The bill amends Section 180.19 of the Florida Statutes to require municipalities that operate utility services to allow other municipalities and property owners outside their municipal boundaries to connect to and use these services, provided certain conditions are met. Specifically, the utility system must have sufficient capacity to accommodate the new connection without impairing existing services, and the requesting party must agree to pay all applicable rates and fees. Additionally, municipalities are mandated to make a written capacity determination within 30 days of receiving a connection application, and if denied, the applicant has the right to appeal the decision in circuit court.

Furthermore, if a court finds that a municipality wrongfully denied a connection, it must order the connection and award reasonable attorney fees and court costs to the prevailing party, although the municipality can avoid liability for these costs if it can demonstrate that the denial was based on a good faith engineering assessment of insufficient capacity. The bill also clarifies that municipalities can impose reasonable fees related to system expansion for new connections. The act is set to take effect on July 1, 2026.

Statutes affected:
H 1075 Filed: 180.19