Keeping Up With Florida’s COVID-19 Executive Orders
Governor Ron DeSantis has continued to issue new executive orders in his effort to address the COVID-19 crisis in the State of Florida. Executive Order 20-103 has extended Executive Order 20-87, requiring vacation rental properties to temporarily suspend rental operations for the duration of the order, which now goes through April 30, 2020. The order provides that parties are prohibited from making new reservations or bookings and may not accept new guests for the duration of the order.
This order mainly affects people who use their space for Airbnb and other types of online marketplaces for vacation rentals. The directive does not apply to:
- Hotels, motels, inns, resorts, non-transient public lodging establishments,
- Time-share projects,
- Long-term rentals,
- Rentals to persons performing military, emergency, governmental, health, or infrastructure response, or
- Travelers engaged in non-vacation commercial activities.
Violation of the order may result in revocation of vacation rental licenses by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation or misdemeanor charges, among other penalties.
On April 16, 2020, the governor issued an executive order directed to unemployment compensation reporting requirements. Under Executive Order 20-104, those “actively seeking work” don’t have to report bi-weekly, as normally required by state law, “only to the extent necessary.”
On April 8, 2020, the Florida Supreme Court announced that it is cancelling all of the educational programs provided by the Court through the end of September. This includes the Florida Dispute Resolution Center’s Annual Conference for Mediators which had been scheduled for August. In addition, on August 7, 2020 Chief Justice Charles T. Canady of the Florida Supreme Court issued Administrative Order 20-24, which addresses a number of issues with respect to alternative dispute resolution during the coronavirus pandemic. Amongst other things, Administrative Order 20-24 provides:
- The requirement of in-person training for those seeking their mediation certification is suspended through December 31, 2020;
- Mediation primary and assistant trainers are granted an extension of their renewal requirements through December 31, 2020; and
- The requirement that mediators who are seeking to renew their certification receive eight of the 16 hours of the mandated Continuing Mediator Education every two years via a live course or courses is suspended through December 31, 2020.
