Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

       Florida Senate - 2024                                    SB 1208
       
       
        
       By Senator Martin
       
       
       
       
       
       33-01645-24                                           20241208__
                      A bill to be entitled                      
       An act relating to the My Safe Florida Home Program;
       amending s. 215.5586, F.S.; providing for home
       inspections for flood damage under the program;
       requiring the Department of Financial Services to
       contract with flood certification entities to provide
       mitigation inspections; providing requirements for
       flood certification entities to qualify for selection
       by the department; revising requirements for wind
       certification entities to qualify for selection by the
       department; revising the purpose of the program
       mitigation grants; providing requirements for flood
       mitigation grants; authorizing flood mitigation
       inspectors to participate as mitigation contractors
       under the program under certain circumstances;
       requiring that matching fund grants be made available
       to certain entities for projects that reduce flood
       damage; authorizing flood mitigation inspectors to
       make certain recommendations for program grants;
       revising requirements for grants for townhouses;
       providing requirements for grants for condominium
       units; prohibiting the department from awarding
       mitigation grants to homeowners under certain
       circumstances; authorizing education and outreach
       campaigns on flood inspections and flood damage
       mitigation; providing rulemaking authority; revising
       the department inspector list to include flood
       mitigation inspectors and flood mitigation
       inspections; providing appropriations; providing an
       effective date.
        
