Legislative Update: Florida Legislative Session Underway

by Allen Douglas, Executive DirectorFES and ACEC FLORIDA

PREPARING FOR THE YEAR OF DOGE

Author’s Note: This article was written on Friday, March 7, 2025. It is very general, as things can and will change quickly in the hours and days ahead before this issue is published.

The 2025 Session of the Florida Legislative Session was called to order on Tuesday, March 4, at the State Capitol in Tallahassee. Governor DeSantis received a warm welcome from the Florida Legislature when he entered the House Chambers to deliver his State of the State Address. This is notable after three contentious special sessions over the past few weeks.

These special sessions delayed the normal process of committee meetings, legislation filing and more. The vast majority of state agency legislative packages were not filed until the last week of February, just prior to the start of the Legislative Session, and more than 1,000 bills were filed in the last two weeks before this session began.

Our lobbying team and members are working hard to get the bills relevant to the engineering and construction industries analyzed, and our legislative committee meets regularly to establish our positions.

Each year, FES and ACEC Florida invite their members to the Florida Capitol for Professional Engineers Legislative Days (PE Days) during the Legislative Session. PE Days provides our members with a platform to advocate for the engineering profession, engage with policymakers, network with peers, and contribute to the development of policies and regulations that impact the engineering industry.

This year’s event is planned for March 18-19, and we have 158 registrants. This important event ensures that the voice of Florida’s engineers is heard, reinforcing the role of professional engineers in shaping the state's infrastructure and economic future.

This will be the year of DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). At the federal level, the President and Elon Musk are dismantling government agencies in an effort to improve government efficiency. The same thing is happening at the state level.

In the Department of Business and Professional Regulation package that has been filed (Senate Bill 1452 and House Bill 1461), boards for landscape architects, geologists and several others would be eliminated.

So far, the Florida Board of Professional Engineers (FBPE) and the Florida Engineers Management Corporation (FEMC), a non-profit organization that provides administrative, investigative and prosecutorial services for FBPE, are safe.

The same thing is happening in multiple bills to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and minority business enterprise (MBE) programs. In some bills, disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) and small business enterprise (SBE) programs are also on the chopping block. It is across the board; these programs are not safe.

On engineering-specific issues, we are tracking 84 bills that affect the engineering community in the Transportation, Environmental, Structural and Energy sectors.

If you are interested in our legislative issues, we hold an update each Friday during the Legislative Session via Microsoft Teams. There is an Environmental Bill Update at 9:15 a.m., a Transportation Bill Update at 10 a.m., and an update on general bills of interest at 10:15.

Links are available on our websites at fleng.org/advocacy/ legislative-updates/ and acecfl.org/advocacy/legislativeupdates/.

Editor's note: 162 professional engineers participated in the 2025 PE Days and held 74 appointments and several impromptu meetings with Legislators and staff so FES and ACEC Florida members could share their thoughts on proposed legislation for this year’s session.