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CS/CS/CS/SB 700 — Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
by Fiscal Policy Committee; Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government; Agriculture Committee; and Senator Truenow
This summary is provided for information only and does not represent the opinion of any Senator, Senate Officer, or Senate Office.
Prepared by: Agriculture Committee (AG)
The bill makes a number of changes to laws related to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (department) and related entities. Specifically, the bill:
- Prohibits local governments from adopting or enforcing any regulation that inhibits the construction of housing for legally verified agricultural workers and provides requirements for such housing.
- Requires any lands acquired by an electric utility which have been classified as agricultural lands at any time in the five years preceding the acquisition of the land by the electric utility to be offered for fee simple acquisition by the department before the land is offered for sale or transferred to a private individual or entity.
- Prohibits the use of drones on agricultural lands by unauthorized individuals and further enhances property owners’ protections against harassment from drones.
- Permits the department to adopt rules for protecting public health, safety, and welfare to establish standards for the placement, design, installation, maintenance, and operation of electric vehicle charging stations.
- Prohibits the use of any additive to a public water supply that is not for the explicit purpose of improving water quality.
- Permits the department to provide pest control certificate examinations in person and remotely through a third-party vendor.
- Creates the Honest Service Registry to provide the residents of this state with the information necessary to make an informed choice when deciding which charitable organizations to support. In order to be included on the registry, a charitable organization may not solicit or accept contributions, funding, support, or services from a foreign source of concern and the organization’s messaging and content may not be produced or influenced by a foreign source of concern.
- Provides it is unlawful to transport, import, sell, offer for sale, furnish, or give away spores or mycelium capable of producing mushrooms or other material which will contain a controlled substance, including psilocybin or psilocyn, during its lifecycle.
- Grants the department rulemaking authority to enforce the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) standard of identity for meat, poultry, and poultry products, to prohibit the sale of plant-based products mislabeled as meat, poultry, or poultry products in this state.
- Creates an annual petroleum registration program for petroleum owners or operators that own and operate vehicles for transporting petroleum products and permits the department to adopt rules detailing the requirements for such registration.
- Creates the Florida Retail Fuel Transfer Switch Modernization Grant Program.
- Prohibits local governments from restricting any activities of public educational facilities and auxiliary facilities constructed by a board for agricultural education, for Future Farmers of America or 4-H activities, or the storage of any animals or equipment therein.
- Establishes the Florida Aquaculture Foundation as a direct-support organization to conduct programs and activities related to the assistance, promotion, and furtherance of aquaculture and aquaculture producers and to identify and pursue methods to provide statewide resources and materials for these programs.
- Creates the Silviculture Emergency Recovery Program within the department to administer a grant program to assist timber landowners whose timber land was damaged as a result of a declared emergency.
- Changes the Viticulture Advisory Council to the Florida Wine Advisory Council and makes conforming changes related to the new name.
- Prohibits a financial institution from discriminating in the provision of financial services to an agriculture producer based, in whole or in part, upon an ESG factor. The bill also provides that if a financial institution has made any ESG commitment related to agriculture, there is an inference that the institution’s denial or restriction of a financial service to an agriculture producer is discriminating against the agriculture producer based upon an ESG factor and provides a remedy for overcoming such inference.
- Permits the department to temporarily suspend a concealed carry license or application if notified by a government entity that the licensee or applicant is arrested or formally charged with a crime that would disqualify such person from having a license, until final disposition of the case.
- Revises the requirements related to the suspension or reinstatement of concealed carry licensees or applicants.
- Reduces the extended review period for a concealed carry applicant’s criminal history screening from 90 to 45 days.
- Prohibits the possession of any form of a payment instrument that can be used to authorize a fuel transaction or obtain fuel with the intent to defraud the fuel retailer or the banking institution that issued the payment instrument financial account.
- Revises the definition of “mail depository” to include any other authorized receptacle.
- Revises the acts that constitute mail theft and the penalties for violations.
If approved by the Governor, or allowed to become law without the Governor’s signature, these provisions take effect July 1, 2025, except where otherwise provided.
Vote: Senate 27-9; House 88-27