Florida 2024 2024 Regular Session

Florida House Bill H0557 Introduced / Bill

Filed 11/20/2023

                       
 
HB 557  	2024 
 
 
 
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hb0557-00 
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A bill to be entitled 1 
An act relating to movable tiny homes; amending s. 2 
320.01, F.S.; revising definitions; providing that a 3 
park trailer may be used as permanent living quarters 4 
under certain circumstances; providing that such a 5 
park trailer may be referred to as a "movable tiny 6 
home"; amending s. 320.822, F.S.; revising the 7 
definition of the term "code"; amending s. 320.8231, 8 
F.S.; providing requirements for construction and 9 
inspection of a movable tiny home; requiring a movable 10 
tiny home to have a sticker or other documentation 11 
certifying compliance therewith; amending s. 553.73, 12 
F.S.; requiring the Florida Building Commission to 13 
review and adopt updates to certain codes which 14 
pertain to the superstructure requirements for movable 15 
tiny homes; providing an effective date. 16 
 17 
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 18 
 19 
 Section 1.  Paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 20 
320.01, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 21 
 320.01  Definitions, general. —As used in the Florida 22 
Statutes, except as otherwise provided, the term: 23 
 (1)  "Motor vehicle" means: 24 
 (b)  A recreational vehicle -type unit primarily designed as 25     
 
HB 557  	2024 
 
 
 
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temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, or travel 26 
use, or designed to be used as provided in sub -sub-subparagraph 27 
7.a.(II), which either has its own motive power or is mounted on 28 
or drawn by another vehicle. Recreational vehicle -type units, 29 
when traveling on the public roadways of this state, must comply 30 
with the length and width provisions of s. 316.515 , as that 31 
section may hereafter be amended . As defined below, the basic 32 
entities are: 33 
 1.  The "travel trailer," which is a vehicular portable 34 
unit, mounted on wheels, of such a size or weight as not to 35 
require special highway movement permits when drawn by a 36 
motorized vehicle. It is primarily designed and constructed to 37 
provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, or 38 
travel use. It has a body width of no more than 8 1/2 feet and 39 
an overall body length of no more than 40 feet when factory -40 
equipped for the road. 41 
 2.  The "camping trailer," which is a vehicular portable 42 
unit mounted on wheels and constructed with collapsible partial 43 
sidewalls which fold for towing by another vehicle and u nfold at 44 
the campsite to provide temporary living quarters for 45 
recreational, camping, or travel use. 46 
 3.  The "truck camper," which is a truck equipped with a 47 
portable unit designed to be loaded onto, or affixed to, the bed 48 
or chassis of the truck and cons tructed to provide temporary 49 
living quarters for recreational, camping, or travel use. 50     
 
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 4.  The "motor home," which is a vehicular unit which does 51 
not exceed the length, height, and width limitations provided in 52 
s. 316.515, is a self -propelled motor vehicl e, and is primarily 53 
designed to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, 54 
camping, or travel use. 55 
 5.  The "private motor coach," which is a vehicular unit 56 
which does not exceed the length, width, and height limitations 57 
provided in s. 316.515(9), is built on a self-propelled bus type 58 
chassis having no fewer than three load -bearing axles, and is 59 
primarily designed to provide temporary living quarters for 60 
recreational, camping, or travel use. 61 
 6.  The "van conversion," which is a vehicular unit whic h 62 
does not exceed the length and width limitations provided in s. 63 
316.515, is built on a self -propelled motor vehicle chassis, and 64 
is designed for recreation, camping, and travel use. 65 
 7.a. The "park trailer," which is a transportable unit 66 
that which has a body width not exceeding 14 feet and that which 67 
is built on a single chassis and is : 68 
 (I) Designed to provide seasonal or temporary living 69 
quarters when connected to utilities necessary for operation of 70 
installed fixtures and appliances. The total area of such the 71 
unit may in a setup mode, when measured from the exterior 72 
surface of the exterior stud walls at the level of maximum 73 
dimensions, not including any bay window, does not exceed 400 74 
square feet when constructed to ANSI A -119.5 standards, and 500 75     
 
