Chris Dawson, Attorney, GrayRobinson Law Firm
The Governor recently wrapped up the policy work of the 2021 legislative session with the approval of a handful of construction industry related bills. With this action, Florida’s Legislature officially turns its eyes to the 2022 legislative session, which informally begins with committee weeks this fall and officially kicks off in early January. A pair of FRSA high priority bills were among those recently approved by the Governor: HB 53 Public Works by Representative Nick DiCeglie (R – Largo) and HB 401 Florida Building Code by Representative Elizabeth Fetterhoff (R – DeLand). The gubernatorial approval of these bills caps off a very productive legislative session with significant movement on construction policy. Let’s take a look at these two important bills that have now become Florida law.
HB 53 is a continuation of legislative efforts first introduced by Representative Jayer Williamson (R – Pace) and Senator Keith Perry (R – Gainesville) during the 2017 legislative session aimed at reducing local mandates in the procurement of public construction services. This year’s bill expands upon the 2017 effort by preventing local governments from utilizing mandates or local preference policies to prevent Florida licensed contractors from bidding on public works where the project is valued over $1 million AND where at least $1 (one dollar) of the funding comes from state revenues. The types of local preferences prohibited
by this legislation on applicable public works projects include those blocking participation in the bidding process based on the geographic location of a contractor’s headquarters or offices or the residences of its employees. Senator Jason Brodeur (R – Lake Mary) served as the sponsor this year in the Florida Senate.
An omnibus Florida Building Code (FBC) bill is a fairly common sight in Tallahassee during session, but these bills take a lot of legislative muscle and don’t often make it to final passage. This year, however, a robust effort found success in the form of HB 401. Again, Senator Jason Brodeur (R – Lake Mary) served as the prime Senate sponsor. The legislation made a number of significant improvements to the FBC process, including the following:
■ Allows a substantially affected person to petition the Commission for a non-binding advisory opinion on whether a local government regulation is an improper amendment to the Building Code.
■ Allows the Commission to issue an “errata to the code” or a list of demonstrated errors in the Building Code.
■ Requires the Commission to adopt rules for approving product evaluation entities in addition to the ones already listed and approved in current law and clarifies that the Commission may suspend product evaluation entities.
FRSA is proud to have been involved in championing both of these bills and extends thanks to the Governor and legislative sponsors for their support of these important industry priorities.
Chris Dawson is an Attorney and professional Lobbyist for GrayRobinson’s Orlando office and is licensed to practice law in both Florida and Alabama. He primarily focuses on lobbying and government relations for public and private sector clients at the executive and legislative levels of state government. He is credentialed as a Designated Professional Lobbyist by the
Florida Association of Professional Lobbyists. Chris also holds two degrees in Civil Engineering and has experience in construction litigation and design professional malpractice defense.