The Florida Legislature adjourned Sine Die on Friday, March 13, 2026, after a session that produced several significant bills affecting local governments, but failed to complete the Legislature's only constitutionally required task: passing a state budget. House Speaker Daniel Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton have announced a special session in mid-April focused on the budget. Two additional special sessions are expected, one for redistricting, one for property tax, making April one of the more unusual months in recent Tallahassee memory.
For Pensacola and Escambia County, the session's most consequential passed bill is the DEI prohibition measure. It bans Florida cities, counties, and other local government entities from funding, carrying out, or promoting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Local government officials who don't comply can be removed from office. Governments can face litigation from residents. The measure is broad enough that legal challenges are widely anticipated from municipalities that believe the prohibition conflicts with federal civil rights requirements and constitutional free speech protections.
The Florida Farm Bill also passed, SB 290, and includes provisions of direct practical consequence at the municipal level: it bars local governments from restricting gasoline-powered lawn equipment and limits door-to-door commercial solicitation. Both provisions represent further state preemption of local regulatory authority, a pattern that has become a defining characteristic of Tallahassee's relationship with Florida's cities and counties over the past decade.
What didn't pass matters as much as what did. The property tax overhaul, HJR 203 in its primary form, with several variants, would have proposed a constitutional amendment phasing out non-school property taxes on homestead properties over 10 years. It failed to reach the ballot in this session but will return in special session. Mayor D.C. Reeves has publicly estimated the current version of the measure would cost Pensacola approximately $9.1 million annually in operating revenue, more than a quarter of the city's non-public-safety budget. City Finance Director Amy Lovoy has told the council the figure will grow as property values rise.
The "Rural Renaissance" package, one of Senate President Albritton's priorities providing funding for rural counties including infrastructure, affordable housing, and health care, died in the House for the second consecutive session. Some components may survive in the yet-to-be-completed budget. Albritton's district includes Walton County, making the package of direct interest to Northwest Florida communities west of Pensacola.
Bills that died include HB 133 lowering the rifle purchase age from 21 to 18, rejected by the Senate, and HB 197 expanding E-Verify requirements to all employers, which also died in the Senate for the second straight year. The school voucher overhaul passed the Senate but was not taken up in the House. Higher education bills setting enrollment limits for non-Florida and international students at state universities advanced through committee but did not cross the finish line by adjournment.
Special sessions are unusual but not unprecedented. The budget impasse reflects a genuine disagreement between the chambers over spending levels, the Senate proposed $115 billion, the House $113.6 billion, neither of which matches Governor DeSantis's recommended $117.4 billion. The gap is real and the resolution, by definition, requires a special session with a fixed agenda. Pensacola's legislative delegation will be back in Tallahassee in April.