On February 21, 2020, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law Senate Bill 476, which amends Chapters 718, 719, and 720 to bar condominium associations, co-ops, and homeowners associations, respectively, from prohibiting parking of law enforcement vehicles within the community. The statutory language incorporated into Chapters 718, 719, and 720 is identical, and provides:

An association may not prohibit a law enforcement officer, as defined in s. 943.10(1), who is a unit owner, or who is a tenant, guest, or invitee of a unit owner, from parking his or her assigned law enforcement vehicle in an area where the unit owner, or the tenant, guest, or invitee of the unit owner, otherwise has a right to park.

The law took effect upon signing on February 21, 2020. Although some community associations may be able to escape applicability of the rule to the extent their governing documents contained prohibitions against law enforcement vehicles prior to the effective date of the law, community associations should consider consulting with counsel before continuing to enforce such provisions, even where they pre-date the statutory change.

For further reading on the topic of community association regulation of law enforcement vehicles, please refer to our prior blog post discussing the applicability of commercial vehicle restrictions to law enforcement vehicles.