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

       Section 1. Section 215.5586, Florida Statutes, as amended
by section 5 of chapter 2023-349, Laws of Florida, is amended to
read:
       215.5586 My Safe Florida Home Program.—There is established
within the Department of Financial Services the My Safe Florida
Home Program. The department shall provide fiscal
accountability, contract management, and strategic leadership
for the program, consistent with this section. This section does
not create an entitlement for property owners or obligate the
state in any way to fund the inspection or retrofitting of
residential property in this state. Implementation of this
program is subject to annual legislative appropriations. It is
the intent of the Legislature that, subject to the availability
of funds, the My Safe Florida Home Program provide licensed
inspectors to perform inspections for owners of site-built,
single-family, residential properties and grants to eligible
applicants. The department shall implement the program in such a
manner that the total amount of funding requested by accepted
applications, whether for inspections, grants, or other services
or assistance, does not exceed the total amount of available
funds. If, after applications are processed and approved, funds
remain available, the department may accept applications up to
the available amount. The program shall develop and implement a
comprehensive and coordinated approach for hurricane and flood
damage mitigation that may include the following:
       (1) HURRICANE AND FLOOD MITIGATION INSPECTIONS.—
       (a) Licensed inspectors are to provide home inspections of
site-built, single-family, residential properties for which a
homestead exemption has been granted, to determine what
mitigation measures are needed, what insurance premium discounts
may be available, and what improvements to existing residential
properties are needed to reduce the property’s vulnerability to
hurricane and flood damage. An inspector may inspect a townhouse
as defined in s. 481.203 to determine if opening protection
mitigation as listed in paragraph (2)(e) would provide
improvements to mitigate hurricane damage.
       (b) The Department of Financial Services shall contract
with wind and flood certification entities to provide hurricane
and flood mitigation inspections. The inspections provided to
homeowners, at a minimum, must include:
       1. A home inspection and report that summarizes the results
and identifies recommended improvements a homeowner may take to
mitigate hurricane and flood damage.
       2. A range of cost estimates regarding the recommended
mitigation improvements.
       3. Information regarding estimated premium discounts,
correlated to the current mitigation features and the
recommended mitigation improvements identified by the
inspection.
       (c) To qualify for selection by the department as a wind or
flood certification entity to provide hurricane or flood
mitigation inspections, the entity must, at a minimum, meet the
following requirements:
       1. Use hurricane or flood mitigation inspectors who are
licensed or certified as:
       a. A building inspector under s. 468.607;
       b. A general, building, or residential contractor under s.
489.111;
       c. A professional engineer under s. 471.015;
       d. A professional architect under s. 481.213; or
       e. For wind certification entities, a home inspector under
s. 468.8314 and who have completed at least 3 hours of hurricane
mitigation training approved by the Construction Industry
Licensing Board, which training must include, at a minimum,
hurricane mitigation techniques, such as proper hurricane strap
installation and building code requirements for secondary water
barriers and secondary water resistance;, compliance with the
uniform mitigation verification form;, and completion of a
proficiency exam; or.
       f. For flood certification entities, a home inspector under
s. 468.8314 and who have completed at least 3 hours of flood
mitigation training approved by the Construction Industry
Licensing Board, which training must include, at a minimum,
flood mitigation techniques, such as proper hurricane strap
installation and building code requirements for secondary water
barriers and secondary water resistance; compliance with the
uniform mitigation verification form; and completion of a
proficiency exam.
       2. Use hurricane or flood mitigation inspectors who also
have undergone drug testing and a background screening. The
department may conduct criminal record checks of inspectors used
by wind certification entities. Inspectors must submit a set of
fingerprints to the department for state and national criminal
history checks and must pay the fingerprint processing fee set
forth in s. 624.501. The fingerprints must be sent by the
department to the Department of Law Enforcement and forwarded to
the Federal Bureau of Investigation for processing. The results
must be returned to the department for screening. The
fingerprints must be taken by a law enforcement agency,
designated examination center, or other department-approved
entity.
       3. Provide a quality assurance program including a
reinspection component.
       (d) An application for an inspection must contain a signed
or electronically verified statement made under penalty of
perjury that the applicant has submitted only a single
application for that home.
       (e) The owner of a site-built, single-family, residential
property or townhouse as defined in s. 481.203, for which a
homestead exemption has been granted, may apply for and receive
an inspection without also applying for a grant pursuant to
subsection (2) and without meeting the requirements of paragraph
(2)(a).
       (2) MITIGATION GRANTS.—Financial grants shall be used to
encourage single-family, site-built, owner-occupied, residential
property owners to retrofit their properties to make them less
vulnerable to hurricane and flood damage.
       (a) For a homeowner to be eligible for a grant, the
following criteria must be met:
       1. The homeowner must have been granted a homestead
exemption on the home under chapter 196.
       2. The home must be a dwelling with an insured value of
$700,000 or less. Homeowners who are low-income persons, as
defined in s. 420.0004(11), are exempt from this requirement.
       3. The home must undergo an acceptable hurricane or flood
mitigation inspection as provided in subsection (1).
       4. For hurricane mitigation grants, the building permit
application for initial construction of the home must have been
made before January 1, 2008.
       5. For flood mitigation grants, the building permit
application for initial construction of the home must have been
made before January 1, 1982, and the home must:
       a. Exist in a 100-year floodplain as determined by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency;
       b. Exist in a community that participates in the National
Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System administered by
the Federal Emergency Management Agency with a Class 6 or above;
and
       c. Be covered by flood insurance.
       6.5. The homeowner must agree to make his or her home
available for inspection once a mitigation project is completed.

