Florida HB 683: a local government has 35 days to answer a change order price quote

What changed: a deadline to answer a change order price quote

The Florida Senate's page names the bill:

flsenate.gov, HB 683 bill page, heading

CS/CS/CS/HB 683: Construction Regulations

The enrolled bill's title says what it does to section 218.755:

HB 683 as enrolled, title, the part on s. 218.755

creating s. 218.755, F.S.; requiring local governmental entities to approve or deny certain price quotes and send written notice to contractors within a specified timeframe; requiring denial notices to specify alleged deficiencies and actions necessary to remedy such deficiencies; requiring certain payment to a contractor if a local governmental entity fails to provide such notice; prohibiting contracts from altering specified duties of a local governmental entity;

The title runs across the break between pages 1 and 2 of the PDF. The page footer and the banner at the top of page 2 fall between its lines and are left out.

The section is new:

HB 683 as enrolled, Section 2, opening words

Section 2. Section 218.755, Florida Statutes, is created to read:

It opens with its number and catchline:

Florida Statutes 218.755, number and catchline

218.755 Prompt processing of change orders.

The rest of the section is four sentences. The first sets the deadline:

Florida Statutes 218.755, first sentence

For any contract for construction services entered into on or after July 1, 2025, if a local governmental entity receives from its contractor a price quote for a change order requested or issued by the local governmental entity for construction services, and the price quote conforms to all statutory requirements and contractual requirements for the project, the local governmental entity must approve or deny the price quote and send written notice of that decision to the contractor within 35 days after receipt of such quote.

In the statute this sentence follows the catchline above, after a dash.

The second says what a denial has to contain:

Florida Statutes 218.755, second sentence

A denial notice must specify the alleged deficiencies in the price quote and the actions necessary to remedy those deficiencies.

The third says what silence means:

Florida Statutes 218.755, third sentence

If the local governmental entity fails to provide the contractor with a notice in compliance with this section, the change order and price quote are deemed approved, and the local governmental entity must pay the contractor the amount stated in the price quote upon the completion of the change order.

The enrolled bill prints the section in the same words as the statute, and this page quotes it from the statute.

What the text leaves open: the section says 35 days, and does not say whether they are calendar or business days. Section 218.735, in the same part of chapter 218, counts its payment deadlines in business days, as quoted below; section 218.755 does not use that word. The section does not say how receipt of a quote is proved, or who decides whether a quote conforms to all statutory and contractual requirements. It does not say what happens to a quote that does not conform, beyond leaving it outside the section. It sets no number of days for the payment it requires, only “upon the completion of the change order”.

Who it covers: local government construction contracts

The section speaks of a local governmental entity and its contractor, on a contract for construction services, and of a change order the entity requested or issued. It sits in Part VII of chapter 218:

Florida Statutes chapter 218, Part VII, heading

PART VII LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROMPT PAYMENT ACT

The part number and the part's name, which the page prints on two lines.

The part holds these sections:

Florida Statutes chapter 218, Part VII, list of sections

218.70 Popular name. 218.71 Purpose and policy. 218.72 Definitions. 218.73 Timely payment for nonconstruction services. 218.735 Timely payment for purchases of construction services. 218.74 Procedures for calculation of payment due dates. 218.75 Mandatory interest. 218.755 Prompt processing of change orders. 218.76 Improper payment request or invoice; resolution of disputes. 218.77 Payment by federal funds. 218.78 Report of interest. 218.79 Repeal of conflicting laws. 218.80 Public Bid Disclosure Act.

The page lists each section, number and catchline, on a line of its own. The lines are run together here.

Section 218.72 defines terms for the whole part, so its definitions apply to section 218.755:

Florida Statutes 218.72, opening words

As used in this part, the term:

In the statute these words follow the section number and catchline, 218.72 Definitions, after a dash.

Florida Statutes 218.72(2)

(2) “Construction services” means all labor, services, and materials provided in connection with the construction, alteration, repair, demolition, reconstruction, or other improvements to real property.

Florida Statutes 218.72(3)

(3) “Contractor” or “provider of construction services” means the person who contracts directly with a local governmental entity to provide construction services.

