Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told reporters at the state Capitol in Tallahassee on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, that he will convene a special session of the Florida Legislature within the next two months to write the implementing law for Amendment 3, the sweeping property-tax cut that voters approved in Tuesday's midterm elections. DeSantis said he would work with legislative leaders on the timing, but the session would happen before his second term ends in early January — and before the amendment itself takes effect.

Source: Central Florida Public Media / News Service of Florida

Amendment 3 raises Florida's homestead exemption — the slice of a primary home's value shielded from property tax — from about $50,000 today to $150,000 in 2027 and then to $250,000 in 2028, for all property taxes except school district taxes, which were carved out of the larger exemption. It won about 62 percent of the vote on November 3, clearing the 60 percent supermajority Florida's constitution requires for an amendment, and it takes effect on January 1, 2027.

What the special session is meant to do

"What it'll do is it'll set the schedule for further homestead exemption, because we want people to get that," DeSantis said at the Capitol press conference. "But also limiting local governments from just doing an end run around the amendment and taxing them in other ways." In other words, the implementing law is expected not only to phase in the bigger exemption but also to stop counties and cities from replacing the lost property-tax money with new fees or other charges on the same homeowners — the point DeSantis returned to again in later reporting on his plan.

The call has not yet been formally issued, and the incoming legislative leadership has sounded cautious about the timetable. According to NBC Miami's reporting, relayed by Cuba Headlines, incoming Senate President Jim Boyd has said the matter could wait until January, while incoming House Speaker Sam Garrison has cautioned that the implementing measure is not something that can be executed in just three days. Governor-elect Byron Donalds is due to take office on January 5, which puts the special session squarely in the final weeks of the DeSantis administration.

Why cities and counties are bracing

Local governments say the numbers are stark. An analysis by the Florida League of Cities, reported by the Florida Trib, found that more than 100 cities across the state would see at least 90 percent of their homesteaded taxable value taken off the tax rolls, because so many of their homes are assessed at less than $250,000. Economists estimate the amendment will cut local property-tax revenue by about $4.9 billion in its first year, growing to about $11.8 billion by 2031, and it passed in 64 of Florida's 67 counties.

Source: Florida Trib via The Bradenton Journal

In Bowling Green, a Hardee County city of about 2,400 people, Mayor Sam Fite said only about 20 houses are expected to remain on the homestead tax rolls once the exemption is in full effect, and the city expects to lose about a third of its property-tax revenue. Residents have already begun debating whether the city's seven-officer police force can survive, Fite said, calling the claim that emergency services will not suffer "a falsehood." In St. Petersburg, City Council member Richie Floyd warned of "mass austerity," naming ambulances, the juvenile welfare board and water management districts among the services he fears will be cut.

Background: how Amendment 3 got here, and the school-tax question

The Legislature voted in a special session over the summer to put the property-tax cut on the ballot, championed by DeSantis, who had toured the state for more than a year arguing that bills had to fall as home valuations surged. Firefighters, police and emergency medical technicians, local government officials and some senior Republican leaders opposed the measure through the campaign, arguing rural counties could not absorb it without hitting essential services. DeSantis credited the amendment itself with driving the turnout that kept Florida's Cabinet in Republican hands while other states flipped: "Had Amendment 3 not been on the ballot, I don't know that we'd turn out the voters that we ended up turning out."

Schools are the other half of the story. The larger exemption does not apply to school district taxes, but on Wednesday DeSantis hinted that next year's Legislature — after he has left office — could look at changing the Florida Education Finance Program, the state formula that funds K-12 public schools, saying a rewrite might "provide strong funding for schools in a way that can still provide relief for homeowners." Governor-elect Donalds told the News Service of Florida last week he plans to change the formula to give districts more flexibility on spending. Districts have been squeezed in recent years by record-low birth rates, expanding school vouchers, falling enrolment, school closures and budget cuts.

For homeowners, the practical timetable matters more than the politics: the new exemption applies to the 2027 tax year, so the savings will not appear on 2026 bills — in Miami-Dade, for example, they will show up on bills issued in November 2027. The amendment also tightens the annual cap on how fast the assessed value of non-homestead property — second homes, rentals and commercial property — can rise, from 10 percent to 5 percent, but the big new exemption itself is reserved for a permanent resident's primary home.

What happens next

DeSantis and legislative leaders must first agree on dates and issue the formal call; the session then has to pass an implementing law before January 1, 2027, if the governor's timetable holds. The fights to watch are the size of any state backfill for counties and cities, how tightly the law can bar replacement fees without tying local budgets in knots, and whether school-funding changes are taken up this year or left to the Donalds administration and the regular session in January. If the special session slips, the amendment still takes effect on January 1 — but the rules cities must budget under would be written after the fact.