An application for a grant must contain a signed or
electronically verified statement made under penalty of perjury
that the applicant has submitted only a single application and
must have attached documents demonstrating the applicant meets
the requirements of this paragraph.
       (b) All grants must be matched on the basis of $1 provided
by the applicant for $2 provided by the state up to a maximum
state contribution of $10,000 toward the actual cost of the
mitigation project.
       (c) The program shall create a process in which contractors
agree to participate and homeowners select from a list of
participating contractors. All mitigation must be based upon the
securing of all required local permits and inspections and must
be performed by properly licensed contractors. Hurricane and
flood mitigation inspectors qualifying for the program may also
participate as mitigation contractors as long as the inspectors
meet the department’s qualifications and certification
requirements for mitigation contractors.
       (d) Matching fund grants shall also be made available to
local governments and nonprofit entities for projects that will
reduce hurricane or flood damage to single-family, site-built,
owner-occupied, residential property. The department shall
liberally construe those requirements in favor of availing the
state of the opportunity to leverage funding for the My Safe
Florida Home Program with other sources of funding.
       (e) When recommended by a hurricane or flood mitigation
inspection, grants for eligible homes may be used for the
following improvements:
       1. Opening protection.
       2. Exterior doors, including garage doors.
       3. Reinforcing roof-to-wall connections.
       4. Improving the strength of roof-deck attachments.
       5. Secondary water barrier for roof.
       6. Elevation of the home and improvements to the home.
       7. Dry floodproofing protection, including backflow valves.
       8. Utility flood protection, including utility flood
barriers.
       9. Installation of flood vents.
       (f) When recommended by a hurricane mitigation inspection,
grants for townhouses, as defined in s. 481.203, and condominium
units, as the terms “condominium” and “unit” are defined in s.
718.103, may only be used only for opening protection and roof
coverings.
       (g) The department may require that improvements be made to
all openings, including exterior doors and garage doors, as a
condition of reimbursing a homeowner approved for a grant. The
department may adopt, by rule, the maximum grant allowances for
any improvement allowable under paragraph (e) or this paragraph
(f).
       (h) The department may not award a hurricane mitigation
grant to a homeowner under this program if the hurricane
mitigation inspector determines that the homeowner’s home has a
form of opening protection that is rated but the homeowner
cannot or does not provide documentation to the inspector
relating to the opening protection.
       (i)(g) Grants may be used on a previously inspected
existing structure or on a rebuild. A rebuild is defined as a
site-built, single-family dwelling under construction to replace
a home that was destroyed or significantly damaged by a
hurricane or flood and deemed unlivable by a regulatory
authority. The homeowner must be a low-income homeowner as
defined in paragraph (j) (h), must have had a homestead
exemption for that home before the hurricane or flood, and must
be intending to rebuild the home as that homeowner’s homestead.
       (j)(h) Low-income homeowners, as defined in s.
420.0004(11), who otherwise meet the requirements of paragraphs
(a), (c), (e), and (i) (g) are eligible for a grant of up to
$10,000 and are not required to provide a matching amount to
receive the grant. The program may accept a certification
directly from a low-income homeowner that the homeowner meets
the requirements of s. 420.0004(11) if the homeowner provides
such certification in a signed or electronically verified
statement made under penalty of perjury.
       (k)(i) The department shall develop a process that ensures
the most efficient means to collect and verify grant
applications to determine eligibility and may direct hurricane
and flood mitigation inspectors to collect and verify grant
application information or use the Internet or other electronic
means to collect information and determine eligibility.
       (3) EDUCATION, CONSUMER AWARENESS, AND OUTREACH.—
       (a) The department may undertake a statewide multimedia
public outreach and advertising campaign to inform consumers of
the availability and benefits of hurricane and flood inspections
and of the safety and financial benefits of residential
hurricane and flood damage mitigation. The department may seek
out and use local, state, federal, and private funds to support
the campaign.
       (b) The program may develop brochures for distribution to
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, general contractors,
roofing contractors, and real estate brokers and sales
associates who are licensed under part I of chapter 475 which
provide information on the benefits to homeowners of residential
hurricane and flood damage mitigation. Citizens Property
Insurance Corporation is encouraged to distribute the brochure
to policyholders of the corporation. Contractors are encouraged
to distribute the brochures to homeowners at the first meeting
with a homeowner who is considering contracting for home or roof
repair or contracting for the construction of a new home. Real
estate brokers and sales associates are encouraged to distribute
the brochure to clients before the purchase of a home. The
brochures may be made available electronically.
       (4) FUNDING.—The department may seek out and leverage
local, state, federal, or private funds to enhance the financial
resources of the program.
       (5) RULES.—The Department of Financial Services shall adopt
rules pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54 to govern the
program; implement the provisions of this section; including
rules governing hurricane and flood mitigation inspections and
grants, mitigation contractors, and training of inspectors and
contractors; and carry out the duties of the department under
this section.
       (6) HURRICANE AND FLOOD MITIGATION INSPECTOR LIST.—The
department shall develop and maintain as a public record a
current list of hurricane and flood mitigation inspectors
authorized to conduct hurricane and flood mitigation inspections
pursuant to this section.
       (7) CONTRACT MANAGEMENT.—
       (a) The department may contract with third parties for
grants management, inspection services, contractor services for
low-income homeowners, information technology, educational
outreach, and auditing services. Such contracts are considered
direct costs of the program and are not subject to
administrative cost limits. The department shall contract with
providers that hav