HB 535 revises Florida’s laws governing public lodging establishments and public food service establishments. It updates statutory definitions related to transient and nontransient lodging, including how those terms apply to hotels, motels, vacation rentals, bed and breakfasts, timeshares, and other lodging units. The bill also expands and clarifies the rules for removing guests from lodging and food service establishments, including when an operator may eject a guest, how notice must be given, and the penalties for remaining after being told to leave.
The bill adds a new disclosure framework for public food service establishments that impose an “operations charge,” which is defined broadly to include service charges, automatic gratuities, credit card surcharges, and delivery fees. Beginning July 1, 2026, affected establishments must disclose the amount or percentage and purpose of the charge on menus, contracts, websites or apps, and on bills and receipts. The bill also prohibits a restaurant from charging both an operations charge used to compensate employees and an automatic gratuity, and it requires receipts to separately list gratuity, operations charge, and sales tax. The bill expressly bars private lawsuits for violations of this section.
In terms of legal impact, HB 535 amends several provisions in Chapter 509, Florida Statutes, affecting both lodging operators and restaurants. It strengthens notice requirements for guest removal, including written notice for certain lodging nonpayment or checkout disputes, and it preserves law-enforcement authority to remove or arrest guests who remain after notice. For food service businesses, it imposes new consumer-disclosure obligations and billing-format requirements, while limiting how certain service fees and gratuities may be combined.
The overall sentiment reflected in the available context appears neutral to favorable, with the bill advancing through the process and its companion measure ultimately passing as SB 606. There are no committee transcripts or recorded votes provided here, so there is no direct evidence of floor debate or organized opposition in the supplied materials. The fact that the House bill was laid on the table after the companion bill passed suggests the policy was ultimately enacted through the Senate vehicle rather than through HB 535 itself.
The main points of potential contention are likely to be the new restrictions on restaurant fee practices and the increased disclosure burden on businesses. Restaurant operators may view the ban on combining certain operations charges with automatic gratuities, along with the detailed receipt and menu requirements, as operationally burdensome or limiting to compensation models. Lodging operators may also be affected by the more specific notice rules for guest removal and the clarified treatment of transient versus nontransient occupancy, though the bill’s text does not show explicit opposition from stakeholders.
HB 535 amends Chapter 509, Florida Statutes, affecting the regulation of public lodging establishments and public food service establishments. It changes definitions tied to transient and nontransient occupancy, expands guest-removal procedures and notice requirements, and creates new disclosure and receipt-format rules for establishments that impose operations charges. It also limits certain fee practices by prohibiting an operations charge used to compensate employees from being paired with an automatic gratuity, and it eliminates private causes of action for compliance failures under the new food-service disclosure section.
The available context suggests the bill was generally accepted as a consumer-disclosure and business-regulation measure, with no recorded committee debate or votes indicating strong opposition in the materials provided. Its companion measure passed and became law, while HB 535 itself was laid on the table, which points to legislative support for the policy even though the House vehicle did not advance independently. Overall sentiment appears neutral to favorable, with the policy ultimately enacted through the companion bill.
The most likely areas of contention are the restaurant provisions governing operations charges, automatic gratuities, and receipt disclosures. Businesses may object to the prohibition on charging both an operations charge used to compensate employees and an automatic gratuity, as well as the requirement to itemize charges prominently on menus, bills, receipts, websites, and apps. Lodging operators could also be sensitive to the revised guest-removal notice rules and the clarified definitions of transient and nontransient occupancy, but the provided record does not include explicit testimony or recorded opposition from any specific group.