This is Seeking Rents, a newsletter and podcast devoted to producing independent journalism about Florida politics, with an emphasis on the ways that big businesses and other special interests influence public policy in the state. Seeking Rents is produced by veteran investigative journalist Jason Garcia, and it is free to all. But you can support my work by becoming a paid subscriber and/or by making a one-time donation.
Welcome to another installment of Florida in Five: Five* stories you need to read from the past week in Florida politics.
More than a year after it passed, a deceptive state law pushed by lobbyists for developers continues to wreak havoc in communities across Florida.
The latest example came last week in Orlando, where a Ron DeSantis-appointed judge dissolved an Orange County ordinance intended to stop suburban-style housing development on 1,300 acres of cattle pasture that are closer to I-95 than downtown Orlando.
The ordinance, Circuit Court Judge Brian Sandor ruled, was illegal under Senate Bill 180, a 2025 state law that was billed as a way to help Floridians rebuild their homes after hurricanes — but that has instead been used by real-estate developers to gut local growth management rules enacted by cities, counties and towns all over the state.
The conflict in Orange County centers on an effort led by Dallas-based Columnar Investments to build a nearly 2,000-home community called “Sustanee” on the far eastern edge of Orlando. Orange County commissioners narrowly rejected the proposal in January 2024 following a marathon meeting that dragged on until 1 in the morning as nearly 100 residents turned out to testify against it.
It was, according to the Orlando Sentinel, at least the seventh attempt in the last 15 years to develop the property, which had been years ago included in a special “rural study area” that enables the property owners to pursue development at much higher densities than are typically allowed on rural land.
Following the latest high-stakes showdown, Orange County leaders tried to put an end to the issue once and for all by voting in May 2025 to remove the Sustanee property from the rural study area.
But Senate Bill 180 — which was signed into law a month after Orange County acted — temporarily forbids local governments in Florida from making any changes to development rules that are “more restrictive or burdensome” than the status quo. And the Florida Legislature made the prohibition retroactive to August 2024.
So Columnar Investments and its partners sued, arguing that Orange County’s action had been made illegal by Senate Bill 180. The trial court agreed, issuing a ruling last week that declared the vote to remove the Sustanee property from the rural study area — and strip it of the higher-density development rights — was now null and void.
Orange County is hardly the only community still struggling with a law that has effectively frozen growth management across Florida until at least August 2027 — a date that could be extended by another year should another hurricane strike the state before then.
An hour northeast of Orlando, another judge ruled earlier this month that the city of Palm Coast cannot raise impact fees needed to finance new roads, fire stations and parks because of Senate Bill 180. City leaders say they will appeal the ruling, which arose from a lawsuit filed by the Flagler County Homebuilders Association and a group of local developers.
Meanwhile, the nearby community of Edgewater has been considering a local ordinance or charter amendment that would require developers to use Florida-native plants in landscaping. But any measure will have to be delayed until Senate Bill 180 either expires or is repealed.
And across the state on the Gulf Coast, residents of Treasure Island will vote this fall on a petition-driven ballot measure that would require future planned developments to be approved by a supermajority vote of the city commission, rather than a simple majority. But the city attorney is already warning that the proposal could be blocked by Senate Bill 180.
Senate Bill 180 is even interfering with the tiniest details of local development codes.
For instance, the town of Surfside in south Florida made a series of changes in October 2024 meant to limit the size of new homes by, among other things, increasing sideyard setbacks and constraining the surface area of second floors. But a group of homeowners and home flippers who want to tear down and rebuild on their lots challenged the new rules after Senate Bill 180 passed, arguing that even those changes were retroactively barred by the bill.
Rather than litigate, Surfside has been settling the suits and allowing the owners to build under the old rules.
Think about that for a moment. Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature are now effectively dictating details like the minimum floor area ratios in a beachfront town more than 500 miles from Tallahassee.
Lawmakers have repeatedly insisted that all of this was unintentional and that they were simply trying to make sure that Floridians could rebuild their homes and businesses after a big storm without their local government moving the regulatory goalposts. But they have also failed to fix the legislation.
The Florida Senate did approve legislation earlier this year that would have undone the worst parts of Senate Bill 180. But the Florida House of Representatives refused to do anything. The most powerful person in the chamber — incoming House Speaker Sam Garrison (R-Fleming Island) — even manipulated procedural rules to avoid votes on the issue near the end of the 2026 session.
A few weeks later, Garrison’s fundraising committee deposited a combined $75,000 in donations from Pat Neal, a Sarasota homebuilder and Republican megadonor who has been wielding Senate Bill 180 in Manatee County.
Would you like to support Seeking Rents without becoming a subscriber?
Already a paid subscriber but want to do more to help sustain my work?
Click below to make a one-time donation.
Of course, some of Garrison’s fellow House members seem grateful to have ducked that vote.
Rep. Bill Conerly, a Republican from Manatee County, even told attendees at a recent candidate forum in Lakewood Ranch that the best course of action is to simply sit around and do nothing for another year because the land-planning handcuffs in Senate Bill 180 will eventually come off.
“You don’t need to do anything,” he said, according to The Observer, a community news outlet in Sarasota. “The bill sunsets in 2027.”
Provided, of course, another storm doesn’t hit before then.
Upcoming events
I will be moderating a town hall discussion on Amendment 3 — the proposed constitutional amendment that would sharply cut and cap local government property tax collections — on Tuesday, Sept. 1, in Winter Garden.
