Florida News That Impacts You – June 3rd, 2024
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- Governor DeSantis signed eight bills into law heading into the weekend. They included the Homeowners’ Associations bill which is aimed at reining in abusive practices by boards. Under the new law which will take effect July 1st, HOAs won’t be able to ban residents from parking non-commercial vehicles within an association’s property, issuing mandates for visual displays inside of a home’s interior, fining residents for having trash or recycling bins within 24 hours of pickup, providing notice to residents about violations prior to issuing fines amid other reforms. The Traffic Enforcement bill will also be law July 1st. Under the legislation mandates transparency by local governments making use of red-light cameras. The legislation also bans the use of camera systems from companies in China, Cuba, Russia and Venezuela. The Counties Designated as Areas of Critical State Concern bill will be law July 1st. The new law will overhaul hurricane evacuations for the Florida Keys creating new standard operating procedures for the evacuation of the Keys in two phases, in addition to addressing affordable housing needs within Monroe County. The Sickle Cell Disease bill is now law. The new law establishes the Sickle Cell Disease Research and Treatment Grant Program within the Florida Department of Health. The law expands Florida’s sickle cell registry and tasks the Florida Department of Health with vetting grant opportunities to fund sickle cell research. The initial grant funding is $10 million, and recipients must use a minimum of 95% of funds received for research.
- Florida’s Disaster Sales tax holiday is underway and runs through the 14th. The sales tax holiday exempts most items that could be used for hurricane preparation from sales tax. This includes portable generators that cost $3,000 or less this year.
- The Palm Beach Zoo is offering free admission for children between the ages 3-12 during June and July. The free admission applies to two eligible children for each adult admission ticket purchased.
- Sunny skies with highs in the mid-to-upper 80’s. Temps will be about 2 degrees higher than usual for this date. We should have similar weather for the next couple of days. In the tropics... The National Hurricane Center is not expecting any tropical formations over the next week.
- Gas prices dropped by four cents per gallon over the weekend. The average price statewide for regular unleaded is currently $3.44 per gallon. In Palm Beach County the average price is $3.64 per gallon, in Martin the average is $3.48 and in Indian River County the average is $3.37 per gallon.