A bill is advancing in the Florida legislature that would allow businesses to sue local governments for damages if their profits or revenues drop 15% as a result of a local government regulation.
Senate Bill 620, authored by Sen. Travis Hutson (R-St. Augustine), passed the state Senate’s Judiciary Committee Nov. 30 on a 7-4 vote, sending the measure to the Rules Committee.
Business groups favor the bill, seeing it as a way for companies to fight burdensome local regulations. Local government organizations in Florida, however, oppose SB 620, arguing that it would be used as a vehicle for businesses to file civil lawsuits against local agencies over policies they don’t like.
“The Florida Chamber of Commerce continues to support legislation that would help relieve the burden placed on local businesses by anti-competitive or onerous local regulations,” Frank Walker, the chamber’s executive vice president of governmental & political relations, said in an email to the Florida Record. “Florida’s continued economic growth depends on the ability of businesses to operate with certainty, free from burdensome regulation that impacts their competitiveness, so they may continue to invest in their local communities.”
The bill puts several limitations on when businesses can sue local governments. In order to file such a lawsuit, a business must have been operating for at least three years, and reasonable evidence of causation must be shown to support a damages award, according to the Senate’s analysis of the bill.
“A prevailing business may also be awarded costs and attorney fees payable by the county or municipality,” the analysis states, adding that attorney fee determinations are based on at what point in the legal process damages are accessed.
The legislation is patterned after the Bert J. Harris Act, which provides landowners with a legal avenue to compensate them for lost land values as a result of local government actions such as eminent domain.
Cities and counties, however, would not be liable for damages for ordinances or charter provisions that are mandated to comply with state or federal laws; ordinances passed to comply with the State Emergency Act; ordinances that are enforced for only 90 days or less; and measures designed to increase “economic freedom.”