About 140 new laws will take effect in Florida on July 1, from Trump Airport to state budgets and more

About 140 laws from the regular session and a trio of special sessions are set to take effect July 1, the start of the state's fiscal year.

The changes range from regulations for massive data centers and renaming Palm Beach International Airport for President Donald Trump to prohibiting local rules on gas-powered leaf blowers and a shift in the state's flagship designation.

There is also the $114.5 billion budget which Gov. Ron DeSantis has vowed to trim when he wields his veto pen.

After the vetoes, DeSantis said during a bill signing event this week, "it will represent the fourth straight year where the state of Florida has reduced the amount it's spending at the state level."

Overall, about 250 proposals won support from both the House and Senate in the regular and special sessions. Those without a July 1 effective date were either enacted immediately when signed by DeSantis or have Oct. 1 or Jan. 1, 2027 start dates.

There are also four bills from the 2025 legislative session that become law on Wednesday, including one to designate gold and silver as legal tender.

Here are some of the more noteworthy bills set to take effect:

Budget 

•  The $114.5 billion budget (HB 5001E) that awaits action by DeSantis.
• The wide-ranging tax cut bill (HB 7031E), projected to reduce state and local government revenue by $106.7 million in the next fiscal year. It partially lifts sales taxes at the end of the year on guns, gun accessories, camping gear, and fishing equipment, removes taxes at a couple of tennis tournaments at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, and cuts taxes for pari-mutuel operators on slot machines and cardroom revenue. DeSantis has yet to act on the bill.
• New College of Florida acquires the University of South Florida's Manatee-Sarasota campus (HB 5601E), if DeSantis signs the bill.

State Action

• Allows the state to designate groups as "domestic terrorist organizations" and bars a court or other adjudicatory body from enforcing any provision of a religious or foreign law, with an emphasis against the Islamic code known as Sharia law (SB 1471).
• Further limits business dealings with "countries of concern," which includes China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and Syria, while also providing an exception that opens relations if the U.S. diplomatic approach to Cuba changes (HB 905).

Elections

• As part of an election bill that mostly takes effect January 1, political candidates, parties, committees and electioneering communications organizations are prohibited from accepting or soliciting contributions from a foreign national (HB 991).

Law Enforcement

• Allows volunteer security guards at houses of worship to carry guns without facing state licensing requirements (SB 52).
• "Missy's Law," named after a 5-year-old from Tallahassee allegedly killed by her stepfather, who was free on bond at the time, and her mother in 2025. The law requires courts to hold a criminal convicted of or who pleaded no contest to a violent or sexual crime without letting them out on bond (HB 445).

Business

• Requires the Florida Public Service Commission to develop "tariffs" and service requirements for data center developers to ensure electric and water utility costs aren't shifted to other ratepayers (SB 484).
• Limits liability for owners of former phosphate mining lands (HB 167).

Education

• Requires school districts to place portraits of Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in a "conspicuous place" within every public school and requires elementary school students to learn cursive writing (SB 182).
• Allows high school coaches to receive additional compensation from funds raised by boosters and other support organizations (SB 538).
• Allows high school coaches to use their own money, up to $15,000 a year per team, on food, physical therapy and transportation --- but not recruiting --- for their players (SB 178).
• Allows two years of marching band to satisfy physical education and performing arts requirements for a high school diploma (HB 453).
• Creates the District School Board Members' Bill of Rights, which gives members the ability to publicly comment on district school board business, except for matters prohibited by law (HB 1073).

Transportation

• Renames Palm Beach International Airport after President Donald Trump (HB 919).
• Renames Commercial Boulevard within Lauderdale-by-the-Sea as "President Donald J. Trump Boulevard" (HB 33). DeSantis has been sent this bill but hasn't yet acted on it.
• Renames State Road 80 from Palm Beach County to Lee County as "President Donald J. Trump Highway" and adds the late Florida State University Football Coach Bobby Bowden's name to Tallahassee International Airport (SB 628).
• Starts the process to create license plates that include the Miami Northwestern Alumni Association, Christopher Columbus High School, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Military Academy, Miami Dade College, Florida Film Legacy, and St. Petersburg College (SB 246).
• Impedes plans for cruise ship operations near the southern part of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge on the coast of Manatee County (SB 302).
• Allows the Florida Department of Transportation to fund 100 percent of the project costs for a public vertiport if federal funds are unavailable (SB 1093).

Local Government

• Prohibits local and state government entities from enforcing "net-zero" greenhouse gas emissions policies (HB 1217).
• Allows agricultural land bordered by development to be classified as an "agricultural enclave" and developed to the same residential density as adjacent parcels (SB 686).
• A wide-ranging "Farm Bill" bans cities and counties from outlawing gas-powered equipment such as leaf blowers, sets criminal penalties for receiving or providing unauthorized assistance on commercial driver's license exams, and repeals a 2016 program designed to financially aid grocery stores in underserved or low-income communities (SB 290).

Pets

• Requires pet dealers to disclose veterinarian records and directs the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to set up a public website listing people convicted of animal cruelty by the end of the year (SB 1004).

State Designations

• Transfers the 'state flagship designation' from the Schooner Western Union, a 130-foot wooden ship used as a cable vessel by the Western Union Telegraph Company, to the Tampa-based S.S. American Victory, a 455-foot "Victory" ship built in 55 days near the close of World War II (HB 249).

2025 Session Bills 

• Establishes a legal framework recognizing certain gold coins and silver coins as legal tender in Florida for payments of debts incurred on or after July 1, 2026 (HB 999).
• Allows the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to issue lifetime disabled parking permits, removing the current four-year renewal requirement, to people with a permanent dismemberment or an amputation (HB 961).