Florida vs Illinois: Local Ordinance Comparison (2026)

Tiny Homes

Florida Statute 553.73 makes the Florida Building Code the single, uniform construction standard for all permanent dwellings statewide, including tiny homes, preempting cities from setting different structural, fire, or life-safety construction requirements.

Beekeeping

Florida law requires every beekeeper to register their honeybee colonies with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, obtain inspection certificates, and renew annually. The state fully preempts local hive bans.

The Illinois Bees and Apiaries Act requires registration of all colonies with the Department of Agriculture and authorizes inspections to control diseases statewide.

Breed Restrictions

Illinois prohibits municipalities from declaring dogs dangerous or vicious solely based on breed under the Animal Control Act, requiring conduct-based determinations only.

Chickens & Livestock

Florida Statutes Chapter 588 makes livestock owners liable for animals that stray onto public roads. Under section 588.15, an owner who negligently permits cattle, horses, hogs, or other livestock to run at large owes damages for all resulting injury and property loss.

Illinois flatly bars owners from letting livestock run at large. Under 510 ILCS 55/1 you must provide restraints to keep animals confined, and you are civilly liable for all damage they cause when they escape.

Dog Leash Laws

Illinois law requires owners to keep dogs under restraint or control off their property and imposes strict liability for bites by unrestrained animals statewide.

Exotic Pets

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) regulates exotic and captive wildlife statewide. Possession of Class I, II, and III wildlife requires FWC permits, and state law preempts most local exotic animal regulations.

Illinois prohibits private possession of dangerous animals including big cats, bears, wolves, and primates under the Dangerous Animals Act, with limited exempt categories.

Wildlife Feeding

Florida law prohibits intentional feeding of black bears, alligators, crocodiles, sandhill cranes, foxes, raccoons, and pelicans. These FWC rules apply statewide regardless of local ordinances.

Illinois Wildlife Code prohibits feeding deer and similar wildlife in many counties to prevent chronic wasting disease spread, with statewide enforcement authority.

Structure Height Limits

Florida Statutes 161.053 establishes the Coastal Construction Control Line, a state-administered seaward setback that applies to all coastal counties regardless of local zoning. Construction seaward of the CCCL requires a Florida DEP permit and meets statewide structural and elevation standards.

Tobacco Retail License

Florida Statute 569.315 expressly preempts the regulation of the marketing, sale, and delivery of nicotine products and dispensing devices to the state, voiding most municipal ordinances on electronic cigarettes and vape shops.

Illinois requires retailers selling electronic cigarettes and e-liquids to obtain Department of Revenue licensing and follow age-verification, packaging, and tax rules statewide.

Dispensary Zoning

Florida preempts local regulation of medical marijuana dispensaries: cities must either treat them like pharmacies or ban them outright.

Illinois sets no statewide buffer for adult-use dispensaries; 410 ILCS 705/55-25 lets counties and municipalities zone them, cap their number, set distance limits from sensitive sites, or ban them outright, but never more strictly than the State allows.

Juvenile Curfew

Florida Statutes 877.20 through 877.25, the Juvenile Curfew Act, set a uniform statewide framework allowing counties to impose curfews on minors under 16 with specific hours, exceptions, and parental liability provisions that apply identically across adopting jurisdictions.

Illinois imposes a statewide juvenile curfew barring minors under 17 from public places late at night under Section 12C-60 of the Criminal Code, which replaced the repealed Child Curfew Act in 2013.

Commercial Drones

Commercial drone operations in Florida are regulated by federal FAA Part 107 and state law; local governments cannot impose additional commercial operation restrictions.

Recreational Drones

Florida expressly preempts local regulation of drones, reserving authority to the state and federal government, with limited surveillance and trespass exceptions.

Illinois preempts local drone regulation through the Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act, establishing uniform privacy rules while federal FAA authority controls airspace operation statewide.

Minimum Wage Preemption

Florida Statute 218.077 prohibits local governments from establishing a minimum wage other than the state or federal rate, preempting city and county living-wage ordinances except for direct local government employees.

Paid Leave Preemption

The Paid Leave for All Workers Act guarantees up to 40 hours of paid leave annually for nearly every Illinois employee, with limited carve-outs for jurisdictions with existing ordinances.

Worker Scheduling Preemption

Florida Statute 509.032(7) and broader employment preemption framework prevent local governments from requiring private employers to follow predictive or fair-scheduling rules beyond state and federal law.