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square feet when constructed to United States Department of 76 
Housing and Urban Development Standards ; or 77 
 (II)  Used as permanent living quarters for no more than 78 
one household when connected to utilities necessary for 79 
operation of installed fixtures and appliances. The total area 80 
of such unit may not exceed 400 square feet when constructed to 81 
standards specified in s. 320.8231(3), and 500 square feet when 82 
constructed to United States Department of Housing and Urban 83 
Development Standards. A park trailer un der this sub-sub-84 
subparagraph may be referred to as a "movable tiny home." 85 
 b.  The total area of a park trailer is measured from the 86 
exterior surface of the exterior stud walls at the level of 87 
maximum dimensions, not including any bay window, when the uni t 88 
is in setup mode. The length of a park trailer means the 89 
distance from the exterior of the front of the body (nearest to 90 
the drawbar and coupling mechanism) to the exterior of the rear 91 
of the body (at the opposite end of the body), including any 92 
protrusions. 93 
 8.  The "fifth-wheel trailer," which is a vehicular unit 94 
mounted on wheels, designed to provide temporary living quarters 95 
for recreational, camping, or travel use, of such size or weight 96 
as not to require a special highway movement permit, of gross 97 
trailer area not to exceed 400 square feet in the setup mode, 98 
and designed to be towed by a motorized vehicle that contains a 99 
towing mechanism that is mounted above or forward of the tow 100     
 
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vehicle's rear axle. 101 
 Section 2.  Subsection (2) of section 320.822, Florida 102 
Statutes, is amended to read: 103 
 320.822  Definitions; ss. 320.822 -320.862.—In construing 104 
ss. 320.822-320.862, unless the context otherwise requires, the 105 
following words or phrases have the following meanings: 106 
 (2)  "Code" means the appropriate stan dards found in: 107 
 (a)  The Federal Manufactured Housing Construction and 108 
Safety Standards for single -family mobile homes, adopted 109 
promulgated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development; 110 
 (b)  The Uniform Standards Code approved by the American 111 
National Standards Institute, ANSI A -119.2 for recreational 112 
vehicles and ANSI A-119.5 for park trailers or the United States 113 
Department of Housing and Urban Development standard for park 114 
trailers certified as meeting that standard; or 115 
 (c)  The Mobile and Manuf actured Home Repair and Remodeling 116 
Code and the Used Recreational Vehicle Code ; or 117 
 (d)  The standards provided in s. 320.8231(3) . 118 
 Section 3.  Subsections (3) and (4) are added to section 119 
320.8231, Florida Statutes, to read: 120 
 320.8231  Establishment of uniform standards for 121 
recreational vehicle -type units and park trailers. — 122 
 (3)  A movable tiny home described in s. 123 
320.01(1)(b)7.a.(II) must be constructed and inspected in 124 
accordance with the Florida Building Code.  125     
 
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 (4)  A movable tiny home described i n s. 126 
320.01(1)(b)7.a.(II) must have a sticker or other documentation 127 
certifying that the movable tiny home was inspected and 128 
certified for compliance with subsection (3) by a professional 129 
engineer or architect licensed in this state or by a third -party 130 
inspector who is qualified to inspect for compliance with the 131 
Florida Building Code. 132 
 Section 4.  Paragraph (a) of subsection (7) of section 133 
553.73, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 134 
 553.73  Florida Building Code. — 135 
 (7)(a)  The commission shall adopt a n updated Florida 136 
Building Code every 3 years through review of the most current 137 
updates of the International Building Code, the International 138 
Fuel Gas Code, the International Existing Building Code, the 139 
International Mechanical Code, the International Plu mbing Code, 140 
and the International Residential Code, all of which are 141 
copyrighted and published by the International Code Council, and 142 
the National Electrical Code, which is copyrighted and published 143 
by the National Fire Protection Association. At a minimum , the 144 
commission shall adopt any updates to such codes or any other 145 
code necessary to maintain eligibility for federal funding and 146 
discounts from the National Flood Insurance Program, the Federal 147 
Emergency Management Agency, and the United States Departmen t of 148 
Housing and Urban Development. The commission shall also review 149 
and adopt any updates to such codes which pertain to the 150     
 
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superstructure requirements for movable tiny homes. The 151 
commission shall also review and adopt updates based on the 152 
International Energy Conservation Code (IECC); however, the 153 
commission shall maintain the efficiencies of the Florida Energy 154 
Efficiency Code for Building Construction adopted and amended 155 
pursuant to s. 553.901. Every 3 years, the commission may 156 
approve updates to the Fl orida Building Code without a finding 157 
that the updates are needed in order to accommodate the specific 158 
needs of this state. The commission shall adopt updated codes by 159 
rule. 160 
 Section 5.  This act shall take effect October 1, 2024. 161