Florida Chamber's Statement on Property Tax Special Session

After nearly a year of calling for property tax relief to be placed on the ballot in November 2026, Governor Ron DeSantis announced earlier today further specifics on his property tax relief plan and said a proclamation is forthcoming to call a special session for June 1-3, 2026.

The Florida Chamber has worked tirelessly to educate the Governor’s team, legislative leadership and business community stakeholders over the last year on a potential tax shift to local businesses and renters if homestead property taxes are eliminated without any guardrails or tax relief for non-homestead properties. You can view our recent letter sent to Governor DeSantis, Senate President Ben Albritton, House Speaker Danny Perez, and every legislator here.

Property taxes accounted for nearly $60 billion in local government and school funding in 2025, up from $55.18 billion the year prior and $35.7 billion in 2019. You can view the Chamber’s primer on Florida’s property tax system here.

Governor’s Proposal: While specific text of the proposed constitutional amendment has not been released, the Governor announced that the primary purpose of his proposed amendment is to eliminate property taxes on homestead properties. The proposal is to initially raise the homestead exemption to $250,000 for all homestead property taxes (including schools) and then authorize the legislature to eliminate the remaining homestead property tax burden.

Importantly, the Governor acknowledged during the press conference that he does not want local governments to shift the property tax burden to non-homestead properties, such as local businesses and renters, a position long-advocated by the Florida Chamber. Under the proposal, local governments will only be authorized under the Constitution to use non-homestead property taxes for core services (public safety, education, infrastructure and other items that will be spelled out in the Constitution). The proposal also includes a reduction in the annual assessed value increase, or assessment cap, for small businesses from 10% to 5%. (Note: the Florida Chamber awarded Representative J.J. Grow a 2026 Distinguished Advocate Award for authoring Chamber-backed legislation to reduce the property tax burden on local businesses and renters by lowering the assessment cap).

Other details include a new proposed state trust fund that could help provide grants to local governments that are struggling to fund core services and requiring new Floridians to pay homestead property taxes under the old system for five years prior to receiving the exemptions under the new property tax system. For a one pager on the Governor’s proposal, click here.

What's Next: The legislature will convene in Special Session F beginning Monday to consider the Governor’s property tax proposal. Because Florida’s property tax system is largely embedded in Florida’s Constitution, it will require a joint resolution to pass the legislature by a three-fifths vote (60%) of the membership of each body to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot for the November general election.

The ballot initiative would then require approval by 60% of the voters in November. There is no gubernatorial veto opportunity for joint resolutions so the proposal will go straight to the ballot.

The Florida Chamber will evaluate the proposed constitutional amendment with our members once specific bill text and potential fiscal impacts are released.