California banned gas-powered lawn equipment statewide in 2024 – and left-wing cities across Florida were trying to copy them.
DeSantis just signed a law that makes that impossible.
He did it Monday in Sebring, and the ten Democrats who voted against it just told you everything you need to know.
Miami Beach and Naples Were Already Running the California Playbook
This wasn't a hypothetical threat.
Miami Beach and Naples had already moved to restrict gas-powered landscaping equipment – chainsaws, leaf blowers, the tools that Florida farmers and landscapers depend on every single day to earn a living.
They were following California, where the state government banned the sale of all new gas-powered lawn equipment in 2024.
That forced commercial landscapers to spend $30,000 to $40,000 on electric replacements that industry experts say can't handle a full commercial workday.
Florida's new Farm Bill – SB 290 – ends that experiment before it spreads.
The law strips local governments of the power to ban or restrict gas and diesel-powered farm and landscape equipment.
No workarounds. No exemptions for progressive-run cities that want to signal on climate policy while their residents and workers pay the price.
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DeSantis put it plainly at the signing: "Some of these local governments want to not let you use certain equipment if it's gas operated. That's not their decision. It's your decision."
A farmer in Highlands County doesn't need a city commissioner in Miami Beach deciding what chainsaw he's allowed to own.
The Sierra Club Is Furious. That Tells You Everything.
The bigger story in SB 290 isn't the equipment provision – it's what this law does for the next generation of Florida farmers, and who's trying to stop it.
Florida farmland has been getting priced out of reach.
With nearly a thousand people moving to the state every single day and developers competing for every available acre, farmland values have surged relentlessly – up 13.4% in a single year according to USDA data.
Young families who want to farm can't compete against hedge funds and housing developers writing eight-figure checks.
The new law creates a pathway to change that.
State-owned conservation land acquired since January 2024 can now be reviewed by the Department of Environmental Protection to determine if it's suitable for agricultural use.
If it is, the state can sell it under a conservation easement that strips the development rights permanently. No condos, no subdivisions, no parking lots.
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The land stays farmland forever – and without developers in the bidding, young farm families can actually afford it.
Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson put it directly: "If you are a young farmer saying, 'How can we afford to buy land in this state,' watch for this program. This land is much more affordable."
The Sierra Club immediately called it "a dangerous precedent."
Their Florida political director, Javier Estevez, announced that no public land is truly protected if conservation designations can ever change.
Think about what that argument actually means.
The Sierra Club wants to permanently lock productive farmland away from the Florida farm families who need it – because giving up bureaucratic control over that land, even to put young farmers on it, is unacceptable to them.
As long as land sits in limbo, they get to decide what happens to it.
This law puts farmers back in charge.
What DeSantis Built in Sebring on Monday
SB 290 passed the Florida Senate unanimously. It passed the House 94-10.
The ten votes against? Every single one was a Democrat.
That vote breakdown tells you what this bill is really about.
It's about who controls Florida – the productive working people who grow food, run landscaping businesses, and build rural communities, or the progressive city governments and environmental lobby groups who think they know better than everyone else.
The law makes permanent the Farmers Feeding Florida program, directing state-purchased Florida-grown products to food banks and families in need.
It protects approximately 110 small cities from high-density developer takeovers, capping development at one residential unit per 20 acres on ecologically significant parcels.
It creates a veterinary loan repayment program – up to $25,000 a year for five years – to address the shortage of livestock vets.
It bans signal-jamming devices used to block law enforcement communications, cracks down on CDL exam cheating, and gives Floridians the right to post a sign and stop door-to-door solicitors cold.
California chose to make life harder for the workers who keep their state running.
The Sierra Club and ten Florida Democrats chose to fight for bureaucratic control over land that actual farmers could be working.
DeSantis chose the opposite – standing next to farmers in Highlands County, not lobbyists in Tallahassee.
The left wanted Florida to follow California's lead. They just lost that fight.
Sources:
- Governor Ron DeSantis, "Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Florida Farm Bill," Executive Office of the Governor, March 23, 2026.
- Florida Legislature, SB 290 Bill Analysis, Florida Senate, 2026.
- Pluribus News, "Gas-powered lawn equipment sparks political divide across states," Pluribus News, 2025.
- American Farm Bureau Federation, "Real Estate Rising: Farmland Values Hit Record High," Market Intel, August 2025.
- WUSF Public Media, "DeSantis signs wide-ranging Florida farm bill into law," WUSF, March 24, 2026.
