Senator Rodriguez presented CS for SB 322 to create a nonjudicial procedure allowing a property owner to request a county sheriff remove an unauthorized person from commercial real property. The sponsor said the measure parallels residential procedures enacted during the prior session and responds to reports that officers and counties lacked a clear statutory mechanism for commercial removals.

“Thank you, mister chairman,” Senator Rodriguez said. “This bill creates a non judicial procedure for a property owner to request that the county sheriff immediately remove an unauthorized person from commercial real property. This procedure is like procedures in existing law for the removal of an unauthorized person from a residential property, which we passed during the last legislative session.”

Committee members asked whether current law prohibited law enforcement from removing people from commercial property; the sponsor said the problem occurs in the sponsor’s area and elsewhere in the state and the bill aims to correct that gap. Support waivers were filed by Florida Smart Justice, Americans for Prosperity and Florida Realtors.

The committee took a roll-call vote; CS for SB 322 was reported favorably by the committee.