The New Legislation Will Ensure the Continued Operation of Fence Contractor Businesses in the State of Florida.
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On June 20, 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 1383, Specialty Contractors, into law. The signing of this legislation was a celebration for the AFA and our Florida members, who would have had major business disruptions and lost potential fence installation jobs if not adopted. The local AFA Florida chapter and AFA Executive Director, Michael Reed, have spent months working with state officials and the Florida Home Builders Association to develop a winning solution. This new law provides just that.
HB 1383 remedies the problems created by a previous piece of legislation that was created in 2021. The 2021 law preempted occupational licensing to the state, which essentially would have forced many of our member contractor companies to apply for costly, and sometimes even prohibitive, state licensing to be able to do any fence installations.
It also resulted in other unintended consequences, such as the denial of permits for some. It was reported that some local building code officials were not allowing unlicensed professionals to pull permits for work that was not defined under the state’s scope of contracting. Many member companies would have lost revenue and future projects over these issues.
The new legislation allows counties that would have been affected by this change to continue issuing their own local licensing for fence contractors, which allows our fence professionals to continue with the important work of installing fence in the state of Florida.
AFA Florida Chapter President, Zach Peyton stated, "HB 1383 fixed potentially catastrophic issues for the fence industry in Florida. The FHBA and AFA really stepped up to support Florida's fence contractors by influencing the legislative process towards this positive outcome. Now we can get back to work installing beautiful and safe fencing for Floridians throughout the state."