Florida Property Tax 2026: HJR 203, HJR 1F and Amendment 3

Florida lawmakers spent the 2026 regular session debating several proposals to cut or end non-school property taxes on homesteads. For owners of a $10M+ estate in Boca Raton or Palm Beach, part of the annual bill comes from county, municipal and special district levies rather than school levies, which is why HJR 203 drew attention. This page explains what it would have done, what happened to it and to the related HJR 201, and how the measure now on the ballot differs.

The Mechanics of Elimination: What HJR 203 Targeted

HJR 203 targeted non-school ad valorem taxes: the property taxes levied by counties, cities and special districts. School district levies were left out. The version that reached the House floor proposed, in the words of the bill summary, to “make homestead property exempt from all ad valorem taxation other than school district levies beginning in a specified year.”

• Original Phased Approach: The committee version analyzed by House staff in January 2026 would have added $100,000 per year to the second homestead exemption for ten years, with the entire assessed value of homesteads exempt from non-school taxes beginning in 2037.
• The Floor Amendment: The amendment adopted on the House floor on February 19, 2026 rewrote the ballot summary to say that, beginning January 1, 2027, the amendment exempts homestead property from all non-school property taxes. Any constitutional amendment of this kind needs approval by 60 percent of voters.
• School Levies: School district levies were excluded from the exemption in both the committee version and the floor version.

Legislative Status: How the 2026 Regular Session Ended

The House passed CS/CS/HJR 203 as amended on February 19, 2026, by a vote of 80 yeas to 30 nays. In the Senate it was referred to Appropriations, where it died on March 13, 2026. House staff estimated that the committee version, if approved by voters and assuming current millage rates, would have a negative recurring impact of $14.7 billion on local non-school property tax revenues.

Related proposals met the same end. HJR 201 (Steele, Miller), which would have exempted homestead property from all ad valorem taxation other than school district levies with an effective date of January 1, 2027, died in the House Ways & Means Committee on March 13, 2026. SJR 274, which proposed that the assessed value of homestead property not increase after 20 years of ownership and residency, died in the Senate Finance and Tax Committee the same day.

The Public Safety Guarantee

A distinctive part of HJR 203 was a new Section 7 of Article VIII of the Florida Constitution. As described in the House staff analysis, it would have prohibited local governments from reducing funding for services provided by law enforcement, firefighters and first responders below the level provided in Fiscal Year 2025-26 or Fiscal Year 2026-27, whichever is higher.

What Replaced It: HJR 1F and Amendment 3

The Legislature returned to the subject in the 2026 “F” special session. CS/HJR 1F, “Save our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes” (sponsor: Overdorf), passed the House 75-26 and the Senate 30-9 on June 2, 2026, and was signed by officers and filed with the Secretary of State on June 16, 2026. A joint resolution is not subject to the Governor’s veto.

According to the House’s final bill analysis, the joint resolution would:

• provide a new homestead exemption for non-school taxes on the first $150,000 of assessed value in 2027 and the first $250,000 in 2028 and thereafter, with the $250,000 indexed to inflation beginning in 2029;
• reduce the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead property from 10 percent to 5 percent;
• limit how counties and municipalities may use property tax revenue to a list of core purposes, including public safety, education, infrastructure and natural resources; and
• take effect on January 1, 2027, if approved by 60 percent of voters at the 2026 general election.

The Florida Division of Elections’ booklet of proposed amendments for the November 3, 2026 general election (updated September 3, 2026) lists this measure as No. 3, with the ballot title “Increased Homestead Exemption; Lower Cap on Increases in Non-Homestead Property Assessments.” The ballot summary adds that persons who are not Florida residents on December 31, 2026 will receive the existing homestead exemption upon qualifying, with the increased exemption beginning with the fifth year of exemption, to the extent permitted by the U.S. Constitution. That point matters for buyers relocating to Palm Beach County after 2026.

The ballot wording differs from the title in the enrolled resolution. WLRN reported in August 2026 that the Attorney General rewrote the title and summary after a circuit judge ruled on August 3 that the Legislature’s summary was defective.

Status as of October 21, 2026: HJR 203 and HJR 201 died on March 13, 2026. CS/HJR 1F appears on the November 3, 2026 ballot as Amendment No. 3 and takes effect January 1, 2027 only if at least 60% of voters approve it. For how the current homestead exemption and Save Our Homes cap work today, see our homestead and Save Our Homes guide.

Sources: Florida Senate, HJR 203 (2026); House staff analysis of CS/CS/HJR 203; House Amendment 357969; Florida Senate, HJR 201 (2026); Florida Senate, SJR 274 (2026); Florida Senate, CS/HJR 1F (2026F); House final bill analysis of CS/HJR 1F; Florida Division of Elections, 2026 Constitutional Amendments booklet; Florida Division of Elections, Constitutional Amendments; WLRN, August 2026.