Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed into law a wide-ranging “farm bill” (SB 290) dealing with issues within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, including a provision banning cities and counties from outlawing gas-powered equipment such as leaf blowers.
“If you want to use different stuff, fine, it’s a free country. But I like the gas powered better. I just think it’s more reliable,” DeSantis said before signing the bill at the Alan Jay Arena at Highlands County Fairgrounds in Sebring. “If that’s what you believe, then you should be able to continue to do that.”
A legislative staff analysis of the bill, which goes into effect on July 1, noted local governments can still encourage the use of alternative energy sources, such as battery power, for farm or landscape equipment.
Other changes include prohibiting commercial solicitations on properties with “no solicitation” signs, establishing criminal penalties for receiving or providing unauthorized assistance on commercial driver’s license exams, criminalizing the use of signal-jamming devices that can disrupt emergency calls, and repealing a 2016 program designed to financially aid grocery stores in underserved or low-income communities.
The measure expands an existing prohibition on local governments from limiting agritourism activity on agricultural property to include preemptions against those property owners from having to obtain a rural event venue permit or license.
It also sets density requirements for developers who seek to build in small municipalities.
“If you are a small city, we’ve protected (against) the ability for large developers to come in and take over your city, essentially,” Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson said at the bill signing event. “And there’s about 110 cities in this state that will get that protection.”
The change limits development in those small cities’ ecologically significant parcels to one unit per 20 acres. A unanimous vote is required from a local government to waive the density cap.
Approved unanimously by the Senate and with a 94-10 vote in the House, the final measure drew concerns from some Democrats over a provision that directs the Department of Environmental Protection to determine if some surplus state-owned conservation lands are suitable for agricultural purposes.
During debate on the House floor March 3, St. Petersburg Democratic Rep. Lindsay Cross said protections are needed to ensure future agricultural uses remain in line with the intended purchase of the conservation land, which could have been for wildlife or water quality protection.
“Some of these agricultural uses may be in conflict with that,” Cross said. “I understand that we want to look at the highest and best use of some of these lands. But I don’t think there’s enough guardrails in the language.”
Simpson said the change should make land more affordable for people trying to get into agriculture.
“If it should be an agriculture production, we can remove the development rights from that land and surplus that land back into farming families,” Simpson said. “So, if you are a young farmer saying, ‘How can we afford to buy land in this state?’ Watch for this program.”
The overall proposal was more controversial when first filed, as it initially included a provision that would have expanded the ability of farmers to pursue legal damages over the “disparagement” of agricultural products.
Current law allows farmers and agriculture groups to pursue damages for “willful or malicious” public dissemination of false information about perishable food items not being safe for human consumption.
In the past few years, “farm bills” backing priorities from Simpson’s department have blocked people from seven “foreign countries of concern” from buying agricultural land and property near military bases, banned the sale and manufacturing of “cultivated” meat in Florida, prohibited local governments from adding fluoride to water supplies, prevented aircraft from releasing chemtrails, and halted credit-card companies from tracking firearm and ammunition sales.
–Jim Turner, News Service of Florida
JimboXYZ says
This is what happens when society moves towards a residential that is geared towards yard service businesses to mow, trim & blow seasonal grass & debris to meet minimum requirements for residential beautification standards. How one accomplishes that becomes California-like. Thank you DeSantis for not being Gavin Newsom-ing FL. Move to CA, this isn’t about saving the planet or the environment it’s a forced upcharge of inflation to be compliant. The yard service will have to use extension cords from a homeowners garage & exterior electrical outlets to blow debris from a driveway & off the public road. An additional expense to the homeowner that would include inflation for the yard services. Why not just ban gas powered mowers for those landscaping service businesses ? Anyone that has ever observed the blowers, the gas powered one’s are quicker for the landscaper service to get in & out of the job site as the final touch, not extension cord tethered to a limited number of external electrical outlets. Add the volume of air flow for a gas powered blower > electric powered blower. The air powered blowers are just as loud. Sounds like an amplified hair dryer. I’m relatively balding so it’s been a while since I head a hair dryer. But the dog goes violently crazy every time she hears the hair dryer after a bathe.
IronY says
I like Electric,
For SOME things,
I like Gas for others.
Each has a place where they Shine and where they Fail.
What I wont Tolerate tho’;
is the “Green Gestapo” telling Me what I Will or Wont Have or Do.
“It’s a FREE Country”
Yes, it is.
And I will Always Do My Part to Keep it that way.
My racing stripped lawnmower will beat your car any day says
Personally I’m glad to see this. I know yard equipment adds to air pollutants but I’ll put my equipment up against what wafts off of and drifts away from I-95 on any day. Cars in FL require no state inspections, the consumer can do whatever they like to it including removing the muffler – just for starters – without repercussion. But now that leaf blower, yea, that hot mess pollutanter has gotta stop, right? Honestly, don’t tell anyone, but I bunji cord my gas leaf blower to the back of my gas powered riding mower to get more forward propulsion and better, more even, mow quality – and yes I helmet up.
Stavros Halkias says
Another article cementing the fact that that most people who complain about technical things like leaf blowers, cars, the pier… have no engineering background and are completely divorced from reality. Everything is a “magic box” to them. They don’t know or care to know how things work and why they use the modes of operation they do. Not a Desantis fan but he is completely right.
Don T says
Go on the Youtube website and perform a search on: Lithium ion battery fire. While the left promotes battery power there are disadvantages and risks such as garages & homes burning down. While that may be rare, it is a significant concern. This is a concern for power tools and even cars.
joe says
There used to be a political party that railed against government from far away ruling over local officials. They fervently believed, and incessantly preached to us that “the government closest to the people should rule”.
