Florida Senate - 2025 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1820
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LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
03/26/2025 .
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The Committee on Transportation (Leek) recommended the
following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the enacting clause
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. Subsection (42) of section 320.64, Florida
6 Statutes, is amended, and subsection (43) is added to that
7 section, to read:
8 320.64 Denial, suspension, or revocation of license;
9 grounds.—A license of a licensee under s. 320.61 may be denied,
10 suspended, or revoked within the entire state or at any specific
11 location or locations within the state at which the applicant or
12 licensee engages or proposes to engage in business, upon proof
13 that the section was violated with sufficient frequency to
14 establish a pattern of wrongdoing, and a licensee or applicant
15 shall be liable for claims and remedies provided in ss. 320.695
16 and 320.697 for any violation of any of the following
17 provisions. A licensee is prohibited from committing the
18 following acts:
19 (42)(a) The applicant or licensee, or a common entity
20 thereof, has established, implemented, or enforced criteria for
21 measuring the sales or service performance of any of its
22 franchised motor vehicle dealers in this state which have a
23 material or adverse effect on any motor vehicle dealer and
24 which:
25 1. Are unfair, unreasonable, arbitrary, or inequitable; or
26 2. Do not include all relevant and material local and
27 regional criteria, data, and facts. Relevant and material
28 criteria, data, or facts include, but are not limited to, those
29 of motor vehicle dealerships of comparable size in comparable
30 markets. If such performance measurement criteria are based, in
31 whole or in part, on a survey, such survey must be based on a
32 statistically significant and valid random sample.
33 (b) The An applicant or, licensee, or a common entity
34 thereof, has implemented or enforced criteria for measuring the
35 sales or service performance of any of its franchised motor
36 vehicle dealers in this state without first making available and
37 readily accessible, before such implementation or enforcement, a
38 written description to each such franchised, or an affiliate
39 thereof, which enforces against any motor vehicle dealer any
40 such performance measurement criteria shall, upon the request of
41 the motor vehicle dealer, describe in writing to the motor
42 vehicle dealer in this state which describes, in detail, how the
43 performance measurement criteria were designed, calculated,
44 established, and uniformly applied.
45 (43) The applicant or licensee, or a common entity thereof,
46 has engaged in an action, or implemented a policy, standard,
47 rule, practice, or program, taken as retaliation against a motor
48 vehicle dealer because the dealer invoked a statutory right
49 created by ss. 320.60-320.70, asserted that the applicant,
50 licensee, or common entity has acted in a manner that violates a
51 provision of ss. 320.60-320.70, or has testified, assisted, or
52 participated in any manner in an investigation, a proceeding, or
53 a hearing that may directly affect the applicant, licensee, or
54 common entity.
55
56 A motor vehicle dealer who can demonstrate that a violation of,
57 or failure to comply with, any of the preceding provisions by an
58 applicant or licensee will or may adversely and pecuniarily
59 affect the complaining dealer, shall be entitled to pursue all
60 of the remedies, procedures, and rights of recovery available
61 under ss. 320.695 and 320.697.
62 Section 2. Subsection (3) of section 320.641, Florida
63 Statutes, is amended to read:
64 320.641 Discontinuations, cancellations, nonrenewals,
65 modifications, and replacement of franchise agreements.—
66 (3) Any motor vehicle dealer who receives a notice of
67 intent to discontinue, cancel, not renew, modify, or replace
68 may, within the 90-day notice period, file a petition or
69 complaint for a determination of whether such action is an
70 unfair or prohibited discontinuation, cancellation, nonrenewal,
71 modification, or replacement. Agreements and certificates of
72 appointment must shall continue in effect until final
73 determination of the issues raised in such petition or complaint
74 by the motor vehicle dealer. A discontinuation, cancellation, or
75 nonrenewal of a franchise agreement is unfair if it is not
76 clearly permitted by the franchise agreement; is not undertaken
77 in good faith; is not undertaken for good cause; or is not based
78 on a material and substantial an alleged breach of the franchise
79 agreement by the motor vehicle dealer which is not in fact a
80 material and substantial breach; or, if the grounds relied upon
81 for termination, cancellation, or nonrenewal have not been
82 applied in a uniform and consistent manner by the licensee. If
83 the notice of discontinuation, cancellation, or nonrenewal
84 relates to an alleged failure of the new motor vehicle dealer’s
85 sales or service performance obligations under the franchise
86 agreement, the new motor vehicle dealer must first be provided
87 with at least 180 days to correct the alleged failure before a
88 licensee may send the notice of discontinuation, cancellation,
89 or nonrenewal. A modification or replacement is unfair if it is
90 not clearly permitted by the franchise agreement; is not
91 undertaken in good faith; or is not undertaken for good cause.
92 The applicant or licensee has shall have the burden of proof
93 that such discontinuation, cancellation, nonrenewal,
94 modification, or replacement action is fair and not prohibited.
95 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.
96
97 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
98 And the title is amended as follows:
99 Delete everything before the enacting clause
100 and insert:
101 A bill to be entitled
102 An act relating to motor vehicle manufacturers and
103 franchised motor vehicle dealers; amending s. 320.64,
104 F.S.; prohibiting an applicant or a licensee, or a
105 common entity thereof, from establishing,
106 implementing, or enforcing certain criteria for
107 measuring the sales or service performance of its
108 franchised motor vehicle dealers unless certain
109 conditions are met; prohibiting an applicant or a
110 licensee, or a common entity thereof, from engaging in
111 an action that is taken as retaliation against a motor
112 vehicle dealer under certain circumstances; amending
113 s. 320.641, F.S.; revising the circumstances in which
114 a discontinuation, cancellation, nonrenewal,
115 modification, or replacement of a franchise agreement
116 is deemed unfair; providing an effective date.