Florida Senator Seeks Major Overhaul of State Growth Management Laws
Ocala Republican Sen. Stan McClain wants to completely rewrite Florida’s growth management laws after his controversial development bill failed this session.
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Republican Sen. Stan McClain of Ocala announced plans to rewrite Florida’s growth management laws, targeting Chapter 163 of state statute that serves as the backbone of the state’s development regulations.
Speaking Wednesday during a Florida Policy Project discussion on the state’s housing situation, McClain said the current statute contains outdated references to a state land planning agency eliminated in 2011 when then-Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-controlled Legislature disbanded the Department of Community Affairs.
“What I’d like to do over the next couple of years is try to build consensus around what are things that can be administratively approved,” McClain said during the all-day event.
Moving Away from Pre-emption Strategy
The homebuilder-turned-legislator, who has filed dozens of development and housing bills during his decade in the Florida Legislature, expressed a preference for incentivizing local governments to approve mixed-use developments rather than continuing legislative pre-emption efforts.
“I don’t know if that’s healthy for the Legislature or if it’s healthy for local governments,” McClain said, referring to the ongoing practice of state lawmakers overriding local authority on development issues.
McClain acknowledged his controversial reputation among local officials, joking that he has become “somewhat of a ‘Darth Vader'” to local governments because “they think all I do is run around trying to pre-empt them, which I do.” He added that he works closely with both the Florida League of Cities and Florida Association of Counties on policy matters.
Legislative Session Aftermath
McClain’s announcement follows encouragement from Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, who urged him to review the state’s land-use regulations near the end of the recent legislative session. Passidomo had strongly opposed McClain’s “Blue Ribbon” projects bill, one of the most contentious land development proposals of the 2026 session.
The Blue Ribbon bill failed due to Republican opposition, marking a setback for McClain’s development agenda. Passidomo noted during debate that the Legislature has faced pressure over the past decade to push pre-emption bills to appease developers amid accusations that local governments create excessive roadblocks to economic development.
McClain’s proposal to comprehensively rewrite Chapter 163 represents a shift from piecemeal legislative approaches to a broader systematic reform of how Florida manages growth and development across the state’s 67 counties and hundreds of municipalities.
