No outside permitting help this year despite bipartisan effort from Nick DiCeglie, Lindsay Cross

Republican Sen. Nick DiCeglie and Democratic Rep. Lindsay Cross won’t be celebrating an effort this year to streamline and quicken the permitting process following a natural disaster.

The bipartisan lawmakers from Pinellas County have made a habit of teaming up on resiliency and recovery-related efforts following the 2024 hurricane season. This Session, they introduced bills (SB 1260, HB 1109) seeking to improve permitting efficiency following a natural disaster, such as a hurricane.

Both bills would have tapped the private market for out-of-state contractors through mutual aid agreements to supplement local permitting staff and building inspectors. Cross’ bill included debris collection as part of the mutual aid agreement.

But her bill was swapped for a Committee substitute after clearing its first Committee, and was never heard again this Session.

DiCeglie’s version, which is similar, included training development and local government procedures as part of its framework, fared better. It cleared all of its Committee stops, but it has languished on the Senate Special Order calendar since March 4.

While the bill still appears on the calendar on the final day of Session, with just hours until Sine Die and without a House-approved counterpart, it won’t be taken up.

The issue became a hot topic throughout the Tampa Bay area, particularly in St. Pete, which Cross represents, and St. Pete Beach, where DiCeglie serves as the area’s Senator.

It’s not surprising that Cross’ version of the bill included debris collection. While surrounding areas also faced mounds of debris following significant flooding from Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton just two weeks later, St. Pete residents in low-lying and flood-prone areas lamented the length of time it took to see those piles collected.

And in St. Pete Beach, as well as other Gulf beaches DiCeglie represents in Pinellas County, permitting delays kept property owners from being able to begin repairs on flooded homes, leaving residents displaced in some cases for more than a year. Permitting was also a source of frustration in Cross’ St. Pete, which DiCeglie also represents.

While this effort didn’t go their way, DiCeglie and Cross did have success with storm recovery-related measures in the 2025 Legislative Session. Both sponsored bills (SB 350, HB 241) last year to limit wake on residential streets during flood events, in an effort to avoid preventable house flooding.

Neither bill passed, but provisions in both were added to a larger legislative package (SB 462), sponsored by DiCeglie in the Senate and Rep. Fiona McFarland in the House, governing a variety of transportation issues ranging from school bus safety to traffic signal modernization.

DiCeglie and Cross also worked together last year to pass a measure (SB 180) to improve safety related to building cranes, which often tower hundreds of feet into the air for construction projects. It establishes a set of best practices for contractors operating cranes ahead of, and during, storms.

The legislation came after a crane in downtown St. Pete toppled during Hurricane Milton in October, causing significant damage to a nearby historic building.

While not related to the crane issue, that successful bill came up again this Legislative Session through a fix bill DiCeglie filed addressing some unintended consequences facing local governments regarding policy decisions unrelated to storm recovery that got swept up in bill language.

Despite not crossing the finish line with their joint effort this year, the back-to-back efforts to ensure local resilience is a rare — and likely to many, refreshing — show of bipartisanship in a Legislature more often known for division.