Dear Senator Boyd, please use the special budget session to fix SB 180

Members of Manatee County's legislative delegation told constituents they understood the "unintended" consequences included in SB 180, which was passed and signed into law in 2025. However, the members failed to rectify it during this year's session, despite having the opportunity. Incoming Senate President Jim Boyd came through for Manatee County on legislation to prevent a cruise terminal near the Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve. He can and should show the same leadership on an even more critical issue.

SB 180 included deliberately vague language inserted via a last-minute amendment that has prevented the Manatee County Commission seated following the 2024 elections from acting on campaign promises to reverse the gutting of our wetland protections, restore adequate impact fees, and protect our urban service boundary.

Claiming to be an effort to prevent local governments from enacting more burdensome development restrictions after a hurricane that might make it harder for someone to repair a storm-damaged home, SB 180 intentionally failed to distinguish between existing and new development, rendering an enormous gift to developers who knew they were about to lose their free lunch in Manatee County.

Rep. Will Robinson, Rep. Bill Connerly, and Rep. Michael Owen—the three House members in the Manatee County legislative delegation—all failed to introduce a companion bill, which would have made it far more likely to pass. HB 1465 was the closest thing to a companion bill in the House, and it was deliberately stalled in committee because the House was focused on passing HB 399, another heavy-handed preemption bill.

HB 399 sailed through the House, though it initially failed in the Senate until an amendment was added, softening its assault on urban service boundaries, while folding in a more tepid version of the Blue Ribbon Bill's preemption on mega-projects, which had failed in separate legislation.HB 399 remains a terrible bill that Floridians should pressure Gov. Ron DeSantis to veto.

Unfortunately, Senator Boyd voted in favor of HB 399 even before the amendment was added and has been a reliable vote in the pro-developer/pro-preemption bloc in the Senate. Boyd did vote in favor of SB 840, a bill filed by Pinellas County Republican Nick DiCeglie that would have fixed the worst elements of SB 180. It passed the Senate unanimously, which raises questions about whether members did so because they knew it would be sent to die in committee when it reached the House. The number of Republican Senators who voted for both SB 399 and SB 840, two sharply divergent bills, strongly suggests that to be the case.

Boyd was hailed as a hero when he successfully used an amendment to a related bill to erect roadblocks to the cruise ship terminal. If that felt good, Jim, here's another chance to save the day and prove that your support for SB 840 wasn't a hollow gesture. By slipping the elements Manatee County most needs from SB 840 into a budget-conforming bill, Boyd can bypass the pro-developer/anti-home-rule bloc that includes pretty much every Republican in the House and deliver for his real constituents—the people of Manatee County. He could use his juice as incoming Senate President and get these fixes across the finish line just like he did with the cruise ship terminal amendment.

The most important element is to clearly state that prohibitions apply only to the repair or reconstruction of existing development damaged by the hurricane. SB 840 also would have accelerated sunset for 2024 hurricanes from October 1, 2027, to June 30, 2026, while narrowing the geographic post-hurricane radius from 100 to 50 miles, and removing a controversial provision from the SB 180 law that allowed effectively anyone to sue a local government for injunctive relief and recover attorney fees.

Senator Boyd and others in the delegation have publicly acknowledged that SB 180 tied the hands of local governments and needed to be "tweaked" in this year's session. It was not, and the people of Manatee County are justifiably creased as a result.

By using the special session to cure this grave injustice and allow our community to thrive under the conservative principle of home rule and the ethos that small government is best, Boyd can head into his final term and Senate Presidency with his head held high in Manatee County. His action on the cruise terminal was admirable, but this would represent a much bigger victory for his constituents and demonstrate that he is representing his community, not the developers who continue to pillage it.

Dennis "Mitch" Maley is an editor and columnist for The Bradenton Times and the host of our weekly podcast. With over two decades of experience as a journalist, he has covered Manatee County government since 2010. He is a graduate of Shippensburg University and later served as a Captain in the U.S. Army. Click here for his bio. Mitch's next novel, Fish Kill, is scheduled for release this spring. His other books can be found here. He can be reached at editor@thebradentontimes.com.