TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – After the Senate scaled back its version of the bill, a House committee Monday postponed consideration of a measure that would limit the authority of local governments to regulate vacation-rental properties.
The House Ways & Means Committee was slated to take up the controversial proposal (HB 219), but Chairman Bobby Payne, R-Palatka, announced the postponement without further explanation.
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Lawmakers have repeatedly considered similar bills in recent years but have faced heavy opposition from local governments.
The House bill, for example, would prevent local ordinances or regulations requiring licensure or inspections of vacation rental properties. Regulation of vacation rentals would be allowed if such regulation also would apply to all residential properties — a concept that local governments have fought.
The postponement came after the Senate Appropriations Committee on March 11 watered down the Senate version (SB 522), including stripping out a provision that would have blocked local governments’ ability to license and inspect the properties. At the time, sponsor Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah, described the legislation as “clearly a work in progress.”