Chamber Advocacy Update for the 2025 Florida Legislative Session

This week, Florida lawmakers will begin the annual legislative session, which will include consideration of hundreds of bills. We have an entirely new State Legislative Delegation this year (contact information below), and the Chamber encourages local businesses to contact them directly on issues of importance to you. Governor DeSantis laid out his agenda in a State of the State speech on March 4. Here are some of the important issues the Chamber is engaging on that will have a direct impact on St. Johns County businesses, with updates throughout the 60-day Legislative Session:

Elimination of the state sales tax on commercial rents

The State of Florida has taxed the value of commercial rents/leases for many years. Beginning in the mid-2010’s, the Legislature began the slow process of reducing that tax from 6% to 2% (plus ½% SJC local sales tax as of July 1, 2024). “Florida is one of the few states and maybe the only state that taxes business rent,” DeSantis said. “We brought it down a lot since I’ve been governor but I’m proposing to put that on the path to elimination within two years.” Governor DeSantis has proposed the elimination of this sales tax in his 2025 budget, and it is likely that the Legislature will follow suit and either vote to further reduce the sales tax or eliminate it entirely. The Chamber has strongly supported the elimination of this tax as a way to keep the SJC business community competitive by growing and attracting new businesses to the county. 

Why does this matter to me?

Florida is the only state in the US that taxes the value of commercial rent. Adding the 2.5% tax to a commercial lease every month is money out of your pocket or at a minimum, a negotiable point during lease discussions. This tax becomes an added cost for operating or starting up a new business in SJC.

What can you do?

Write or call the SJC State Legislative Delegation and urge their strong support for the repeal of the 2.5% sales tax on commercial rents. (Contact information below)

Support St. Johns County legislative infrastructure funding requests

SJC has a huge backlog of unfunded road and infrastructure needs. St. Johns County has requested significant State funding (supported by the Chamber) to widen SR16, upgrade SR206, SR207, SR 208, CR210 and the extension of CR2209 and SR312/313 to increase mobility County-wide. In addition, St. Johns County has requested funding to address beach erosion south of the Guana Reserve. Finally, the Chamber strongly supports funding for the completion of the feasibility study for a transit rail line between the City of Jacksonville and the City of St. Augustine.

Why does this matter to me?

Anyone who drives in St. Johns County knows firsthand the frustrations of not being able to get from Point A to Point B in a reasonable amount of time. Businesses are negatively affected as employees cannot get to work in a reasonable amount of time; consumers are hesitant to get on the roads to go about their daily activities; and the quality of life suffers as we spend more time in traffic. State funding requests will go a long way to upgrading our infrastructure and road needs as SJC is continuing to grow and prosper. 

What can you do?

Contact our SJC state legislative delegation members and urge their support for high priority road and infrastructure investments.

Attainable/Affordable housing

St. Johns County has an ongoing affordable/attainable housing crisis where the median price of a new home is over $530,000 (as of January, 2025) and many County residents simply cannot afford to live or move here. In 2023, the State Legislature approved the “Live Local Act” designed to offer incentives to builders and developers to produce more attainable/affordable housing. In 2024, the Legislature approved a number of amendments to the Live Local Act to further encourage developers and local governments to remove roadblocks to the construction of attainable/affordable housing.

Why does this matter to me?

The lack of attainable housing negatively affects businesses’ ability to expand and hire workers, public agencies unable to recruit firefighters, law enforcement officers and teachers whose salaries simply cannot meet the minimum required to buy or even rent a home in SJC. Without additional reasonably priced housing options, businesses will continue to find it difficult to attract employees and if they do, they will be forced to pay more just to hire and keep employees.

What can I do?

Contact our SJC State Legislative Delegation members and urge them to support further amendments to the Live Local Act to bring badly needed housing options to our SJC residents.

Workforce Development

The Chamber has been actively involved in workforce development for many years. Through our partners at FCTC, SJRSC, the SJCSD and private sector employers, our goal is to produce a well-educated, homegrown talent pool that can power our businesses well into the future. Whether it be private/public partnerships between our public schools and commercial employers, support for the SJCSD’s career academies or support for State appropriations/grants designed to encourage homegrown talent for our County’s employers, the Chamber has been at the forefront of encouraging local workforce development options for our workforce of the future.

Why does this matter to me?

Employers need a steady stream of qualified workers to fuel their growth and prosperity. Developing homegrown talent not only provides jobs for St. Johns County residents, but it also helps guarantee a solid future for our economy going forward. We need young people to stay in St. Johns County, find work in St. Johns County and keep our momentum moving forward.

What can I do?

Contact Chamber SVP Scott Maynard (scott.maynard@sjcchamber.com) to learn how you and your company can take advantage of the many workforce development programs currently operating in St. Johns County. Additionally, lend your support to state and federal grant requests for workforce development for SJC.

Tourism

As the single largest element of St. Johns County’s employment and revenue, a healthy tourism/hospitality industry is vital to the economic well being of the region. The Chamber has long supported the state-level VisitFlorida program which is designed to assist small and medium size locales to bring in out-of-state tourism dollars to the County. Additionally, the Chamber strongly opposes any effort to divert local tourist tax revenues away from localities or to fund non-tourist related purposes.

Why does this matter to me?

Out of county/out of state tourists bring in billions of dollars in spending to St. Johns County every year, supporting many sectors of the economy. According to St. Johns County, in 2023 tourists spent over $2.4 billion right here at home. In addition, the County’s Tourism Development Tax (paid primarily by out of state/out of county visitors) provides over $23 million annually to support our tourism sector. These dollars support our vital tourism sector allowing them to hire additional workers and maintain and improve their facilities – all with dollars coming from outside St. Johns County.

What can I do?

Contact our SJC State Legislative Delegation members to let them know how important continued tourism funding is for St. Johns County. Tell them to support continued funding of VisitFlorida, the state agency that has provided badly needed assistance after hurricanes ravaged NE Florida just a few years ago.

Contact information for SJC State Legislative Delegation
 
Chair: Senator Tom Leek
4475 US 1 South
Suite 404
St. Augustine, FL 32086
(386) 446-7610
Contact Senator Leek
 
State Representative Kim Kendall (Northern St. Johns County)
PMB 223
Suite 108, 2220 County Road 210 West
St. Johns, FL 32259-4060
(904) 295-1620
Contact Rep. Kendall
 
State Representative Sam Greco (Southern St. Johns County)
Suite 1
4877 Palm Coast Parkway Northwest
Palm Coast, FL 32137-3677
(386) 446-7644
Contact Rep. Greco
 
State Representative Judson Sapp (Western St. Johns County)
Suite 4
620 South State Road 19
Palatka, FL 32177-3945
(386) 249-7060
Contact Rep. Sapp