Bill Text: FL S1876 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Growth Management

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2012-03-09 - Died in Community Affairs [S1876 Detail]

Download: Florida-2012-S1876-Introduced.html
       Florida Senate - 2012                                    SB 1876
       
       
       
       By Senator Braynon
       
       
       
       
       33-01315-12                                           20121876__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to growth management; amending s.
    3         163.3181, F.S.; prohibiting a government or
    4         governmental entity or an applicant for a plan
    5         amendment or development order from filing any SLAPP
    6         suit, lawsuit, cause of action, claim, cross-claim, or
    7         counterclaim because such person or entity has
    8         participated in the comprehensive planning process;
    9         providing definitions; providing immunity from civil
   10         liability for acts in furtherance of the
   11         constitutional right to petition; authorizing a
   12         special motion to dismiss, motion for judgment on the
   13         pleadings of, and motion for summary judgment for
   14         expedited disposition of certain suits; providing for
   15         award of attorney fees and court costs and additional
   16         damages; limiting punitive and other damages;
   17         providing construction; providing an effective date.
   18  
   19  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   20  
   21         Section 1. Subsection (5) is added to section 163.3181,
   22  Florida Statutes, to read:
   23         163.3181 Public participation in the comprehensive planning
   24  process; intent; alternative dispute resolution.—
   25         (5) A government, a governmental entity, or an applicant
   26  for a plan amendment or development order may not file or cause
   27  to be filed any SLAPP suit, lawsuit, cause of action, claim,
   28  cross-claim, or counterclaim against a person or entity without
   29  merit and solely because such person or entity has participated
   30  in the comprehensive planning process by exercising the right to
   31  peacefully assemble, the right to instruct representatives, and
   32  the right to petition for redress of grievances before the
   33  various governmental entities of this state, as protected by the
   34  First Amendment to the United States Constitution and s. 5, Art.
   35  I of the State Constitution.
   36         (a) As used in this section, the term:
   37         1. “Comprehensive planning process” means the mechanisms
   38  and procedures by which the executive and legislative branches
   39  of government make comprehensive planning decisions and the
   40  activities leading up to those decisions.
   41         2. “Government” or “governmental entity” means the state,
   42  including the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of
   43  state government and the independent entities of the state; a
   44  county; a municipality; a corporation primarily acting as an
   45  instrumentality of the state, a county, or a municipality; a
   46  district; or an authority, board, commission, or agency of any
   47  of the foregoing.
   48         3. “Motion” means any motion to dismiss for summary
   49  judgment or for judgment on the pleadings, any motion to strike
   50  a claim, or any other judicial or administrative pleading or
   51  filing to dispose of a claim.
   52         4. “Moving party” means any party to a judicial or
   53  administrative proceeding on whose behalf a motion is filed
   54  seeking disposition of a claim.
   55         5. “Person” means any individual, corporation, association,
   56  organization, trust, or trustee; two or more persons having a
   57  joint or common interest; or any other legal entity.
   58         6. “Responding party” means any party to a judicial or
   59  administrative proceeding against whom a motion is filed seeking
   60  disposition of a claim.
   61         7. “SLAPP suit” means a claim, counterclaim, cross-claim,
   62  or other action seeking relief from a judicial or administrative
   63  agency which is brought against a party who has communicated
   64  with a federal, state, or local government body or the public at
   65  large to report on, comment on, challenge, oppose, or in any
   66  other way exercise rights under the First Amendment to the
   67  United States Constitution or s. 5, Art. I of the State
   68  Constitution regarding any matter within the authority of any
   69  government body or the electorate.
   70         (b) Any act in furtherance of the constitutional right to
   71  petition, including seeking relief, influencing action,
   72  informing or communicating with the public at large, and
   73  otherwise participating in the comprehensive planning process,
   74  is immune from civil liability, regardless of its intent or
   75  purpose, unless the act is not aimed at procuring any
   76  governmental or electoral action, result, or outcome in the
   77  comprehensive planning process. Any civil or administrative suit
   78  or motion seeking financial damages or sanctions against any
   79  person or organization based in whole or in part upon oral or
   80  written statements made during advocacy for or against a
   81  proposed comprehensive plan amendment, land development
