Florida Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Florida, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Can a Florida county require building permits for temporary lodging used during agritourism events on a working farm?
No. If the lodging is part of a bona fide agritourism activity (such as equestrian competitions on a working farm), Florida law preempts counties from imposing building permits or site plan requiremen…
Does Florida's law on selling or leasing municipal hospitals (§ 155.40) apply when a city transfers hospital assets to a state university?
No. Section 155.40 only governs sales or leases of municipal hospitals to for-profit or not-for-profit Florida entities. A state university is a state agency, a governmental entity, and is not a for-p…
Can a Florida town pass an ordinance requiring stores to submit a shopping cart retention plan or install a cart-retention system?
No. Florida law (§ 506.5131) expressly preempts municipal ordinances that require retailers to submit shopping cart retention plans, allow the town to deny those plans, impose monetary penalties for n…
Are Florida laws that give racial preferences, use race-based classifications, or impose racial quotas unconstitutional?
Yes, in the Attorney General's view. The opinion concludes that Florida laws which mandate race-based state action, including affirmative action requirements (§ 110.112), minority contracting set-asid…
Can a Florida county invoke 'extraordinary circumstances' to raise impact fees above the 50% statutory cap based on steady population growth alone?
No. A 17% population increase over five years (about 3.4% annually) is steady, not extraordinary, and does not qualify as the 'extraordinary circumstances' that § 163.31801 requires before a county ca…
If a Florida city's road was dedicated by an old subdivision plat, who owns the underlying land, the city or the abutting property owner?
Under a common law dedication (which is what most pre-1935 plats created), the abutting landowner keeps title to the land under the road, subject only to the public's easement. That owner can petition…
After Florida's open carry ban was struck down in McDaniels, can private investigators, security officers, and repossession agents still be required to hold a Class G license or barred from carrying firearms while working?
Yes. The McDaniels decision invalidated Florida's general open carry ban for ordinary citizens but did not address the licensing and restrictions that apply to security professionals. Private investig…
Can the Miami City Commission move municipal elections from odd to even years, or change officials' terms of office, without a vote of the electorate?
No. Because Miami sits in Miami-Dade County, the 1885 Florida Constitution and the County's Home Rule Charter make the voter-referendum process the exclusive method for amending a municipal charter. T…
Can a Florida chief judge ban state attorneys and their investigators from carrying firearms in the courtroom?
No. State attorneys, assistant state attorneys, and their investigators are statutorily defined as law enforcement officers and are exempt from Chapter 790's restrictions when acting in the line of du…
Can a Florida university presidential search committee use a search firm to anonymously survey its members and rank candidates outside of a public meeting?
No. Florida's Sunshine Law applies to university presidential search committees, and using an outside firm to anonymously rank candidates is an 'evasive device' that circumvents public deliberation. A…
Under Florida law, does attaching a stabilizing brace to a pistol turn it into a 'short-barreled rifle'?
No. Under § 790.001(11), Fla. Stat., a 'short-barreled rifle' is defined by the firearm's fundamental design and operational characteristics, barrel length and overall length on a rifled-bore weapon i…
Can the owner of one townhouse unit in a four-unit building use the Florida owner-builder exemption to do their own construction work without a contractor's license?
No. The owner-builder exemption in § 489.103(7)(a)(1), Fla. Stat. applies only to one-family or two-family residences with a single owner. A townhouse unit in a four-unit building, owned separately fr…
Can a Florida circuit court clerk sell uncollected court-ordered debts (court costs, fines, attorney-fee liens) to a third-party debt buyer?
No. Section 28.246, Fla. Stat. lays out an exhaustive list of how clerks must pursue collection of court-ordered debts (in-house, payment plan, private attorney, or registered collection agent). Outri…
Can a Florida city use a zoning overlay to allow vacation rentals in only part of a residential neighborhood while banning them in the rest?
No. Florida law (§ 509.032(7)(b)) prohibits cities from regulating the 'frequency' of vacation rentals, and a zoning overlay that allows rentals in some areas but not others with the same base zoning …
Can a Florida county that collects under $10 million in tourist development tax revenue spend that money on design and engineering studies for a multi-use trail?
