All Roll Calls
Yes: 151 • No: 0
FloridaHB 40412025HouseWALLET
Collier County
Sponsored By: Lauren Melo (Republican)
Signed by Governor
AppropriationIntergovernmental Affairs SubcommitteeWays & Means CommitteeState Affairs CommitteeRules
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
18 provisions identified: 8 benefits, 2 costs, 8 mixed.
District can take some private property
The district can use eminent domain, the government's power to take property, subject to the act's limits. A taking outside district boundaries needs prior approval by resolution from the county or city where it occurs. The district cannot take municipal, county, state, or federal property.
District property taxes require resident approval
Property-tax authority starts only after all supervisors are resident-elected qualified voters and a majority voting in a general-election referendum approves it. The district can issue general obligation bonds, with outstanding principal generally capped at 35% of assessed taxable property value. Exceptions apply to bonds also backed by sufficient assessments or water or sewer revenues. Capital-project bonds generally need voter approval, except refunding bonds. Once authorized, taxes needed to repay these bonds have no rate or amount limit; district debt is not county or state debt.
Homebuyers must get district cost warnings
Initial sale contracts for district parcels or homes must warn that district taxes and assessments can add to other charges. The warning must be bold, conspicuous, in larger type, and immediately before the buyer's signature space. The district must also disclose improvement financing and maintenance information to current and prospective residents and provide it to developers. Developers must include that disclosure in public offering statements when legally required. The district must record disclosure documents in county property records and maintain a website by its first full fiscal year's end.
Local habitat and cleanup authority expands
The district can create or maintain wetlands, wildlife habitat, observation areas, and environmental mitigation areas. It can also pay to investigate and clean up actual or suspected contamination within its boundaries. A government authority must supervise or direct the cleanup. District funds cannot cover costs benefiting a landowner who caused or contributed to the contamination. The law sets no funding amount and requires no specific project.
Public budgets and audits for residents
The manager must propose a budget by July 15; the board must hold a public hearing and adopt it before October 1. Collier County must receive the proposal at least 60 days before adoption and can submit written comments. Hearing notices must run weekly for two consecutive weeks, starting at least 15 days before the hearing. A Florida-resident treasurer holds district funds, and payments require board approval and two authorized signatures. Independent accountants must audit district records, and the district must submit annual financial and public facilities reports.
County keeps control over local development
Collier County keeps planning, zoning, development-permit, and land-development authority within the district. The district cannot take over those powers. Outside its boundaries, the district needs express authority in its charter or state law. Within Collier County, that outside activity also needs an interlocal agreement or applicable county development authority. Agreed projects inside or outside the district must follow current local comprehensive plans.
District can provide local school buildings
The district can provide school buildings and related facilities for the education system. Leasing, selling, or donating them to the school district requires school-board approval. The law does not require construction or set funding for a school project.
District can build roads and transit
The district can provide roads meeting or exceeding county standards, plus sidewalks, bike lanes, trails, lighting, parking, and signals. Its powers include buses, trolleys, rail access, transit shelters, and ridesharing facilities. It can also build bridges, culverts, wildlife corridors, and crossings over canals, drains, and floodways. The law requires no particular project and sets no cost or construction schedule.
District gets project and fee-credit tools
The district can buy, sell, or lease property, seek grants and loans, hire professionals, and work with other governments. Consultant contracts must follow applicable public bidding or competitive negotiation rules. It can agree with governments or landowner developers on impact-fee, mobility-fee, or similar credits, then sell or transfer them. Its service powers also cover waste collection, communications infrastructure, and electrical, renewable-energy, and green infrastructure projects. Existing franchise limits apply, including limits on competing retail communications service.
District bonds gain investment tax advantages
District bonds, their interest, and specified project revenues receive state and local tax exemptions to the extent general law allows. Florida corporate income-tax rules still apply to interest, income, or profits on the debt, and sales-tax rules still apply to the district. The bonds qualify as legal investments for specified financial institutions, fiduciaries, insurers, and public bodies. Banks and trust companies can use them to secure public deposits, and insurers can use them for required deposits. The state pledges not to impair the district's contractual rights with bondholders.
District customers can face service charges
The district can borrow money and impose taxes, assessments, fees, and user charges only as the act allows. Service bills can include water, sewer, reclaimed-water, recreation, and connection charges. Rates must cover operations, maintenance, and pledged debt payments. The district can disconnect service for nonpayment and seek collection, including interest and attorney fees. Maintenance taxes need authorization under general law, and property taxes face separate resident-election and referendum requirements.
