Orlando staff summarizes major 2025 legislative changes; warns of property-tax reforms ahead

Kyle Shepherd, the city’s director of intergovernmental relations, told the Orlando City Council on July 14 that the 2025 Florida Legislature held an unusually long session and that a limited number of bills among nearly 2,000 filed will materially affect Orlando.

Shepherd said the regular session ran 105 days, from March 4 to June 16, and produced roughly 269 final bills this year. “It was the longest session that I’ve ever seen,” he said, adding that the city tracked roughly 426 bills and found 116 with some impact on Orlando.

Why it matters: Shepherd said most of the measures that passed are narrowly targeted but several carry direct operational or budgetary effects for cities. He singled out changes to emergency-management law, new historic‑demolition penalties, adjustments to plat and land‑use review, and an ongoing state push to reduce local property taxes that could reach county and city levies next year.

Key measures Shepherd summarized include: - SB 180 (emergency management): requires minimum emergency‑management training hours for specified local staff, mandates online storm‑preparation/recovery information, and requires post‑storm permitting plans; it bars local governments from increasing building‑permit or inspection fees for 180 days after a state of emergency and prohibits adoption of more restrictive land‑development regulations for one year after a hurricane’s landfall. The…