No. The AG concluded that section 125.0104(5)(b), which lets smaller counties spend TDT money to "construct" trails and similar projects, does not include design, engineering, or project development s…
Can a Florida school board refuse to follow a state law or Department of Health emergency rule it thinks is invalid, like the 2021 parental mask opt-out rule?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a Florida school district must comply with applicable statutes and regulations until a court declares them invalid. Article IX, Section 4(b)'s grant of authorit…
In Florida, can a non-voting mayor (who has veto power, presides over meetings, and joins debate) privately meet one-on-one with another councilmember to talk about an upcoming agenda item?
No. The Government in the Sunshine Law applies. Although the Mayor of Belle Isle does not vote on Council action, the Mayor's veto power, presiding role, and right to participate in deliberations make…
After the Governor's 2020 emergency order on remote local-government meetings expired, were Florida district school board advisory committees still allowed to meet remotely without an in-person quorum?
No. After the expiration of Executive Order 20-69, school board advisory committees were required to follow the same in-person quorum and physical-meeting-location rules that apply to the school board…
Can a Florida city ban the sale of vaping devices completely, or at least raise the legal sale age from 18 to 21?
A complete ban is preempted by section 775.082, Florida Statutes. But a Florida city can prohibit the sale of vaping devices to persons aged 18 to 20 (effectively setting a local age-21 minimum), as l…
Can a Florida hospital district that is the lessor of a hospital (but not the hospital's governing board) close its meeting under the public-hospital strategic-plan exemption?
No. The exemption from the Sunshine Law in section 395.3035(4)(a), Florida Statutes, applies only to meetings of the 'governing board' of a public hospital. The Marion County Hospital District identif…
Are dual-role public safety officers (who serve as both firefighters and law enforcement officers) eligible for Florida's firefighter cancer benefits?
Only if their primary responsibilities are firefighting. The AG read § 112.1816 to exclude dual-role officers whose predominant duties are law enforcement.
Are tattoo studios required to post Florida's human trafficking public awareness signs?
Yes. The AG read tattoo establishments as 'bodywork' businesses under § 787.29(3)(b), so they must post the public awareness sign; counties enforce by ordinance.
Does a Florida municipality have to file a separate document in the county records to enforce its statutory lien for unpaid water or other utility bills against a new property owner?
No filing is required. The Attorney General concluded that the lien created by section 159.17 and section 695.01(3), Florida Statutes, attaches without recording in the county records, and that the fi…
Can a Florida city run a temporary pilot program allowing some vacation rentals, then snap back to its pre-2011 total ban once the pilot ends?
No on the snap-back. The AG read § 509.032(7)(b) as preempting any post-2011 city regulation of vacation-rental duration or frequency; a sunset clause that would restore an earlier ban would itself be…
Can a Florida city require official military documentation of hours served before paying its employees for the up-to-240 hours of paid military leave under state law?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the City of Miami Beach may require its officers and employees to provide documentation of the hours they spent on military or National Guard duty for purposes…
During the COVID-19 emergency, can a Florida county or city commission hold its public meetings entirely by video or phone, or does someone have to be physically in the room?
Under existing law in March 2020, the AG concluded that local government bodies could conduct meetings by teleconference or other technological means only if (1) a statute specifically allowed members…
Can a Florida county use tourist development tax money to pay airfare and travel costs for travel writers and tour brokers to attend tourism promotion events?
No, not unless those travel writers or tour brokers are themselves traveling on official agency business under section 125.0104(9)(c). The AG read section 125.0104(9)(a) of the Local Option Tourist De…
After a Florida tax deed sale produces a surplus, do governmental lienholders lose their claim if they don't file a request for the surplus within 120 days?
No. The AG concluded that section 197.582 distinguishes between (a) governmental units holding liens of record against the property, who must be paid first from the surplus regardless of whether they …
Is Florida's Education Practices Commission, which disciplines teachers and school administrators, treated as a 'state agency' for purposes of the public records law, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the open-meetings rules?
Yes. The AG read the EPC as a state agency for purposes of chapter 119 (public records), chapter 120 (APA), and chapter 286 (open meetings).
Can a Florida city council move its municipal election day from a March date set by an old special law to November to align with state general elections, by ordinance and without holding a referendum?
Yes. Sections 100.3605(2), 101.75(3), and 166.021(4), Florida Statutes, authorize a municipality to move its election date by ordinance, even when an older special law specified the prior date. The 20…
Can a Florida county use its 'bed tax' (tourist development tax) to repair or improve a city-owned museum building that is operated as a museum by a for-profit company?
