Senate Bill 686
FOllow the money on Senate Bill 686
(The examples and issues highlighted in this discussion are informed by the investigative reporting of Jason Garcia, whose work has helped expose the influence of money and special interests in Florida politics. To read more of Jason Garcia’s work, link to his Substack)
Florida’s rapid development is placing enormous strain on local roads, water systems, schools, emergency services, and other infrastructure. As local governments push back against unsustainable growth, the Florida Legislature has increasingly passed preemption laws limiting their ability to manage development in their own communities. A major factor behind this trend is the influence of developer interests and the large sums of money flowing into legislative political committees. Much of this money is difficult for the public to trace to individual lawmakers, creating a system where special interests can exert significant influence while shielding the source of that influence from public scrutiny. The result is legislation that too often prioritizes the interests of powerful development interests over the concerns of local communities and the taxpayers who ultimately pay the price
Example
Senate Bill 686 passed the Legislature this past March by a 90-20 vote in the state House and a 34-2 vote in the Senate. DeSantis signed it into law a month later.
The legislation deals with what are known as “agricultural enclaves” — undeveloped farms, pastures and forests near urban centers that have become encircled by development. A property that qualifies as an agricultural enclave essentially gains legal rights that empower the owner to have the land rezoned for development without the local county commission rejecting it as sprawl.
Florida has had an agricultural enclave law on the books for about 20 years. But Senate Bill 686 has dramatically expanded the types of properties that can qualify as enclaves.
For instance, under the old law, a property up to 1,280 acres could generally get certified as an agricultural enclave if it was at least 75 percent surrounded by land that has already been developed or approved for future development. But under Senate Bill 686, the property can now become an enclave if some of that boundary is an interstate highway — regardless of what is on the other side of the freeway.
Once a property has been certified an agricultural enclave there is very little a community can do to stop it from being developed — thanks, again, to the changes wrought by Senate Bill 686.
Under the new law, a county’s planning staff has just 30 days to determine whether a property meets any of the various legal definitions of agricultural enclave. Once that happens, the county commission must hold a public hearing within 30 days to vote on whether or not to approve the designation as an enclave.
If the property is approved as an agricultural enclave, a developer that can then submit residential development plans. And if the development plan is similar in density to any other neighboring parcel, it is automatically deemed to be in compliance with local long-range planning maps — regardless of the property’s underlying zoning or future land use.
A county can refuse to certify a property as an agricultural enclave. But Senate Bill 686 gives landowners explicit legal rights to challenge a denial in state court — and puts the burden of proof on the county.
The Alliance for Commercial Real Estate has made more than $150,000 in campaign contributions in the two years since it was created.
That same month, Eastland Partners made a $10,000 donation to Sen. Tom Leek, a high-ranking Republican from Ormond Beach who is in line to become president of the Florida Senate in a few years. Leek also represents St. Johns County — which has been hit with more agricultural enclave applications than any other county in Florida so far.
A subsidiary of Kolter Land also gave $5,000 to McClain just before the start of the 2025 legislative session, when McClain sponsored a similar agricultural enclave bill that failed to pass.
And records show that Davis family companies — primarily an entity known as “Big Creek Timber LLC,” which is also controlled by Estuary LLC — made more than $200,000 in campaign contributions shortly before Florida’s 2026 legislative session, which began in January.
The Davis family donations included $5,000 to McClain, $10,000 to Botana, $15,000 to Leek, $25,000 to Senate President Ben Albritton (R-Wauchula) and $50,000 to the Republican Party of Florida.
A Davis family entity called Big Creek Timber LLC has made more than $275,000 in campaign contributions so far during the 2026 election cycle.
This is why we need meaningful campaign finance reform. Floridians deserve a political system where legislation is driven by the needs of citizens—not by the interests of those who can afford to influence the process. But reform will not happen unless citizens speak up and demand it. We must shine a light on dark money, hold lawmakers accountable, and insist on greater transparency in our elections and legislative process.