[Watch] SB 180 — the real sunset (June 30, 2028) and the litigation that may end it sooner

The corrected reading of Florida's central land-use preemption.
SB 180 (Chapter 2025-190) prohibits covered local governments from
adopting or enforcing any land-development regulation or
comprehensive-plan amendment that is "more restrictive or
burdensome" on development, retroactive to August 1, 2024. The
moratorium runs through October 1, 2027; the session law expires
June 30, 2028 (§28). The 2024 hurricane declarations (Debby,
Helene, Milton) plus their 100-mile track buffers cover the entire
state, so Lake, Orange, Seminole, and Polk are all in scope. The
2026 fix bill (SB 840) that would have moved the sunset to June 2026
died in the House on March 13, 2026. The exposure window is
therefore two years longer than the corpus previously assumed:
every post-August-2024 municipal code amendment that tightens any
standard is challengeable through mid-2028. Two constitutional
challenges are pending — 1000 Friends of Florida (Leon County,
October 7, 2025) and a 25-local-government suit including Orange
County and the Town of Windermere — but as of mid-2026 there is no
final judgment and no injunction; the law is fully enforceable. The
corridor is adopting code INTO the freeze, not ahead of its lift.