The town hall is being organized by Orange County Commissioner Nicole Wilson and state Rep. Leonard Spencer (D-Gotha) and will include city and town managers from several municipalities around west Orange County. It will be held at West Orange High School and starts at 6 pm.
If you’re interested in attending, click here to register.
I will also be participating in a panel discussion organized by the Space Coast Progressive Alliance about all the constitutional amendments on the November ballot — though Amendment 3 will no doubt dominate much of that discussion, too.
That one will be held on the evening of Thursday, Sept. 3, at the Unitarian Universalist Church in West Melbourne. It starts at 6:30 and will also be live-streamed.
*To paraphrase Barbossa, five is more what you’d call a guideline than an actual rule.
All about Angie
The Left Notches Another Win With This Secret Weapon: Old-Fashioned Organizing (New York Times) ($)
See also: Why a stunning democratic socialist win in Florida is different (Washington Post) ($)
See also: Florida’s Angie Nixon isn’t the socialist you’ve heard about (Axios)
See also: Angie Nixon Goes on Trial in September. She Just Won Florida’s Senate Primary. (Mother Jones)
See also: Bernie Sanders endorses Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate in Florida (Florida Phoenix)
See also: 1-on-1 with Angie Nixon after her Florida primary win, what’s next in race for Senate (CBS Miami)
Election aftermath
Data center concerns unseat council members in local Florida election (Treasure Coast Newspapers) ($)
See also: Jolly, Nixon share the top of the Florida Democratic ticket. Can they co-exist? (Miami Herald) ($)
See also: Byron Donalds performed worse in white, rural parts of Florida (Tampa Bay Times) ($)
See also: Surprise Wins in Florida Primaries Will Test the Future of State’s Black Political Power (Capital B)
See also: Florida school board at the center of culture wars loses conservative majority (Washington Post) ($)
See also: What a Democratic win on Jax City Council means for Duval County (Jacksonville Today)
See also: Sarasota, Manatee voters deal a blow to grassroots candidates in primary (Suncoast Searchlight)
See also: Slow-Growth Candidates Sweep St. Johns Commission Races Despite DeSantis Endorsements (St. Johns Citizen)
The big November battle
With primary in past, Florida voters now face choice on property tax changes (USA Today Network - Florida) ($)
See also: How does Miami-Dade spend a dollar of your property taxes? We did the math (Miami Herald) ($)
See also: Wakulla County releases plan to combat potential budget impacts if Amendment 3 passes (WCTV)
See also: If Amendment 3 passes, Florida Keys could see revenue ‘shortfall’, less money for firefighters (WLRN)
The seas are rising, the days are getting hotter, and flooding is becoming worse. And Florida is censoring textbooks.
How Florida is challenging climate change in textbooks, while quietly updating its science standards (WUSF)
See also: Climate Change Reshuffles Where People Are Moving in Florida
See also: Regulators Roundtable: Documents reveal GOPAC’s secretive influence network for utility commissioners (Energy and Policy Institute)
See also: Duke Energy tries to disqualify consumer group from Florida data center hearings (Tampa Bay Times) ($)
See also: Project Tango Take 2: Next hearing would be before a special magistrate (Stet News)
See also: Split decision: St. Johns County certifies two agricultural enclaves, delays third vote (News 4 Jax)
Turning a blind eye to a monster
Caruso’s old sexual abuse allegations are easy to find. Why didn’t DeSantis know? (Miami Herald) ($)
See also: Child deserves privacy.’ DeSantis faces heat for outing victim in Caruso sex case (Miami Herald) ($)
Perspectives
Florida’s primaries are a scam when voters are shut out (Orlando Sentinel) ($)
Florida university’s plan for flight school in national forest is plane crazy (Florida Phoenix)
Uthmeier’s absurd new First Amendment attack (South Florida Sun Sentinel) ($)
Nixon’s win puts a spotlight on Democratic Party donors (Palm Beach Post) ($)
That Stunning Florida Senate Win (The American Prospect)
Please check out the area of Seminole County, “The Last of the Longwood Farms” where the City of Longwood is considering annexing 52 acres with 23.5 of them wetlands that will be completely removed to make way for 100 2 million dollar homes on a storm retention pond that will be marketed as a ski lake, by a developer with a poor track record of making food on promises, or even paying his vendors. All for the promise of a “free pool” for the city, on land the developer doesn't even own. Commissioners McMillan and Sackett appear to be for this potential development, while Mayor Boni has met with the developer back and forth for several years to work a deal. City staff know this project is not right, but the commissioners who are allowing this application to be seriously considered only see dollar signs. The property is half of an already established neighborhood of five acre home sites with no access but that private easement and if they cut the platted subdivision in two to allow this tragedy the neighboring streets will absolutely flood.
Thanks for the updates Jason!
The Tampa Bay Times article about Byron Donalds presents some interesting revelations that I had already been wondering about with regards to Byron's electability here. That was a risky call by the Republicans, especially at a time when the party nationally has been attacking black and brown Americans every chance they get. Add to that the fact that there are sadly still some pretty big pockets of white racists in rural Florida, most of whom are registered Republicans, and their problems just compound.
As far as the property tax amendment, didn't a judge recently pump the brakes on that one? Or did he just force them to rewrite it so it's slightly less deceptive?