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The GMBHA government affairs team led by Armando Ibarra has been active throughout the legislative session, playing a key role in advocating for important issues impacting the hotel and tourism industry, and worked closely with legislative leaders to defend our industry’s interests. GMBHA President and CEO, Curtis Crider, traveled to Tallahassee during Dade Days to meet with legislators, as did our partners at the GMCVB. In addition, our government affairs team worked closely with partners to implement an aggressive PR and media strategy to highlight the importance of the tourism industry and drive our industry’s narrative in TV, radio, print, and online media.

Session Status

The 2025 regular legislative session was supposed to end on May 2nd. However, the House and Senate were unable to come to agreement to pass a budget or tax legislation, requiring the legislature to extend the regular session, likely through the end of June. Florida law requires the legislature to pass a budget before July 1st.

Tourist Development Tax

Standalone legislation (HB 1221 / SB 1664) impacting the TDT was filed this year, requiring a referendum every 8 years to reauthorize the TDT. The House bill was later amended to dissolve local tourist development councils and require governments collecting the TDT to redirect those funds towards property tax reductions or towards general uses. While this legislation was passed in the House, it failed to pass in the Senate. As a result, this legislation will die at the close of session today.

The House (HB 7033) and Senate (SB 7034) tax bills both included differing language impacting the TDT. The Senate tax bill included a provision that amended one of the conditions for using TDT funds for infrastructure improvements. This provision would not have had a direct impact on Miami-Dade County. The House tax bill included language from the standalone legislation referenced above, which proposed to dissolve local tourist development councils, require governments collecting the TDT to redirect those funds towards property tax reductions or towards general uses, and conduct a referendum every eight years to reauthorize the TDT. The House approved their tax bill and it is currently under consideration in the Senate, pending negotiations between the chambers.

The GMBHA government affairs led our statewide industry’s advocacy on this issue, working with partners statewide and securing support from key Senate leaders to oppose harmful TDT changes. We expect that our allies in the Senate will continue to hold strong in opposition to harmful TDT changes.

Transient Occupancy / Service Charges

Legislation (HB 535 / SB 606) clarified the definitions of transient and non-transient occupancy and the process for hotels to remove non-paying guests. This legislation was amended to include a ban on automatic gratuities or service charges for parties smaller than 6. This provision was later removed and replaced with a requirement for disclosure of “operations charges” which includes automatic gratuities or service charges. The provisions related to hotel occupancy will go into effect on July 1st, 2025. The provisions related to operations charges will go into effect on July 1st, 2026.

GBMHA supported the original legislation and opposed the restrictions on service charges which were later removed. We will provide additional information and guidance regarding required operations charge disclosure language in an upcoming email.

Visit Florida

The House and Senate both allocated $80 million of funding for Visit Florida. However, the chambers were unable to agree on big picture budget and tax issues and failed to pass a budget during the regular session, including appropriations for Visit Florida. Funding for Visit Florida likely will be included in the budget when it is passed during a special session. GMBHA supports full funding for Visit Florida.

Vacation Rentals

No vacation rental legislation was filed during the 2025 legislative session.

Public Relations and Media

Summary of media coverage secured by GMBHA advocacy team:

Radio Interviews

  • Actualidad Radio – Audio link here
  • WLRN Florida Roundup (featuring Rolando Aedo)
  • America Radio (featuring Olga Ramudo)
  • La Poderosa (featuring Liliam Lopez)

Call-To-Action Engagement

  • 35 Members participated in the call-to-action, sending a total of 350 emails to legislative leaders.
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