TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — A major issue coming off of last year’s hurricanes was debris. The piles of furniture and trash from Helene lined the streets of Florida, and before folks could prepare, Hurricane Milton came rolling through.

Months later, lawmakers headed back to Tallahassee and took the debris chaos as a wake-up call, turning the tough lessons from hurricanes Helene and Milton into legislation, hoping to improve how debris is handled before, during or after a storm.
“There’s always going to be a level of frustration because you have a pile of debris in front of your home, you want it gone. The challenge is that there’s always somebody who’s going to be collected first, and there’s always someone who’s going to be collected last,” said State Sen. Nick DiCeglie (R-Indian Rocks Beach).

As crews were being turned away from landfills, and residents were stuck with debris for months on end, DiCeglie took those concerns to fellow lawmakers in Tallahassee to try and avoid the issues that arose in 2024.
“There were some jurisdictions that were scrambling for different sites. We want that to be done well ahead of time. We don’t want to be dealing with that five days after a storm because all that’s going to do is delay the start of the storm debris collection,” DiCeglie said.

Passed by both the House and Senate, the hurricane bill package addresses debris issues and puts in place requirements for local governments.

• Having an annual debris removal plan posted online by May 1st of each year
• Municipalities must have pre-identified collection sites set in place before hurricane season begins
• Must have clear pick-up timelines for residents to look out for

The bill also looks to hold private debris haulers responsible. DiCeglie said some contractors were ditching local jobs to chase better pay, leaving residents in Tampa Bay struggling.
“We’re going to hold these collectors accountable. There were so many of them that had the contract in place. They said, well, we’re getting more money in other parts of the state or even parts of the country. We need to eliminate that as much as we possibly can,” said DiCeglie.

The bill now awaits the Governor’s approval.

DiCeglie says he is confident it will get the green light from DeSantis, who is now in Tallahassee reviewing the state budget.