Dennis C Rathsam says
To spend money on new equipment is asinine ! Half the folks on my block, are to lazy to cut there grass. Must be a lazy Jackass thing. It takes me about an hour to cut my lawn…. Beats sitting in a chair waiting to die! The TV will still work after your grass is cut. I do some great thinking on my mower… Some have even made me some extra money. I sing, while I cut too…. Soooo many songs in my catalogue . Im my own radio show, with no comercials. Cut grass smells great too. Many of you could care less about grass, or the way it makes your house look. Super, that’s your perogative.
palm coasters have wear bags on their heads says
All the wining the democrats do for freedom of choice here you go, the freedom to choose what lawn care equipment.
Mr. Bill says
I am very proud of our Gov. DeSantis, for having the foresight to resist the “De-Carbon Nazis” and put this into law.
Here’s a thought for you.
When the power company burns fuel (any kind) for electricity, only about 11% of the original energy that was in the fuel actually reaches your electrical outlet. The rest is air pollution, heat loss and line losses. Also, there is another big loss as you charge your electric leaf blower. You must change the AC electricity in the wires to DC electricity to charge your batteries for another 25-40% loss. And don’t forget, you need to properly recycle that lithium battery–more energy loss.
So burning the fuel directly in your gas-powered leaf blower is way more efficient and just makes more sense.
They just need better mufflers.
Ain’t it great?
Atwp says
Continued rising gas prices will decrease the use of gas powered lawn equipment.
TR says
I doubt it. There are a ton of lawn care businesses in Flagler county. I have yet to see any one of them use battery operating equipment.
JD says
Gas could go up to $10 a gallon and it still wouldn’t affect the equipment selection of residential and commercial landscapers. You can’t efficiently run a business with battery powered equipment. Just not feasible.
Ray W. says
Years ago, my stepson earned certification as a solar installer, but he did not give up the lawn service he started when he was just shy of ten years of age.
I have commented about some of this before. By the time he was sixteen, my stepson and two others were mowing 60 yards a week after school and on weekends. Now, his lawn service is fully electric.
His enclosed trailer has four solar panels affixed to the roof and he has enough battery storage capacity to last most of a week. With quick chargers for the different brands of equipment he uses, he never runs out of the power needed to run the equipment. Chain saws, lawn mowers, pole trimmers, you name it, he can do a wide variety of jobs for his now 100 or so customers.
I understand that a number of commenters on this thread have very little clue about what they claim. Presenting disinformation and outdated news is not a virtue.
Gasoline-powered cars catch fire more often on average than do today’s EVs. Sweden’s civil safety agency found that 68 out of 100,000 Swedish passenger vehicles of all types catch fire per year, as opposed to 3.8 EV fires per 100,000 vehicles per year. Yes, when a EV battery catches fire, it is a spectacle that might be widely reported and gas fires are not so newsworthy.
Norway’s study of passenger vehicles found fire incident rates similar to Sweden’s study. A British study of data gleaned from multiple European countries including the UK found fossil-fueled vehicles to be far more fire prone.
In my youth, I kept a roll of fuel hose because of possible rubber rot issues. Better to just preventatively replace aging fuel lines than to risk an engine fire while driving down a highway.
Today’s EV batteries simply are not nearly as fire-prone as were earlier generation EV batteries. You don’t need long power cords for today’s electric lawn equipment. Today’s commercial electric lawn equipment can last about as long on a single battery charge as other equipment running on a tank of gas.
I looked it up. Stihl’s most powerful gas-powered backpack blower is the BR-800, meaning 800 cubic feet of blowing capacity per minute. Echo has a battery-powered blower rated at 950 cubic feet per minute and Kress makes a commercial electric blower with an 850 cubic feet per minute capacity. According to Kress, its batteries recharge in as little as 8 minutes.
Echo’s commercial base-model gas-powered trimmer costs $400. Echo’s commercial base-model electric trimmer costs $500. My stepson tells me he can trim between nine and eleven lawns with his Kress trimmer on a single battery charge, a figure greater than the number of lawns he could trim on a tank of gas with his previous gas-powered trimmers. I admit I haven’t asked him recently about issues with his equipment.
And his electric equipment is comparatively quiet, so he often starts around 7 a.m. He told me last fall that he had 40 potential customers on a queue; he said that people just seem to like the idea of an all-electric lawn service.
Yes, his Ram truck runs on gas, but it’s paid off. His girlfriend drives an early-model hybrid Ford that suffers from lithium plating buildup on the surface of its battery’s anode.
Make of this what you will.
TR says
Gasoline-powered cars catch fire more often on average than do today’s EVs. This is because there are 100 time more gas powered cars then EV’s. Not to mention the gas powered cares only catch on fire from an accident, or someone doing something to it to cause the fire. An EV vehicle can catch on fire just sitting parked without the engine running. Apples to oranges.
Laurel says
Your son sounds like a very smart man! Good planning. I wonder if he works nearby.
My beef isn’t so much gas v. electric, that’s just political crap, we have both types of tools, but it’s the noise! When I lived in Boca Raton, it was, by far, the noisiest town I had ever lived in. Those people freak when their grass is an inch long! Nearly every day of the week was full of noise. This area is definitely headed in the same, noisy direction. So, for that reason, I would prefer your son’s method. My husband uses the gas push mower, but that is not as ear shattering as the stand on, or sit on mowers, or the industrial models of gas blowers. Now, we are hearing the commercial mowers on both sides of the river. Damn! The one nearby sounds like a 747 landing on our roof! My cats run, and we look around like “what the hell?” The Hammock used to be a lot quieter.
So it isn’t so much gas, and it isn’t so much laziness as one person suggested, but I think I’d rather hear the quiet we’re used to.
Atwp says
Ray I’m very happy for your stepson. A business ran by a young person tend to keep them out of trouble.