Coastal Development

Florida regulates construction seaward of the Coastal Construction Control Line through state permits, with uniform standards administered by the Department of Environmental Protection.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources Coastal Management Program regulates Lake Michigan shoreline development, applying uniform permit requirements along the entire Illinois coast regardless of municipality.

Flood Zones

Florida adopts a single statewide building code that incorporates flood-resistant construction standards from FEMA and ASCE, applying uniformly to all jurisdictions.

Illinois law requires state-issued permits for construction within regulatory floodways and mandates municipal participation in NFIP minimum standards across all designated flood hazard areas.

Stormwater Management

Florida law assigns the Department of Environmental Protection, the water management districts, and local governments joint responsibility for building compatible stormwater management programs, and requires statewide, consistent permitting of stormwater systems through the environmental resource permit rules.

Fire Pits & Backyard Fires

Florida regulates outdoor recreational fires through the Florida Fire Prevention Code (NFPA 1), which applies uniformly statewide and preempts inconsistent local fire-code provisions.

Outdoor Burning

Open burning of yard waste and land-clearing debris in Florida requires authorization from the Florida Forest Service under Section 590.125, applying universally outside municipal limits.

Illinois EPA regulations restrict open burning statewide, prohibiting the burning of garbage, landscape waste in many urban areas, and any materials producing dense smoke or air pollution.

Propane Storage

Illinois regulates the storage, handling, and transport of liquefied petroleum gas statewide under the LPG Act, adopting NFPA 58 standards uniformly through the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

Wildfire Zones

The Florida Forest Service has statewide jurisdiction over wildfire prevention and suppression on non-municipal land under Chapter 590, Florida Statutes.

Card Room Licensing

Florida cardrooms operate only inside licensed pari-mutuel facilities, dog tracks, horse tracks, and jai alai frontons, under a license from the Florida Gaming Control Commission. Fla. Stat. § 849.086 authorizes poker and dominoes played in a nonbanking manner, caps designated-player poker at 10 tables where slot machines are legal or 30 where they aren't, and blocks any first-time license until the host municipality or county governing body votes to approve it.

Casino Zoning Districts

Illinois doesn't let cities zone in casinos on their own: the Illinois Gambling Act (230 ILCS 10/7) hands out a fixed number of state owners licenses, each tied by statute to one named municipality. Chicago got its own license under a 2019 law, capped at 4,000 gaming positions. Five more licenses went to Danville, Waukegan, Rockford, a Cook County township cluster, and unincorporated Williamson County.

Sports Betting Law

Sports wagering is legal in Florida only through the Seminole Tribe's Hard Rock Bet platform, authorized under the state's gaming compact codified at Fla. Stat. § 285.710(13)(b)7. Mobile and online bets are legally deemed to occur on tribal land where the wagering servers sit, so anyone 21 or older can bet statewide from their phone, but no other operator can legally take a sports bet.

Illinois legalized sports betting under the Sports Wagering Act, but only through an operator holding a Board-issued master sports wagering license. The Illinois Gaming Board licenses online operators, in-state sports facilities, and existing casino owners and organization licensees, each paying steep application and license fees. Bettors must be at least 21 and physically located in Illinois when they place a wager.

Clotheslines & Energy Devices

Florida Statute 163.04 bars homeowner association deed restrictions and local ordinances from prohibiting clotheslines, solar collectors, or other renewable-resource energy devices in owner-occupied communities, though the protection excludes patio railings in condominiums, cooperatives, and apartments. An HOA cannot deny a clothesline outright, and unlike solar panels, it holds no reserved power to dictate where a resident hangs one.

EV Charger Rights

Since January 1, 2024 the Illinois Electric Vehicle Charging Act has voided any covenant, deed restriction or governing-document provision that prohibits or unreasonably restricts installing an electric vehicle charging system in a unit owner's unit or designated parking space, including a deeded space, an exclusive use common area space and a space specifically designated for a particular owner. The Act reaches condominium associations and common interest community associations together, because 765 ILCS 1085/15 borrows the definition of association from both the Condominium Property Act and the Common Interest Community Association Act, and it applies to existing buildings as well as new ones. An association that requires approval must decide in writing, and an application not denied in writing within 60 days is deemed approved. The owner pays for installation, electricity, maintenance and removal, must use a licensed and insured electrical contractor, and must keep liability coverage naming the association as an additional insured.

