Florida bill seeking to improve condo safety standards fails to pass vote

Florida lawmakers failed to pass a bill this week that would improve safety measures in Florida condominiums following the tragic collapse of Champlain Towers South in June of last year.

In spite of promises to the Florida community that improvements to apartment building safety laws would be forthcoming after the Surfside collapse killed almost 100 people, the bill faced challenges in both the Florida House and Senate, and ultimately fell through.

The biggest reason for the impasse on the bill is the closing of a current loophole that allows condominium boards to waive reserve funding. Some lawmakers said the inability to waive reserve funds would put a financial burden on condo owners.

“Many associations did not want the inability to waive reserves. And I think that they had a little bit more of an influence in the Senate than they did in the House,” the bill’s author, Rep. Daniel Perez (R) told NBC News.

“That was not a negotiable piece for us. We were never going to negotiate the waiving of reserves, because that is part of the problem that caused the incident at Surfside.”