   82  regulation amendment, or development order shall be sworn to by
   83  the movant and shall be pleaded with particularity and identify
   84  the specific facts that allegedly give rise to liability.
   85         (c) A person or entity sued based upon any oral or written
   86  statements made during advocacy for or against a proposed
   87  comprehensive plan amendment, land development regulation
   88  amendment, or development order has a right to an expeditious
   89  resolution of a claim that the suit is in violation of this
   90  section. A person or entity may petition the court for an order
   91  dismissing the action or granting final judgment in favor of the
   92  person or entity by filing a special motion to dismiss within
   93  the time period provided for responding to the claim or, in the
   94  court’s discretion, at any later time upon terms the court deems
   95  proper or by filing a motion for judgment on the pleadings or a
   96  motion for summary judgment, together with supplemental
   97  affidavits, seeking a determination that the lawsuit has been
   98  brought in violation of this section.
   99         (d) A special motion to dismiss authorized by this section
  100  shall be granted if the moving party has asserted that the
  101  action, claim, cross-claim, or counterclaim subject to the
  102  motion is an action involving public petition and public
  103  participation in the comprehensive planning, land development
  104  regulation, or development order process unless the responding
  105  party demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that the
  106  acts of the moving party are not immunized from or are not in
  107  furtherance of acts immunized from liability by this section and
  108  that the cause of action has a substantial basis in law or is
  109  supported by a substantial argument for an extension,
  110  modification, or reversal of existing law. The special motion to
  111  dismiss shall be heard and decided by the court within 90 days
  112  after the filing of the motion. An appellate court shall
  113  expedite any appeal or petition for a writ, whether
  114  interlocutory or not, from a trial court order denying the
  115  motion or from a trial court’s failure to rule on the motion
  116  within 90 days.
  117         (e) A motion for judgment on the pleadings or for summary
  118  judgment in which the moving party has demonstrated by
  119  affidavits or matters of record that the action, claim, cross
  120  claim, or counterclaim subject to the motion is an action
  121  involving public petition and participation in the comprehensive
  122  planning process shall be granted unless the party responding to
  123  the motion demonstrates that the action, claim, cross-claim, or
  124  counterclaim has a substantial basis in fact and in law or is
  125  supported by a substantial argument for an extension,
  126  modification, or reversal of existing law. The court shall grant
  127  preference in scheduling the hearing of the motion for judgment
  128  on the pleadings or motion for summary judgment.
  129         (f) Any governmental body to which the moving party’s acts
  130  were directed may intervene to defend or support the moving
  131  party in the hearing of any motion authorized in this section.
  132         (g) All discovery and further proceedings shall
  133  automatically be stayed by the filing of any motion authorized
  134  by this section until after the motion is disposed of by the
  135  court.
  136         (h) The court shall award a moving party who prevails in a
  137  motion under this section reasonable attorney fees and costs
  138  incurred and may award other compensatory damages upon an
  139  additional demonstration that the action was commenced or
  140  continued for the purpose of harassing, intimidating, punishing,
  141  or otherwise interfering with public participation in the
  142  comprehensive planning process or inhibiting the free exercise
  143  of rights granted under the First Amendment to the United States
  144  Constitution or s. 5, Art. I of the State Constitution. Punitive
  145  damages may be recovered only upon a demonstration that the
  146  action was commenced or continued for the sole purpose of
  147  harassing, intimidating, punishing, or otherwise interfering
  148  with public participation in the comprehensive planning process
  149  or inhibiting the free exercise of rights granted under the
  150  First Amendment to the United States Constitution or s. 5, Art.
  151  I of the State Constitution.
  152         (i) Damages may be awarded to a plaintiff in an action
  153  involving public petition and participation in the comprehensive
  154  planning process only if the plaintiff, in addition to all other
  155  necessary elements, establishes by clear and convincing evidence
  156  that any communication giving rise to the action was made with
  157  knowledge of its falsity or with reckless disregard of whether
  158  it was false and where the truth or falsity of such
  159  communication is material to the cause of action at issue.
  160         (j) This section may not be construed to limit any other
  161  constitutional, statutory, or common law protection to
  162  defendants to actions involving public petition and
  163  participation.
  164         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.

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