Though the 2025 hurricane season didn’t produce any named tropical systems that made landfall in the U.S., the Atlantic basin still generated 13 named storms (storms with sustained wind speeds greater than 39 miles per hour), just short of the season average of 14.4 named storms. Several of these grew into intense hurricanes which could have become dangerous natural disasters in the event of landfall.
Florida also experienced historic winter storms in January of 2025 and 2026, recording snowfall across the state’s northern latitudes and extremely low temperatures throughout the peninsula.
Proposed legislation in 2026 aims to more effectively manage challenges related to these natural hazards, introducing new regulations for planning, preparation, and management of these issues in order to produce more resilient public, industry, and government responses.
- Land Use Regulations for Local Governments Affected by Natural Disasters
- Nature-based Solutions for Improving Coastal Resilience
Land Use Regulations for Local Governments Affected by Natural Disasters
Florida has experienced devastating impacts from its most recognized natural disaster: hurricanes. Since 1850, every part of Florida’s coast has been impacted by at least one hurricane, with some stretches of coastline having faced multiple high-intensity storms. Aside from high winds, flooding and storm surge can create immense hazards for the safety of property, infrastructure, and even human lives.
However, hurricane impacts do not stop at Florida’s coasts. Wind speeds can remain damaging and dangerous, and tornadoes can form hundreds of miles from the eye or center of the hurricane, meaning that impacts are felt far beyond the localized path of the storm.
In 2025, the Florida legislature passed CS/CS/SB 180, introduced by Sen. Nick DiCeglie (R), which prohibited counties and municipalities within a specified distance from the track of a hurricane from adopting more stringent or burdensome land use regulations for one year after landfall of the storm. This bill emerged in the aftermath of the intense 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which produced hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton, and was intended to “reduce bureaucracy in the rebuilding process.”
This year, DiCeglie has introduced SB 840, which amends specific sections of CS/CS/SB 180. If passed, SB 840 would remove the strict prohibition of moratoriums or more burdensome land use regulations by local governments, instead narrowing the area of local governments subject to these restrictions and setting specific circumstances under which changes to land use regulations would be permitted.
For instance, under SB 840, local governments within the storm’s path would be able to enforce more restrictive land use regulations if they were specifically intended to address stormwater or floodwater management, potable water supply, or sanitary sewer systems. The bill also clarifies that restrictions on land use regulation as procured by SB 180 would not apply if adopted for a critical state concern, or to comply with state or federal law.
Mark Bentley, a lawyer at Johnson, Pope, Bokor, Ruppel, & Burns, LLP., describes that several lawsuits have been filed that challenge the provisions of SB 180, noting that these cases “are still pending and do not provide immediate clarity for local governments, property owners, or developers seeking to operate under the law.” Legislative analyses have raised concerns that SB 180 “may extend beyond post-hurricane reconstruction and restrict local land use decisions.” With this background in mind, Bentley praises SB 840 as “a legislative attempt to recalibrate the balance created by SB 180 between state level disaster recovery objectives and local land use authority.”
Similarly, A Tampa Bay Times article states that the “broad language [of SB 180] has halted resilient planning and, in some cases, undone plans.” According to Sen. DiCeglie, SB 840 will be a “thoughtful fix” to SB 180.
Because SB 840 would expire in 2026, two years before HB 1465, it would allow local governments to regain broader land use authority sooner. This difference could influence how quickly regulatory control shifts back to local jurisdictions and how consistent land use standards remain across Florida.
Nature-based Solutions for Improving Coastal Resilience
The coastline is a vital resource, supporting both the economy and local ecosystems. Florida boasts 825 miles of coastline that supports flood protection, fishing, recreation, and navigation, while also maintaining water quality, biodiversity, and critical habitat for endangered species and other wildlife. However, rising sea levels and increasingly frequent severe weather events pose serious risks to coastal communities and threaten both the recreational activities and environmental benefits these areas provide.
CS/SB 302, introduced by Sen. Ileana Garcia (R), and similar bill HB 1035, introduced by Rep. James Mooney (R), suggest nature-based solutions, including mangrove stands and living shorelines, to improve coastal resilience and mitigate harm to Florida’s coastlines. Both bills aim to hybridize infrastructure, using green infrastructure to supplement or improve existing gray infrastructure methods. “Green infrastructure,”which includes living shorelines, refers to the use of natural systems while “gray infrastructure” refers to the use of conventionally engineered structures. Both are used to manage stormwater, improve water quality, and mitigate flooding on Florida coasts.
CS/SB 302 mandates that the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) develop and implement methods for identifying and monitoring mangrove threats. The bill also requires the DEP to provide protection for barrier islands, which are naturally made of sand, and spoil islands, which are man-made through dredging, and to establish a framework for nature-based solutions. This framework enables developers and local governments to identify vulnerable coastal properties and develop protection and restoration zone projects through the Resilient Florida Grant Program. Projects include mangrove replanting and restoration, as well as oyster reef, salt marsh, and coral reef restoration. CS/SB 302 aims to improve these projects by requiring the DEP to provide workforce training and incentivize the use of new technology for flood and sea level rise research methods and mitigation strategies. These provisions would be funded by an appropriation of $250,000 allocated to conduct research on the value of nature-based methods as solutions to coastal floods.
Comparable bill HB 1035, allows for specific dredging and filling in submerged lands, such as wetlands, bays, and rivers, for ecosystem restoration like restoring reefs or planting vegetation. The bill also grants authorization of the construction of specific structures within aquatic preserves including living seawalls, shoreline and vegetation planting, seagrass planting, wave attenuation devices, and green or hybrid green-gray stormwater infrastructure. By requiring the DEP to develop statewide permitting standards and promoting implementation of researched methods in local governments, the bill aims to amplify the effect of CS/SB 302 to make project approvals easier and maximize the impact and expansion of nature-based methods.
CS/SB 302 and HB 1035 are follow-ups to legislation HB 371 and SB 50 which Sen. Ileana Garcia (R) and Rep. James Mooney (R) carried during the 2025 session, clearing the Senate and three House committees before dying on the lower chamber floor. The prior bill and its current incarnation are largely interchangeable, but last session’s version sought to task the University of South Florida’s Florida Flood Hub with developing guidelines and standards for the DEP to adopt. These bills instead require the DEP to directly adopt rules and guidelines for nature-based solutions to coastal resilience which will take effect July 1st, 2026.
Sen. Gayle Harrell (R) has expressed concern about definitions in statute and re-ratification of financial impact, specifically the unidentified sum from the Grant program by CS/SB 302. Ellen Rogers, the committee’s staff director, responded stating the suggestive language would ease the implementation of the bill’s directives without extra costs.
Meanwhile, Ping Wang, a University of South Florida coastal geologist, said the bill seems like a step in the right direction, “The philosophy, the approach, has changed to that instead of really controlling nature, maybe there is a way we can live, cope with it to a certain extent.” The Surfrider Florida organization and 1000 Friends of Florida are also in complete support of these bills.
The bill HB 751, introduced by Rep. Chip Lamarca (R), provides even further jurisdiction to HB 1035 and CS/SB 302 by clarifying the definition of “qualifying project” to a facility or project that serves a public purpose, providing the DEP exclusive authority to execute coastal resiliency projects through public-private partnerships and requiring real-time progress reports to monitor project progress.