New Laws Roll-out: Florida’s Law Buffet — Free of Business Rent Tax, With a Side of Tougher Penalties

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Welcome to October 1, 2025 — Florida’s legislative equivalent of a theme-park ride: part tax reform, part public-safety roller coaster, and just enough policy whiplash to make you check your inbox twice. 

Thirty new laws (give or take) officially hit the books on Wednesday Oct. 1st 2025, but the one with the confetti cannons belongs to business lobbyists: the Business Rent Tax — a 57-year survivor — finally gets benched!

“By Florida eliminating the business rent tax, it's going to lower the cost of doing business in Florida, which will help lower the cost of living here,” Florida Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Mark Wilson said, delivering the sort of proclamation that makes developers smile and accountants recalculate everything on their spreadsheets. 

The tax, born in 1968 with a modest 4% sales-tax baseline, had crept up to 6% during the Reagan years and in recent memory sat at 2% since June 2024. 

The Oct. 1 axing is projected to save businesses $1.15 billion in the current fiscal year and $1.53 billion next year — a tidy sum that proponents say will be recycled into equipment, paychecks and innovation (or, depending on your cynicism level, more glossy storefronts).

But the package isn’t just a business-class ticket to lower overhead. 

Here’s a quick (and slightly sardonic) tour of some other notable Oct. 1 arrivals on Florida’s legal menu:

• HB 113 — Drivers who play tag with the law by fleeing or trying to elude police now face stiffer criminal penalties. The dashcam era gets fewer get-out-of-jail-free cards.
• HB 150 (“Trooper’s Law”) — A third-degree felony now awaits anyone who leaves dogs tied out during natural disasters. In short: if a storm’s coming, so is accountability.
• SB 168 (“Tristin Murphy Act”) — Reforming how people with serious mental illness are treated in the criminal-justice system. The law is named after Tristin Murphy, a 37-year-old with schizophrenia who tragically took his life shortly after being sent to prison on a littering charge — a grim reminder of the stakes behind policy tweaks.
• HB 253 — Using vehicle lights to stop people (or to impersonate police) and tampering with license plates will trigger tougher penalties. No more DIY cop costumes with a flashlight and a magnet.
• HB 687 — Repeat offenders of especially dangerous driving-related crimes (DUI manslaughter, boating manslaughter, vehicular homicide) face ramped-up consequences. Florida says repeat behavior merits a harder line.
• HB 777 — A broad slate of measures to strengthen laws against luring or enticing children. Legislators framed it as tightening protections.
• SB 948 — Landlords must now tell prospective tenants about flood risks and past flooding. If your rental sits in an involuntary swimming hole, buyers and renters get the full play-by-play.
• HB 1049 — Harassing or retaliating against judges and court officials now carries heavier penalties. Don’t mess with the robes.
• SB 1386 — Assault or battery against utility workers will be punished more severely — because power lines and polite treatment both matter.
• SB 1804 — The law makes sex trafficking of children under 12 or of persons who are mentally incapacitated punishable by the death penalty. A weighty, controversial expansion of capital punishment tied to the most abhorrent offenses.

That’s the short list of long sentences and new disclosures. 

Taken together, this batch of Oct. 1 changes reads like a state trying to juggle three priorities at once: reduce the cost of doing business, shore up public-safety rules, and tighten protections for vulnerable people — sometimes in ways that spark difficult ethical and legal debate.

If you’re a landlord, your rental-application spiel just got longer. 

If you run a business, you’re calculating how to spend that new rent-tax savings. 

If you’re a civil libertarian or a human-rights watcher, the Tristin Murphy Act and SB 1804 will be clauses you read carefully and discuss loudly.

Florida’s October law drop is both pragmatic and theatrical: tax relief for companies on one hand, tougher criminal penalties and disclosure requirements on the other. 

The policy cocktail is potent — and whether the net effect is a raise for workers, more stable utility crews, or an uptick in legal challenges; It's sure to be the show Florida lobbyists and citizens tune in for!


Florida Governor Announces First 2nd Amendment Sales Tax Holiday

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#FloridaLawsOct1 #NoMoreBusinessRentTax #MarkWilson #TristinMurphyAct #TroopersLaw #HB113 #HB150 #SB168 #FloodDisclosure #HB253 #HB687 #HB777 #SB948 #SB1804 #PublicSafetyAndPolicy

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