Hollywood delegation briefs commission on 2025 Florida session; septic-to-sewer law, vetoes and local appropriations highlighted

State legislators who represent parts of Hollywood reviewed the outcomes of the 2025 Florida legislative session during the July 2 City Commission meeting, outlining new laws, budget figures and items that will affect the city.

Senator Barbara Sharif, Representative Marie Woodson and Representative Hillary Cassell each spoke about enacted measures, local appropriations and vetoed funding. They said a recently signed statewide budget and several bills contain provisions that will matter locally, even as some Hollywood requests were cut by line-item veto.

Senator Barbara Sharif said Governor Ron DeSantis signed a $117.4 billion state budget on June 30 with about $567 million in line-item vetoes; she said one of Hollywood’s public-safety barrier projects was among the vetoed items but pledged to keep advocating for the city in the 2026 session. Sharif also summarized HB 7031, a broad tax-relief package with sales-tax holidays and a phased reduction of the commercial lease sales tax, and pointed to education, mental-health and coastal resiliency investments that took effect July 1.

Representative Marie Woodson listed several bills she sponsored that were signed into law, including a bill to cover out-of-pocket costs for diagnostic and supplemental breast examinations in the state group insurance plan, a measure to limit deceptive ‘‘advertising’’ by those who pose as attorneys, and a sewer-collection bill that Woodson said will help Hollywood address septic-to-sewer conversions. She told commissioners she is working to recover two appropriations that were vetoed and encouraged the commission to contact her office for details on the vetoed items.

Representative Hillary Cassell highlighted HB 1123 — described to the commission as a septic-to-sewer measure keyed to Hollywood’s situation — and said she secured $48 million in the state budget for Hollywood projects, including funds targeted at Joe DiMaggio Hospital and an adult day care center project that commissioners said they had pursued. Cassell also said the legislature allocated $20 million for Jewish day school security and passed legislation directing a better statewide review of school-based mental-health spending.

Cassell described the work to pass HB 1123 as “a labor of love,” saying staff-level outreach in Tallahassee was crucial to winning committee support and that the governor has signed the bill. She told the commission the legislation changes statutory language that previously limited the city’s ability to invest in sewer infrastructure and now returns discretion to the city to pursue sewer conversion projects.

Why it matters: Commissioners said the bills and appropriations will directly affect Hollywood’s capital planning and public-safety and social-service priorities. Several commissioners praised the delegation’s work on funding for seniors, foster-student housing prioritization, and the adult day care center the commission has been pursuing.

Commissioners followed the updates with brief remarks of appreciation and occasional questions about specific appropriations. The legislators encouraged city staff and commissioners to continue outreach in Tallahassee and to contact their offices for follow-up on vetoed items and the details of project-specific appropriations.