Florida Statutes 218.72(5)

(5) “Local governmental entity” means a county or municipal government, school board, school district, authority, special taxing district, other political subdivision, or any office, board, bureau, commission, department, branch, division, or institution thereof.

So the contractor in section 218.755 is the one who contracts directly with the local governmental entity. The list of local governmental entities does not name the state or a state agency, and the section says nothing about a private owner.

What the text leaves open: the section reaches a change order “requested or issued by the local governmental entity”. It does not say anything about a change the contractor proposes that the entity did not request or issue. It does not mention subcontractors or suppliers, and says nothing about a change order between a contractor and its subcontractor.

Read the part and its definitions: Florida Statutes chapter 218, Part VII and Florida Statutes section 218.72flsenate.gov

From when

The section reaches contracts by the date they were entered into, “on or after July 1, 2025”. The act takes effect the same day:

HB 683 as enrolled, Section 10

Section 10. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.

The Florida Senate's page for the bill gives the same date, and records the Governor's approval and the chapter number:

flsenate.gov, HB 683 bill page, Effective Date

Effective Date: 7/1/2025

flsenate.gov, HB 683 bill history

6/13/2025 • Approved by Governor

One row of the Bill History table. The columns are date, chamber and action; this row has no chamber, and the page prints a bullet before each action.

flsenate.gov, HB 683 bill history

6/16/2025 • Chapter No. 2025-140

The last row of the same table, also with no chamber.

And the statute prints this history note under the section:

Florida Statutes 218.755, history note

s. 2, ch. 2025-140.

The words the statute prints under the section after History and a dash.

What the text leaves open: it does not say whether a change order issued from July 1, 2025, on a contract entered into before that date, is covered.

What did not change: when payment is due, and the interest

HB 683 amends no other section of chapter 218. Section 218.735, in the same part, sets when a local governmental entity has to pay for construction services, and the history note under it lists no law from 2025:

Florida Statutes 218.735, history note

s. 3, ch. 95-331; s. 3, ch. 2001-169; s. 3, ch. 2005-230; s. 2, ch. 2010-111; s. 1, ch. 2020-173; s. 1, ch. 2021-124; s. 1, ch. 2023-134.

The words the statute prints under the section after History and a dash.

Its due dates run in business days from the day a payment request or invoice is stamped as received:

Florida Statutes 218.735(1)

(1) The due date for payment for the purchase of construction services by a local governmental entity is determined as follows:

Florida Statutes 218.735(1)(a)

(a) If an agent must approve the payment request or invoice before the payment request or invoice is submitted to the local governmental entity, payment is due 25 business days after the date on which the payment request or invoice is stamped as received as provided in s. 218.74(1). The contractor may send the local government an overdue notice. If the payment request or invoice is not rejected within 4 business days after delivery of the overdue notice, the payment request or invoice shall be deemed accepted, except for any portion of the payment request or invoice that is fraudulent or misleading.

Florida Statutes 218.735(1)(b), first sentence

(b) If an agent need not approve the payment request or invoice submitted by the contractor, payment is due 20 business days after the date on which the payment request or invoice is stamped as received as provided in s. 218.74(1).

A payment request that does not meet the contract has to be rejected in writing, with the deficiency named:

Florida Statutes 218.735(2)

(2) If a payment request or invoice does not meet the contract requirements, the local governmental entity must reject the payment request or invoice within 20 business days after the date on which the payment request or invoice is stamped as received as provided in s. 218.74(1). The rejection must be written and must specify the deficiency and the action necessary to make the payment request or invoice proper.

And payments late under that section carry interest:

Florida Statutes 218.735(9)

(9) All payments due under this section and not made within the time periods specified by this section shall bear interest at the rate of 2 percent per month, or the rate specified by contract, whichever is greater.

What the text leaves open: section 218.755 says the entity “must pay the contractor the amount stated in the price quote upon the completion of the change order”. It does not say whether that payment is made through a payment request under section 218.735, or whether the interest in 218.735(9) runs on it. The list of sections above also names sections 218.75 and 218.76, on mandatory interest and on improper payment requests and disputes. This page did not read them.