District staffing, retirement, and landowner ties
The board must hire a manager, set the manager's pay, and approve needed hiring or firing authority. District employees can receive Florida Retirement System coverage if the district applies; coverage is not automatic. Board members, managers, and employees can work for or own stock in district landowners or their affiliates. Those ties alone do not violate the cited state conflict-of-interest rules.
Public recreation access can carry fees
The district can provide parks and indoor or outdoor recreation, cultural, and educational facilities. Infrastructure owned by the district or funded through its federal tax-exempt bonds is public. The district can set reasonable use rules and fees, but it cannot deny reasonable public access. The law requires no specific facility and sets no fee amount.
District landowners can face assessment liens
The district can levy special assessments for authorized purposes, including costs tied to county assessments on district land. Assessments require an engineer's cost report, benefit-based allocation, a preliminary roll, public notice, and a hearing. Owners can challenge benefits before the board confirms the final roll. Confirmed assessments become property liens with the same priority as county and school tax liens and use state tax-roll collection methods. Prepayment provisions and credits for completed improvements costing less than estimated are required; no assessment amount is set.
Water services can bring land assessments
The district can provide water, sewer, wastewater, reclaimed-water, stormwater, and irrigation systems. Its utility powers remain subject to Immokalee Water and Sewer District's systems and cannot harm that district's bond agreements. Both districts must work in good faith to address harmful effects. Water-management work funded through benefit assessments requires adopted plans and legal assessment procedures, and benefiting landowners can pay assessments. The law does not promise service or set rates or assessment amounts.
District security, pest control, and towing
With proper government authorization, the district can provide security systems, patrol vehicles, and contracts for added security. It can also control mosquitoes and other public-health pests. The district can hire operators to tow vehicles or boats from district property, following required authorization, notice, and procedures. Towing contracts avoid public bidding only when the operator is on the responsible local government's approved list. Owners can face towing costs; the law sets no amount.
New local government for Corkscrew Grove
The law creates the Corkscrew Grove Stewardship District over 4,662.710 acres upon becoming law, without a separate creation vote. Its five-member board serves four-year terms, with landowners initially voting by acreage. Seats shift to resident elections at qualified-voter counts of 3,600; 6,600; 9,600; 10,600; and 12,000. Annual voter counts guide that shift, and resident elections use nonpartisan November general elections. The district also receives compatible community development district powers added to state law after January 1, 2025. Municipal inclusion does not end its authority. After all participating districts approve and file a merger agreement, Collier County must pass an ordinance dissolving those districts.
Project borrowing can raise long-term charges
The district can issue revenue bonds without a dollar cap, backed by project income, user charges, assessments, or other security. Voter approval is unnecessary unless the district also pledges its full faith, credit, and taxing power. Additional bonds can cover project shortfalls under the original authorization terms. Refunding can replace debt due now, callable within 10 years, or surrendered at board-approved prices; constitutional voting requirements still apply. Bonds can run up to 40 years, anticipation notes up to five years, and specified assessment debt until two years after the last assessment installment.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Lauren Melo
Republican • House
Cosponsors
Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittee
Affiliation unavailable
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 4/30/2025
Senate Floor Vote
Yes: 36 • No: 0
House vote • 4/24/2025
House Floor Vote
Yes: 115 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Chapter No. 2025-237
7/8/2025Approved by Governor
6/23/2025Signed by Officers and presented to Governor
6/18/2025Ordered enrolled
4/30/2025HouseIn Messages
4/30/2025HouseCS passed; YEAS 36 NAYS 0 -SJ 739
4/30/2025SenateRead 3rd time -SJ 739
4/30/2025SenateRead 2nd time -SJ 739
4/30/2025SenatePlaced on Calendar, on 2nd reading -SJ 736
4/30/2025SenateWithdrawn from Rules -SJ 736
4/30/2025SenateReceived
4/24/2025SenateReferred to Rules
4/24/2025SenateIn Messages
4/24/2025SenateCS passed; YEAS 115, NAYS 0
4/24/2025HouseRead 3rd time
4/24/2025HouseAdded to Third Reading Calendar
4/24/2025HousePlaced on 3rd reading
4/24/2025HouseRead 2nd time
4/24/2025HouseBill added to Special Order Calendar (4/24/2025)
4/17/2025HouseAdded to Second Reading Calendar
4/8/2025HouseBill released to House Calendar
4/8/2025HouseReported out of State Affairs Committee
4/8/2025HouseFavorable by State Affairs Committee
4/8/2025HouseAdded to State Affairs Committee agenda
4/4/2025HouseNow in State Affairs Committee
4/2/2025House
Bill Text
er
7/8/2025
c1
3/27/2025
Filed
2/24/2025