Power Plays and Policy Shifts: Florida’s 2025 Legislative Session Recap

The 2025 Florida Legislative Session was anything but typical, marked by extended budget negotiations, political power shifts, and fierce policy debates. Led by Katherine Scott Webb and Amanda Fraser, our team breaks down what passed, what didn’t, and what’s next for the industries we serve.

Session Overview

Florida’s 60-day Legislative Session convened on March 4^th and was scheduled to end on May 2^nd.  The Session was extended to focus on budget negotiations until the end of June, and was ultimately adjourned Sine Die on Jun 16^th after passing a $115.1 billion budget for FY 25-26. This Sine Die came 45 days late, largely due to the intense political fighting that has taken place between the chambers. The budget was sent to Governor DeSantis on June 27^th, and he acted on June 30^th, issuing $1.35 billion in line-item vetoes compared to a total of $950 million in FY 24-25 and $510 million in FY 23-24. The budget went into effect with the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.

For comparison:

• The current FY 24-25 budget is $117.4 billion
• The Governor’s recommended budget for 25-26 was $115.6 billion
• The House’s first budget for FY 25-26 was $112.95 billion
• The Senate’s first budget for FY 25-26 was $117.36 billion

The Legislature also announced dates for the next Session and 6 committee weeks, which are set to start in October.

This year, the budget wasn’t the only issue causing animosity. This is the first year for House Speaker Danny Perez (R-Miami) and Senate President Ben Albritton (R-Bartow) to preside at the rostrum. The Session got off to a rocky start with a series of Special Sessions on immigration policy that resulted in a power struggle between the Governor’s office and the Legislature. Ultimately, they came to an agreement in the third and final Special Session and the legislature passed a bill that the Governor signed, but not without controversy and rancor. This seemingly set the tone for the overall Session and took up a majority of the interim committee weeks that are typically used for preparing for the upcoming Session and ultimately put hinderance on filing and hearing bills.

Another uncommon happenstance that occurred this Session was the amount of party-flipping that occurred. While it is not entirely unprecedented for politicians to change parties, we did see it occur more this Session than usual. Following the November elections, Republicans held strong super-majorities in both chambers – the House was comprised of 86 Republicans and 34 Democrats, and the Senate was comprised of 28 Republicans and 12 Democrats. However, at the start of Session, 2 Democrat House Representatives – Rep. Valdes (Tampa) & Rep. Cassel (Hollywood) – switched to the Republican party, and near the end of Session, the Senate Minority Leader – Sen. Pizzo (Hollywood) – resigned as Democratic leader and switched to NPA.

Legislation Overview

During the 2025 Session, the legislature filed a total of 1,982 bills and passed 254 bills, which is an overall passage rate of 12.81%.

Bills of Interest that Passed:

• Recovery of Damages for Medical Negligence Resulting in Death (HB 6017) – This bill removes the provision that precluded certain persons from recovering damages for medical negligence resulting in death.
• Condominium and Cooperative Associations (HB 913) – This bill prohibits a person whose manager license is revoked from having an indirect or direct interest in a management firm for a specified timeframe; requires a licensee to provide specific information on his or her online licensure account; requires a community association management firm to identify on its online licensure account the community association managers it employs to provide community association management services.
• Boating Safety (HB 289) – This bill revises & provides penalties for vessel collisions, accidents, casualties, reckless operation, & providing false information in specified reports; provides minimum mandatory prison term for BUI manslaughter.
• Pet Insurance (HB 655) – This bill requires pet insurers to make certain disclosures to pet insurance applicants & policyholders, authorizes and prohibits pet insurers of certain acts.

Bills of Interest that Did Not Pass:

• PIP Repeal (SB 1256/HB 1181) – The House bill made it through 2 of 3 committee references, the Senate bill was never considered.
• Repeal of Transparency in Damages (HB 947/SB 1520) – This bill passed the House, the Senate bill was never considered, however the House later added the language to an agriculture priority bill of the Senate President (SB 832).
• Repeal of One-Way Attorney Fees/Implementation of Prevailing Party Fees (HB 1551/SB 426) – The House bill made it through 2 of 3 committee references, the Senate bill was never considered, however the House later added the language to an agriculture priority bill of the Senate President (SB 832).
• Repeal of Safe Harbor Provisions in 3rd Party Bad Faith Claims – This language was never filed as a standalone bill, however the House later amended it onto HB 1047 and HB 881).
• Prohibition on using AI in Claims Review (SB 794/HB 1555) – The Senate bill made it through 1 of 3 committees, but different versions of this language was added to multiple bills throughout Session.
• OIR agency bill (SB 1656/HB 1429) – The House bill was temporarily postponed a few times in committee and the Senate bill only made it through 1 of 3 committees.
• DFS agency bill (SB 1522/HB 1281) – Neither of these bills were heard this year.
• DFS Consumer Protection bill (SB 1428/HB 881) – The House bill was amended with a repeal of the safe harbor provisions in 3rd party bad faith claims, the Senate bill was temporarily postponed in committee.
• Diligent Effort/Surplus Lines bill (SB 1184/HB 643) – While these bills didn’t pass, a version of the diligent effort language did pass when it was amended to HB 1549
• EV Towing bill (SB 872/HB 577) – While the House version passed, the Senate bill only made it through 2 of the 3 committees of reference.
• TNC insurance bill (SB 1206/HB 315) – The House bill was temporarily postponed in committee and the Senate bill only made it through 1 of 3 committees of reference.

As we look ahead to the 2026 Session, our team is already preparing for the upcoming committee weeks beginning in October. Colodny Fass remains actively engaged in Tallahassee, advocating for our clients and monitoring developments across industries. We’ll continue to provide timely updates as the legislative landscape evolves.