House passes easement bill without rollback of China crackdown

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. 3/4/22-Rep. Will Robinson, Jr., R-Bradenton, speaks in favor of the congressional redistricting bill, Friday at the Capitol in Tallahassee. The bill passed the House and heads to the Senate for approval. COLIN HACKLEY PHOTO

An easement bill has passed on the House floor, but it contains no provisions about Chinese real estate purchases.

That leaves the legislation (HB 799) in a different place than its Senate companion, which had language added in committee that would significantly revamp a China crackdown passed last year and touted by Gov. Ron DeSantis as a national model.

Robinson said he has not been a part of any talks on inserting language. But he wants the underlying bill on real estate rights to reach the Governor’s desk with language DeSantis will sign.

The technical bill addresses inconsistencies in court rulings that undermined development agreements on easement rights.

“It’s fixing a problem and restoring the status quo which has been relied upon for years,” Robinson said. “This bill clarifies that the intent of the parties creating the easement should be recognized and not later and validated by a court because of a technicality.”

But the bill in the Senate (SB 814) has become a vehicle for addressing consequences of a new Florida law.

The Senate Rules Committee approved a substitute amendment that would allow Chinese nationals to purchase Florida real estate under certain circumstances, including plans for residential development.

“The business community has raised important concerns regarding the need to more clearly define a controlling interest vs. a (de minimis), indirect interest,” Sen. Clay Yarborough, a Jacksonville Republican sponsoring the Senate bill, told Florida Politics last week.

DeSantis has pushed back against changes to the law, which he called an effort to reverse important national security protections enacted last year. The new statute aims to stop the Chinese government from purchasing property near military bases and from hoarding agricultural property in the state.

“What I see going on now is an attempt to unwind what we’ve done to protect Floridians against the threat posed by China,” he said in a press conference.

Robinson after those remarks amended his bill on the House floor to conform with the Senate version, but “absent the part of the bill making changes to last year’s interest of foreign countries real property law,” Robinson said.

The bill passed on a 113-1 vote off the floor. The lone dissent came from Rep. Mike Beltran, a Riverview Republican, who said his vote wasn’t related to anything on potential China language but unrelated concerns about its constitutionality.

Regardless, the bill now heads to the Senate, which can still add language about Chinese land buyers. Yarborough has been in talks with the Governor’s Office, and the changes enjoy the support of business advocates, including the Real Estate Roundtable and Associated Industries of Florida.