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0 Advisory Legal Opinion - Vacation Rentals -- Municipalities -- Land Use Page 3 of 6 amendment "maintains the current prohibition against local laws, ordinances, or regulations that prohibit vacation rentals."[5] Finally, the staff analysis prepared for an identical bill proposed in the House of Representatives, for which Senate Bill 356 was substituted, reflects that the bill "removes the preemption to the state for the regulation of vacation rentals" and recognizes that 11[1] ocal governments may regulate vacation rentals, provided those regulations do not prohibit vacation rentals or restrict the duration or frequency of vacation rentals."[6] It is clear that municipalities may zone land to pursue a number of legitimate objectives related to the health, safety, morals, or general welfare of the community.[7] Municipalities have the power to regulate the use of land and buildings within prescribed districts through zoning.[8] Zoning is generally defined as the legislative division of a region into districts with different regulations within the districts for land use, building size, and the like.[9] While a municipality may enact zoning ordinances and regulations, a legislative enactment on the same subject matter controls.[10] Therefore, to the extent a municipal ordinance conflicts with a state statute in regard to the prohibition against any local act which seeks to prohibit vacation rentals, the municipal ordinance must fail.[11] Thus, while a local government may regulate vacation rentals, it may not enact a local law, ordinance, or regulation which would operate to prohibit vacation rentals. To the extent a zoning ordinance addresses vacation rentals in an attempt to prohibit them in a particular area where residences are otherwise allowed, it would appear that a local government would have exceeded the regulatory authority granted in section 509.032(7)(b), Florida Statutes. Question Two A municipality has home rule powers to enact legislation on any subject upon which the State Legislature may act, except, among other things, any subject that is expressly prohibited by the Constitution or any subject that is expressly preempted to state or county government by the Constitution or by general law.[12] Section 509.261(1), Florida Statutes, provides: "Any public lodging establishment or public food service establishment that has operated or is operating in violation of this chapter or the rules of the division, operating without a license, or operating with a suspended or revoked license may be subject by the division to: (a) Fines not to exceed $1,000 per offense; (b) Mandatory completion, at personal expense, of a remedial educational program administered by a food safety training program provider approved by the division, as provided in s. 509.049; and (c) The suspension, revocation, or refusal of a license issued pursuant to this chapter." (e.s.) http://www.myfloridalegal.com/ago.nst7printview/5DFB7F27FB483C4685257D900050D... 2/10/2015