Read section 218.735: Florida Statutes section 218.735flsenate.gov

The rest of the section, word for word

The fourth sentence of section 218.755:

Florida Statutes 218.755, fourth sentence

A contract between a local governmental entity and a contractor may not alter the local governmental entity’s duties under this section.

The act does other things too. Two of them, as the enrolled bill's title describes them, touch public works bidding and building permits:

HB 683 as enrolled, title, the part on s. 255.0992

amending s. 255.0992, F.S.; prohibiting the state or political subdivisions that contract for public works projects from penalizing or rewarding bidders for performing larger or smaller volumes of construction work for the state or political subdivisions;

HB 683 as enrolled, title, the part on s. 553.79

reenacting and amending s. 553.79, F.S.; prohibiting local governments from requiring copies of contracts and certain associated documents for the issuance of building permits or as a requirement for the submission of building permit applications;

Section 218.755 is quoted in full on this page: its number and catchline, its four sentences and its history note. Left out are only the dash the statute prints after the catchline, and the word History and the dash that open the history note. From the rest of Part VII of chapter 218 the page quotes only the parts shown. Of the enrolled bill, it quotes the three parts of the title shown, the opening words of Section 2 and Section 10, with the section that Section 2 creates quoted from the statute, where the words are the same; it leaves out the rest of the title, the enacting clause and Sections 1 and 3 to 9, which create or amend other sections of the statutes. From the bill page it quotes the bill's name, its effective date and two rows of its history. Each quote is checked against a saved copy of the official text when this page is built. Read the section, the enrolled bill and the bill's history there:

Read the law: Florida Statutes section 218.755 (2025), CS/CS/CS/HB 683 as enrolled and HB 683 bill page and historyflsenate.gov

What to do differently

Only what the text supports:

• Start with the contract date. The section applies to “any contract for construction services entered into on or after July 1, 2025”.
• Check who holds the contract. The section runs between the entity and its contractor, and the part defines a contractor as “the person who contracts directly with a local governmental entity to provide construction services”.
• Make the price quote conform before you send it. The deadline runs only if “the price quote conforms to all statutory requirements and contractual requirements for the project”.
• Keep proof of when the entity received the quote, and put day 35 on the calendar. The entity has to send written notice “within 35 days after receipt of such quote”. The section does not say whether those are calendar or business days.
• If you get a denial, check that it names “the alleged deficiencies in the price quote and the actions necessary to remedy those deficiencies”.
• If no written notice comes in time, the section says “the change order and price quote are deemed approved”, and the entity “must pay the contractor the amount stated in the price quote upon the completion of the change order”.
• Read the change order clause of the contract against the last sentence: a contract “may not alter the local governmental entity’s duties under this section”.

Questions people ask

How long does a Florida local government have to answer a change order price quote?

Section 218.755 says it “must approve or deny the price quote and send written notice of that decision to the contractor within 35 days after receipt of such quote”, if the quote conforms to all statutory and contractual requirements for the project.

Are the 35 days calendar days or business days?

The section does not say. Section 218.735, in the same part, counts its payment deadlines in business days, but section 218.755 does not use that word. This page cannot say more than that.

What happens if the local government does not answer?

Section 218.755 says “the change order and price quote are deemed approved”, and the entity “must pay the contractor the amount stated in the price quote upon the completion of the change order”.

Can the contract give the local government longer?

The section says: “A contract between a local governmental entity and a contractor may not alter the local governmental entity’s duties under this section.”

Does it apply to a state agency or a private owner?

The section speaks only of a local governmental entity, which section 218.72 defines as “a county or municipal government, school board, school district, authority, special taxing district, other political subdivision, or any office, board, bureau, commission, department, branch, division, or institution thereof”. The definition does not name the state or a state agency, and the section says nothing about a private owner.

Florida lien waiver forms under section 713.20, a different part of the statutes from the local government payment rules in chapter 218

Other state changes to how contractors get paid are on the construction law changes page.

This page quotes Florida Statutes section 218.755, as created by CS/CS/CS/HB 683 (chapter 2025-140, Laws of Florida) and explains what it says. It is not legal advice, and a statute can be amended. Read the linked section before you rely on it.