No. Section 125.0104(5)(a) authorizes tourist development tax revenue to be used only on museums that are 'publicly owned and operated' or 'owned and operated by not-for-profit organizations.' A publi…
Once a Florida city council has appointed itself as the governing board of its community redevelopment agency, can it later transfer that authority to a separate independent board?
No. The AG read Chapter 163 as authorizing the switch only in one direction (independent board to governing body), not the reverse.
If a Florida county wants to extend its 1% local sales surtax with a longer duration than the prior version, can it skip the costly performance audit that ordinarily comes before a surtax referendum?
No. The audit-exemption applies only when the new surtax matches the prior one in 'all material respects,' which the AG read to include duration if the prior surtax had one.
Can a Florida water control district let its landowners vote by mail (absentee ballot) for the three landowner-elected seats on its Board of Supervisors at the annual landowners' meeting?
AG Moody concluded in 2019 that there is no language in the District's charter or in Chapter 298, Florida Statutes, that authorizes voting by mail in district landowner elections. Section 298.11(2) ex…
Can a Florida public agency hire a third-party cybersecurity firm to do penetration testing on its computers, knowing that during the test the vendor might see records (like Social Security numbers and law enforcement officers' home addresses) that are confidential or exempt under Florida's public records law?
Yes, with conditions. The AG concluded that incidental access to confidential or exempt records during properly scoped penetration testing under a confidentiality agreement does not violate Chapter 11…
If a Florida city had a pre-2011 ordinance regulating vacation rentals (which is grandfathered from the state's preemption statute), can it amend that ordinance to allow vacation rentals in additional zoning districts without losing its grandfathered protection?
AG Moody concluded in 2019 that amending a pre-June 1, 2011 ordinance does not, by itself, destroy grandfathering for the unchanged provisions, but any new provision that prohibits vacation rentals or…
When a Florida municipality owns and operates an airport and leases hangar space to private aircraft owners purely for non-commercial storage, are those leasehold interests exempt from county ad valorem property tax?
Yes, when the hangars are leased to private aircraft owners purely for non-commercial storage. The AG read § 196.199(2)(a) as exempting those leaseholds; hangars leased to commercial, for-profit opera…
Can a Florida community development district divide itself into voting zones, with each zone electing one board member to ensure each subdivision within the district gets representation?
No. The AG read Chapter 190 as requiring board members to be 'qualified electors of the district' rather than of a zone; the Legislature, not the district, would have to authorize zoned elections.
Does Florida § 648.44(1)(b), which limits how bail bond agents can advertise and distribute information inside jails, prisons, detention centers, and courts, violate the First Amendment commercial-speech rights of bail bond agents?
AG staff declined to opine on a sitting statute's constitutionality, consistent with office policy. The letter noted § 648.44(1)(b) differs from the Texas statute struck down in Pruett.
Can a Florida county require businesses to use E-Verify as a condition of getting their local business tax receipt?
No. The AG read Chapter 205 as the exclusive grant of authority for the local business tax; E-Verify is not among the conditions the Legislature authorized counties to impose.
Can a non-charter county in Florida impose term limits on its county commissioners?
No. The Florida AG concluded in 2019 that non-charter counties have no constitutional or statutory authority to impose term limits on commissioners, and that the Legislature itself cannot grant that p…
Can a Florida nonprofit's board of directors put non-directors on a committee that exercises board authority?
No. The Florida AG concluded in 2019 that section 617.0825(1) lets a board designate committees only 'from among its members.' Outside (non-director) people cannot sit on a committee that exercises th…
Can a Florida county use tourist development tax (bed tax) money to add bicycle-friendly shoulders to a county road?
No, not under the small-county nature center option. The Florida AG concluded in 2019 that a paved scenic road, even one used by tourist cyclists, is not a 'nature center' under section 125.0104(5)(b)…
What is Florida's qualifying statute for the federal Rape Survivor Child Custody Act, and is it still in force?
Section 39.806(1)(m), Florida Statutes, enacted in 2013, is Florida's RSCCA-qualifying statute. The Florida AG's office certified in January 2019 that the statute had not been amended since enactment …
Can a Florida city or county pass its own ordinance regulating e-cigarettes, vaping, and nicotine sales, or has the Florida Legislature preempted local regulation?
The Florida AG concluded in 2019 that section 877.112 does not expressly or impliedly preempt local regulation of nicotine products. The word 'preemption' appears only in the section heading; the body…
Can a Florida county accept a notarized photocopy of a signed-and-sealed engineering or architecture document for permit review, instead of the original?
