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.
Governor DeSantis Signs Florida Farm Bill in Sebring https://t.co/bxUaL7gp7Z
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 23, 2026
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 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.”
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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.
