Florida farm bill stalls in Senate, drawing GOP backlash

A sweeping agricultural bill that addresses land use, environmental regulations and local government ran into an unexpected delay on Tuesday after a key Senate committee temporarily postponed voting on the measure, triggering immediate backlash from Florida’s top farm official.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Keith Truenow, was scheduled to be heard by the Senate Committee on Rules, the final stop before reaching the Senate floor. Instead, Truenow requested that the bill be temporarily postponed, citing negotiations over the bill’s contents.

In the Florida Legislature, a “temporary postponement” is often viewed as a procedural move that can effectively stall — or even quietly doom — a bill for the session. But Truenow, a Lake County Republican, told the committee that the delay was tied to continued discussions with stakeholders and concerns that testimony taken that day could reflect provisions likely to change.

“I think ongoing conversations with these parties will be ongoing, so some of the testimony that you may hear today is on the bill as it stands today,” Truenow said, adding that he expected some issues to be “rectified in the future.”

Committee Chair Kathleen Passidomo, a Naples Republican and the immediate past Senate president, agreed to the postponement but allowed public testimony to proceed. “This is kind of unprecedented,” Passidomo said, noting that advocates and opponents had traveled from across the state to attend despite recent weather-related travel disruptions.

The pause quickly escalated into a public dispute.

Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson took to social media shortly after the meeting, accusing Passidomo of sidelining Florida’s agricultural interests and undermining policies he said protect farmers, ranchers and growers.

“It is unconscionable that a single committee chair would pick up that mantle and reverse the gains we’ve made,” Simpson wrote, adding that he hoped Passidomo would “reconsider her support for agriculture in our state and put the Farm Bill back in front of the Senate.”

Simpson did not respond to a request for comment.

State Rep. Lawrence McClure, R-Dover, amplified the criticism and broadened it, invoking Farm Bureau Day and noting that hundreds of students from farming programs had traveled to Tallahassee on Tuesday to advocate for agriculture.

McClure also criticized Passidomo for allowing public testimony to proceed primarily from opponents while Senate President Ben Albritton — a prominent champion of rural farming communities — remained in the hospital. Albritton, a Wauchula Republican, has been hospitalized since Sunday after doctors discovered a blood clot in his lung.

“It wasn’t politics,” McClure said of Passidomo’s decision. “It was intentionally mean.”

But the controversy surrounding the farm bill extends well beyond Tuesday’s procedural dispute.

The 70-plus-page bill is an omnibus package that would significantly reshape state and local authority over land use, environmental protections and agricultural regulation. Among its most contentious provisions are measures that would prevent counties and cities from restricting or banning gasoline-powered farm and landscaping equipment, effectively blocking local efforts to limit noise or emissions from gas-powered leaf blowers and similar machinery.

Environmental groups and local governments have also raised concerns about language allowing certain state-owned conservation lands acquired after 2024 to be deemed suitable for “bona fide agricultural purposes” and potentially sold, with proceeds redirected to agricultural land programs. Critics argue the provision weakens long-standing commitments to land conservation and opens the door to repurposing protected lands under the banner of agriculture.

Other sections of the bill impose new criminal penalties on contractors who fail to pay subcontractors, tighten restrictions on door-to-door commercial solicitation, repeal Florida’s participation in a regional energy compact and eliminate the state’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative. Opponents say the bill combines too many unrelated policy changes into a single measure, limiting meaningful debate on each issue.

Supporters, including agricultural and business interests, argue the bill streamlines regulation, protects farmers from a patchwork of local rules and ensures land remains productive while maintaining conservation safeguards.

Passidomo, in a written statement, rejected claims that the bill was blocked by committee leadership, emphasizing that the delay was initiated by its sponsor.

“When he’s ready to present it again, I look forward to a thoughtful discussion on the proposed policy,” Passidomo said. She added that she had reached out to Simpson and planned to speak with him directly.