Florida Senate - 2025 CS for SB 1820 By the Committee on Transportation; and Senator Leek 596-02860-25 20251820c1 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to motor vehicle manufacturers and 3 franchised motor vehicle dealers; amending s. 320.64, 4 F.S.; prohibiting an applicant or a licensee, or a 5 common entity thereof, from establishing, 6 implementing, or enforcing certain criteria for 7 measuring the sales or service performance of its 8 franchised motor vehicle dealers unless certain 9 conditions are met; prohibiting an applicant or a 10 licensee, or a common entity thereof, from engaging in 11 an action that is taken as retaliation against a motor 12 vehicle dealer under certain circumstances; amending 13 s. 320.641, F.S.; revising the circumstances in which 14 a discontinuation, cancellation, nonrenewal, 15 modification, or replacement of a franchise agreement 16 is deemed unfair; providing an effective date. 17 18 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 19 20 Section 1.Subsection (42) of section 320.64, Florida 21 Statutes, is amended, and subsection (43) is added to that 22 section, to read: 23 320.64Denial, suspension, or revocation of license; 24 grounds.A license of a licensee under s. 320.61 may be denied, 25 suspended, or revoked within the entire state or at any specific 26 location or locations within the state at which the applicant or 27 licensee engages or proposes to engage in business, upon proof 28 that the section was violated with sufficient frequency to 29 establish a pattern of wrongdoing, and a licensee or applicant 30 shall be liable for claims and remedies provided in ss. 320.695 31 and 320.697 for any violation of any of the following 32 provisions. A licensee is prohibited from committing the 33 following acts: 34 (42)(a)The applicant or licensee, or a common entity 35 thereof, has established, implemented, or enforced criteria for 36 measuring the sales or service performance of any of its 37 franchised motor vehicle dealers in this state which have a 38 material or adverse effect on any motor vehicle dealer and 39 which: 40 1.Are unfair, unreasonable, arbitrary, or inequitable; or 41 2.Do not include all relevant and material local and 42 regional criteria, data, and facts. Relevant and material 43 criteria, data, or facts include, but are not limited to, those 44 of motor vehicle dealerships of comparable size in comparable 45 markets. If such performance measurement criteria are based, in 46 whole or in part, on a survey, such survey must be based on a 47 statistically significant and valid random sample. 48 (b)The An applicant or, licensee, or a common entity 49 thereof, has implemented or enforced criteria for measuring the 50 sales or service performance of any of its franchised motor 51 vehicle dealers in this state without first making available and 52 readily accessible, before such implementation or enforcement, a 53 written description to each such franchised, or an affiliate 54 thereof, which enforces against any motor vehicle dealer any 55 such performance measurement criteria shall, upon the request of 56 the motor vehicle dealer, describe in writing to the motor 57 vehicle dealer in this state which describes, in detail, how the 58 performance measurement criteria were designed, calculated, 59 established, and uniformly applied. 60 (43)The applicant or licensee, or a common entity thereof, 61 has engaged in an action, or implemented a policy, standard, 62 rule, practice, or program, taken as retaliation against a motor 63 vehicle dealer because the dealer invoked a statutory right 64 created by ss. 320.60-320.70, asserted that the applicant, 65 licensee, or common entity has acted in a manner that violates a 66 provision of ss. 320.60-320.70, or has testified, assisted, or 67 participated in any manner in an investigation, a proceeding, or 68 a hearing that may directly affect the applicant, licensee, or 69 common entity. 70 71 A motor vehicle dealer who can demonstrate that a violation of, 72 or failure to comply with, any of the preceding provisions by an 73 applicant or licensee will or may adversely and pecuniarily 74 affect the complaining dealer, shall be entitled to pursue all 75 of the remedies, procedures, and rights of recovery available 76 under ss. 320.695 and 320.697. 77 Section 2.Subsection (3) of section 320.641, Florida 78 Statutes, is amended to read: 79 320.641Discontinuations, cancellations, nonrenewals, 80 modifications, and replacement of franchise agreements. 81 (3)Any motor vehicle dealer who receives a notice of 82 intent to discontinue, cancel, not renew, modify, or replace 83 may, within the 90-day notice period, file a petition or 84 complaint for a determination of whether such action is an 85 unfair or prohibited discontinuation, cancellation, nonrenewal, 86 modification, or replacement. Agreements and certificates of 87 appointment must shall continue in effect until final 88 determination of the issues raised in such petition or complaint 89 by the motor vehicle dealer. A discontinuation, cancellation, or 90 nonrenewal of a franchise agreement is unfair if it is not 91 clearly permitted by the franchise agreement; is not undertaken 92 in good faith; is not undertaken for good cause; or is not based 93 on a material and substantial an alleged breach of the franchise 94 agreement by the motor vehicle dealer which is not in fact a 95 material and substantial breach; or, if the grounds relied upon 96 for termination, cancellation, or nonrenewal have not been 97 applied in a uniform and consistent manner by the licensee. If 98 the notice of discontinuation, cancellation, or nonrenewal 99 relates to an alleged failure of the new motor vehicle dealers 100 sales or service performance obligations under the franchise 101 agreement, the new motor vehicle dealer must first be provided 102 with at least 180 days to correct the alleged failure before a 103 licensee may send the notice of discontinuation, cancellation, 104 or nonrenewal. A modification or replacement is unfair if it is 105 not clearly permitted by the franchise agreement; is not 106 undertaken in good faith; or is not undertaken for good cause. 107 The applicant or licensee has shall have the burden of proof 108 that such discontinuation, cancellation, nonrenewal, 109 modification, or replacement action is fair and not prohibited. 110 Section 3.This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.