotels, golf courses and other amenities in state parks in Southwest Florida and elsewhere in the state. Here’s a glance at some topics lawmakers will consider.

HB 13: Citizens Wind Insurance

Sponsored by Rep. Hillary Cassel of Broward County, this bill is part of the ongoing attempt by the state Legislature to reduce property insurance rates.

The idea is to make the state-run Citizens Insurance program available to all Florida property owners, but cover only damage from winds from hurricanes and other weather events. By letting private insurance cover water and other damage insurance for the rest of Florida’s property owners, the theory goes, rates in the state would drop.

Citizens CEO Tim Cerio, however, doesn’t think Citizens can handle the cost.

“We would have about $3.2 trillion in insured value,” Cerio told reporters. “The price tag is untenable.”

HB 73: Safe Waterways Act

This bill would transfer the responsibility for beach water testing from the Department of Health to the Department of Environmental Protection. The DOH also tests well water for ethylene dibromide and other harmful chemicals.

The Florida Department of Health is now in charge of sampling beach and pool water for harmful bacteria such as Vibrio vulnificus, a deadly bacteria potentially mixed within the sand and floating in Gulf shore waters. University of Florida bacteriologists found that a handful of people may have died from the virus in the weeks after Hurricane Ian made landfall in Lee County. It can enter the body through a shaving cut or scrape, UF scientists said.

SB 50: Nature-based Methods for Improving Coastal Resilience

This bill would require the Florida Flood Hub for Applied Research and Innovation at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science to develop design guidelines and standards for green infrastructure — forests, wetlands and soils — and gray infrastructure — roads, dams and pipes. They can be combined to improve water quality and reduce coastal flooding, while creating habitats for wildlife. The bill requires the DEP to adopt rules for nature-based methods for coastal protection.

SB 62 and HB 143: Resilient Buildings

Resilient buildings are designed to withstand natural disasters such as hurricanes, flooding and seismic activity. They also are designed to be sustainable and energy-efficient. These bills let the DEP reward a tax credit to builders and owners of such buildings and create the Florida Resilient Building Advisory Council.

SB 284: Recreational Customary Use of Beaches

The Legislature passed a law in 2018 that restricted public access to some beachfront property. Prior to this law, Walton County recognized the public’s right to access and enjoy the beaches, even if private property lines extended to the shoreline. The law affects beachside hotels and guesthouses, as well as private homes. According to nonprofit advocacy group 1000 Friends of Florida, SB 284 would repeal parts of Florida Statute 163.035 that in 2018 was used to restrict public access to some residential and hotel beachfront property.

SB 80 and HB 209: State Park Preservation                                                                      

Just about everyone remembers when Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly tried to implement a plan to build hotels, golf courses, pickleball courts and other tourist amenities in environmentally sensitive state parks and forests last year. The public became upset when the Tampa Bay Times released a list of the sites that showed the governor’s plan was more extensive than thought. That was last year; this year, two Republican legislators from Stuart filed these bills to prohibit the construction of hotels, golf courses, pickleball courts and other tourist amenities in state parks.

SB 184: Affordable Housing

This bill would require local governments to allow accessory dwelling units — a small, independent living space on the same lot as a single-family home — without any corresponding increase in parking spaces. It also would let Lee and other Southwest Florida counties give a density bonus incentive to landowners who make certain real property donations to assist in the provision of affordable housing for military families and others.

SB 4: Providing for the Relief of Patricia Ermini

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office was called to 71-year-old Patricia Ermini’s home in March 2012 after her daughter asked deputies to check to see if her mother was OK. She told dispatchers that her mother had threatened suicide and might have a gun. After knocking on the door and not getting a response, they entered the dark house with flashlights and guns drawn. When she awoke, deputies, misinterpreting her movements, shot her five times, hitting her in the leg, head and arm. A jury awarded her $750,000, but this bill would give her state money for her continuing trauma.

HB 57: Offenses Involving Xylazine

According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, xylazine, a veterinary nonopiate sedative, is commonly encountered in combination with fentanyl but also has been detected in mixtures containing cocaine, heroin and a variety of other drugs. Xylazine is approximately as deadly as fentanyl but is not an opioid, so Narcan cannot revive overdose cases. If this bill becomes law, possessing an ounce would bring 25 years and a $500,000 fine.

HB 35: Heat Illness Prevention

Citing regulatory overreach, the Legislature in 2024 stripped local governments of the power to protect workers from heat. Health News Florida says some 1.8 million employees farm, work construction, landscape and mine, as well as drill for oil and perform other outside work. This bill would require Southwest Florida counties and municipalities to implement outdoor heat exposure safety programs and require annual training on heat illness.

SB 56: Weather Modification Activities

This bill would prohibit anyone from injecting, releasing or dispersing chemicals, compounds, substances or an apparatus into the atmosphere within the borders of the state for the express purpose of affecting the temperature, the weather or the intensity of sunlight. Breaking the law is considered a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $10,000.

The bill was proposed in response to concerns about weather modification that spread on social media after hurricanes in Florida and other southeastern states. It would repeal 13 sections of state law related to weather modification.

SB 100: Display of Flags by Governmental Entities

This would ban agencies and local governments, as well as public schools, colleges and universities, from flying flags related to race, sexual orientation and political ideology. It also requires government entities to stay neutral in certain circumstances.

There is also another, striking part of the bill: It would authorize current or retired military personnel to “use reasonable force to prevent the desecration, destruction or removal of the United States flag.”