Florida Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Florida, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Can a Florida county property appraiser disclose an address that is exempt from public-records inspection to a city code inspector serving notice of a code violation?
Yes. A property appraiser may release an exempt-but-not-confidential address to a code inspector seeking to comply with the statutory notice duty in § 162.06. The receiving agency must maintain the ad…
Does Florida's Sunshine Law require a special magistrate to let the public speak at code enforcement hearings, and must the magistrate announce the order in a public hearing?
The opinion concluded the public-comment requirement in § 286.0114 did not apply because the magistrate was acting in a quasi-judicial capacity, but § 162.07(4) still contemplated that the magistrate …
Can one attorney serve as a code enforcement special magistrate for multiple Florida jurisdictions through an interlocal agreement or sequential contracts without violating the dual office-holding rule?
The opinion concluded sequential contracts as a code enforcement special magistrate for multiple jurisdictions appeared inconsistent with the sovereign-power test for office-holding, and § 162.07 does…
Can a Florida city or county code enforcement inspector enter private residential property to inspect for code violations without consent or a warrant?
No. The AG's office reaffirmed Attorney General Opinion 2002-27: a Florida code enforcement inspector cannot enter private commercial or residential property to enforce local codes without the owner o…
Can a Florida town make a code violator pay the fees it pays its special magistrate as 'costs'?
No. The AG concluded that section 162.07(2), which lets a city recover the 'costs' of prosecuting a code violator, does not cover the compensation a town pays its special magistrate or the magistrate'…
Do Florida special magistrates and sealed-bid openings have to follow the Sunshine Law and keep minutes?
The AG concluded yes on both points. A special magistrate acting under delegated authority as a code enforcement board is subject to the Government in the Sunshine Law (section 286.011), so the hearin…
Can the same person be both a civil traffic infraction hearing officer and a 'local hearing officer' for red-light camera cases in Florida?
No. The AG concluded a 'local hearing officer' under section 316.003(91) is an office under Florida's dual office-holding ban. The statute lets a county or city use an existing code enforcement board …
Can a Florida county let its code enforcement officers carry firearms on the job, and do officers who are also certified police get law-enforcement benefits?
No on both counts. The AG concluded that a code enforcement officer is not authorized to carry a firearm within the scope of that job, and that designation as a code enforcement officer does not confe…
Can the same attorney serve as a code-enforcement special magistrate for more than one Florida city at the same time?
No. The Attorney General's office held to its position that a special magistrate or code-enforcement hearing officer holds an 'office' under the Florida Constitution, so serving in that role for one l…
Can a Florida county hold a property owner responsible for code violations caused by their tenants?
Yes. The AG concluded that the Local Government Code Enforcement Boards Act (Part I, Chapter 162) did not preempt Brevard County from adopting an ordinance defining 'violator' to include owners of pro…
Can a Florida city commissioner or code-enforcement board member also serve as a special magistrate?
No. The AG concluded that a city commissioner, a planning and zoning commission member, a code enforcement hearing officer, or a regional planning commission member with final-action authority all hol…
Can a Florida water control district enforce parking and traffic rules on its own canal rights-of-way?
Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District has no independent police, traffic, or code enforcement power. Under section 316.006, it may enter a written …
Can a Florida city enter and fix an unsafe property without the owner's consent, and can it arrest the owner without a warrant?
Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that an order of a city's Unsafe Structures Board allows the city to enter premises, even an owner-occupied homestead, to make reasonable repairs and abate a c…
Can a Florida county make it a misdemeanor to not pay a civil fine from a county code or animal-control citation?
Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that Gilchrist County, a noncharter county, had no authority to adopt an ordinance making it a misdemeanor to fail to timely pay a civil penalty imposed under …
Can a Florida city charge a code violator with a repeat violation when they never fixed the original one?
Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that a city may not cite and prosecute someone for a repeat code violation under section 162.06(3) based on a prior adjudication of the same violation that has…
Can a Florida code enforcement board make a code violator pay the city's attorney's fees as part of 'costs'?
The AG concluded no. Section 162.07(2) lets a city that wins a code-enforcement case recover all 'costs' of prosecuting it, but under Florida's American Rule, 'costs' do not include attorney's fees un…
Does the rule that no one may interfere with a Florida building official stop other government staff from reviewing permits?
In informal comments, the AG's office explained that section 468.604(1)'s command that a building code administrator or official perform their duties 'without interference from any person' is not limi…
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Attorney general opinions in Florida are written by the Florida Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.