No. The Florida AG concluded in 2019 that a notary's attestation that a copy is 'true and correct' or that the original signature 'complies with state law' does not turn the copy into the legal equiva…
When Florida voters change a county school superintendent from an elected to an appointed position, can the school board immediately replace the sitting elected superintendent?
No. The Florida AG concluded in 2019 that Article IX, section 5 of the Florida Constitution does not contain the clear and unequivocal language needed to cut short an elected superintendent's four-yea…
If a Florida county mayor personally appoints a constituent advisory group, does the Sunshine Law require the group to meet in public?
It depends on what the group does, not who appointed it. The Florida AG concluded in 2019 that an advisory group formed by Broward County Mayor Mark Bogen would be subject to the Sunshine Law if it ma…
Can a Florida municipality allow homeowners to use accessory structures (like guesthouses or sleeping sheds) for sleeping but ban them from being rented out separately as vacation rentals?
Yes. The Florida AG concluded in 2018 that a sleeping-only accessory structure (no kitchen, no independent living facilities) is not a 'dwelling unit' and so is not a 'vacation rental' under section 5…
Is a Florida county tax collector a 'revenue officer' under § 790.25(3)(d), allowing open carry of a firearm without a concealed-carry license?
No. The Florida AG concluded in 2018 that a county tax collector is not a 'revenue officer' for purposes of the firearm open-carry exception in section 790.25(3)(d). That exception is limited to peace…
After the 2012 amendment adding 'sworn or civilian' to Florida's public-records exemption for law enforcement personal information, does the older AGO 07-21 limitation on civilian support personnel still control?
No. The Florida AG concluded in 2018 that AGO 07-21's reading (that civilian support personnel were not covered by the exemption) is no longer controlling, because Chapter 2012-149 added 'sworn or civ…
Is the University of Florida a Florida state agency for purposes of qualifying its drone as a 'public aircraft' under federal law?
Yes. The AG confirmed the University of Florida as a state university and an agency of the executive branch under § 1001.705(1)(d), supporting its FAA drone application.
Is a Florida county property appraiser a 'public entity' that can operate a drone as a 'public aircraft' under federal law?
Yes. The AG confirmed the Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser as a public entity; the office's drone, used for non-commercial purposes, qualifies as a public aircraft under 49 U.S.C. § 40125.
Can a Florida city delegate forfeiture trust fund spending to its Police Chief through a 'grant program,' or must the city council approve each appropriation?
The city council must approve each appropriation. The Florida AG concluded in 2018 that section 932.7055 does not authorize a municipality to delegate forfeiture trust fund disbursement authority to t…
Is the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District a 'political subdivision' of the state for purposes of FAA drone-authorization?
Yes. The AG confirmed that the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, created by special act and re-created in 2002, is a political subdivision; § 388.231(1) bars commercial drone use.
Can a Florida city extend its existing audit-services contract for additional years if the original contract did not provide for those renewal periods?
No. The AG read § 218.391(8) to allow only those renewals the original contract specified. Once the written renewal periods are exhausted, the city must run the full competitive auditor-selection proc…
When a Florida city imposes its public service tax on metered natural gas, which charges on the customer's bill count toward the tax base, and which do not?
Charges for natural gas (and its transportation, delivery, transmission, and distribution) count. The state gross receipts tax and the pro rata franchise fee passed through to the customer also count.…
When a Florida county runs a self-insured health plan, what does 'premium cost' mean for retirees who continue coverage under section 112.0801?
It means the actuarially determined total cost of coverage (employer plus employee/retiree contribution combined), not just the employee share. Retirees and active employees in the same tier share tha…
Can a Florida city that adopted its local business tax before 1995 reclassify or restructure that tax today, given the statutory windows in section 205.0535?
No. The Florida AG concluded in 2018 that section 205.0535(1) does not permit St. Petersburg (which adopted its local business tax in 1994) to reclassify businesses or establish a new rate structure n…
Can a Florida town close meetings and records about security plans for school facilities under the security-system exemption to the Sunshine Law?
Records that directly reveal a security system plan (as defined in § 119.071(3)(a)) are confidential and exempt from public-records disclosure. Meetings are exempt only for the portions in which those…
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Attorney general opinions in Florida are written by the Florida Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.