DeSantis signals veto of House-backed bill to increase sovereign immunity payouts

LEGISLATURE
DeSantis signals veto of House-backed bill to increase sovereign immunity payouts
Jim Saunders – Jun 29, 2026

In a victory for local governments — and a rebuff to the Florida House — Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday he will veto a bill that would have led to government agencies paying more in lawsuits filed by injured people.

DeSantis said House Bill 145 would have caused more “frivolous” negligence suits. The bill sought to revamp sovereign immunity laws and increase caps on the amounts government agencies could be required to pay in such cases.

“That [current] system disincentivizes frivolous lawsuits,” DeSantis said. “When you raise the cap, you are going to generate more unmeritorious lawsuits. I have no doubt that that would happen.”

House leaders made the bill a priority during this year’s legislative session, with supporters saying the limits have remained the same since 2010 and should be increased to ensure injured people are compensated fairly.

“It just means that more citizens will be able to seek redress against their government,” House bill sponsor Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota, said during the session. “I want you to know that today, if you or I or one of our loved ones were, God forbid, to be hit by a truck, we’d have to pay attention to whether on the side of that truck there is a corporate logo, no logo or a government seal. Depending on what that vehicle is and who is driving that vehicle, we have different access to monetary wholeness, and that doesn’t sit right with me. I don’t think it should sit right with you.”

The issue was closely watched by cities, counties, school districts and other government agencies, which expressed concerns about increased lawsuit payouts and higher insurance costs.

Under the 2010 law, agencies’ liability in negligence cases is capped at $200,000 for payments to a single person and $300,000 for multiple people involved in an incident. The bill would have increased those limits to $350,000 and $500,000, respectively.

DeSantis raised concerns Monday about increasing the caps at a time when local governments could face property tax revenue cuts under a proposed constitutional amendment. The proposed amendment, which would increase the homestead tax exemption, will appear on the November ballot.

The Florida Justice Reform Institute, a business-backed group that lobbies to curb lawsuits, said in a June 9 letter urging DeSantis to veto the bill that “now is not the time to increase sovereign immunity limits as cities and counties attempt to absorb the impacts of tax reform that will reduce their coffers.”

“Local governments cannot simultaneously be expected to absorb reduced revenue flexibility and materially greater tort exposure without consequences for budgets, services, or taxpayers,” William Large, the group’s president, wrote in the letter.

McFarland also sponsored bills in 2024 and 2025 to try to increase the caps, but those measures did not pass. She initially sought this year to increase the caps to $500,000 for payments to a single person and $1 million for multiple people involved in an incident, but the Senate proposed the $350,000 and $500,000 limits.

The House voted 108-1 to pass the final version, while the Senate approved it 36-0.

The caps can be exceeded if lawmakers pass a “claim” bill, a special type of measure that directs government agencies to pay higher amounts. But the process can take years and offers no guarantees that increased amounts will be approved.

DeSantis, who has repeatedly clashed with House leaders over the past two years, said Monday he has signed claim bills.

“If it’s capped but you were harmed more, you do the claims bill and you get paid,” he said. “People have gotten millions of dollars with that.”

https://pro.stateaffairs.com/fl/legislature/governor-desantis-rejects-bill?ref=AAAAAAAD7tEAAKk1AA