Cottage Food Operations

Florida's Cottage Food Operations Act preempts local regulation, allowing home production of non-potentially hazardous foods up to a statewide gross sales limit.

Illinois runs its cottage food program out of 410 ILCS 625/4, and the current text sets no ceiling at all on what a cottage food operation may sell. Paragraph (1) of subsection (b) is printed as "(Blank)", and the only dollar figure anywhere in the Section is the $50 maximum annual registration fee a local health department may charge. You register with the local health department for the unit of local government where your kitchen sits, not with the State, and you may then sell anywhere in Illinois. Subsection (h), added by Public Act 102-633 effective January 1, 2022, bars a home rule unit from regulating cottage food operations in a manner inconsistent with the State scheme.

Home Daycare

Florida regulates family and large family child care homes uniformly under Chapter 402, setting capacity limits, training, and inspection requirements applicable statewide.

DUI Checkpoint Legality

Florida allows sobriety checkpoints, and the discretion of the individual trooper is what gets constrained. Fla. Stat. § 321.05(1) gives Florida Highway Patrol officers the power to require drivers to stop and exhibit licenses and registration, and Florida Highway Patrol Policy 17.08 supplies the written guidelines that make a checkpoint operate to a plan rather than to an officer's judgment. That policy requires a written operational plan approved by the Troop Commander at least 10 days ahead, a vehicle selection formula fixed in advance, advance media notification, and a bar on checkpoints on limited access facilities. It also states that a driver's effort to avoid a checkpoint is not by itself enough to justify a stop.

Illinois holds roadside safety checks, but the General Assembly never wrote a statute authorising or regulating them. The Illinois Vehicle Code mentions checkpoints exactly once, in a funding clause at 625 ILCS 5/11-501.01(g), and the Criminal Code of 2012 does not mention them at all. What is written down is what happens once an officer singles you out: implied consent to a chemical test under 625 ILCS 5/11-501.1(a) attaches only on arrest evidenced by a Uniform Traffic Ticket, field sobriety testing for cannabis under 11-501.9(a) requires an independent cannabis-related factual basis, and refusing a chemical test costs a first offender 12 months of driving privileges.

Stop & Identify Laws

Florida has no general stop-and-identify statute. The Florida Stop and Frisk Law, Fla. Stat. § 901.151(2), lets an officer temporarily detain you to ascertain your identity when circumstances reasonably indicate a crime, but it imposes no duty on you to answer and creates no offense for staying silent. Refusal to identify carries statutory weight in exactly one Florida offense, loitering or prowling under § 856.021, and even there the officer must give you a chance to identify and explain before arresting. Drivers are the exception: § 322.15(1) requires a licensee to present a driver license on demand, and § 901.36 makes giving a false name during a lawful detention a first degree misdemeanor.

Illinois gives officers a demand power without giving them a penalty to back it. Under 725 ILCS 5/107-14(a) a peace officer who has identified himself as such may stop a person in a public place and demand a name, an address and an explanation of the person's actions, but no section of the Criminal Code of 2012 makes it an offence to stay silent. Lying is different: 720 ILCS 5/31-4.5 makes furnishing a false or fictitious name, address or date of birth a Class A misdemeanour. Drivers have a separate and harder duty, because 625 ILCS 5/6-112 requires physical surrender of the licence itself.

Vehicle Search & Consent

Florida wrote the automobile exception into its statutes in 1927. Fla. Stat. § 933.19 adopts the United States Supreme Court's decision of March 2, 1925 in the Carroll case, reported at 267 U.S. 132, "as the statute law of the state" for searches of vehicles carrying contraband or illegal liquor, so a Florida officer with probable cause may search a car without a warrant. Article I, section 12 of the Florida Constitution has, since the 1982 amendment, required the state search and seizure right to be construed in conformity with the Fourth Amendment as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court, and it bars suppression of anything that would be admissible under those federal decisions. Florida has enacted no statute requiring written, recorded, or advised consent before a vehicle search, so declining consent is a matter of what you say at the roadside rather than a form you refuse to sign.

Illinois has no statute that requires an officer to warn you that you may refuse a vehicle search, but it does require the officer to write the request down. 625 ILCS 5/11-212 makes every traffic stop generate a record of whether a consent search was requested of the vehicle, driver or passengers and whether consent was "given or denied," alongside whether a dog sniffed the car and whether anything was found. Illinois also bars one search outright: 725 ILCS 5/108-1(3) forbids searching a vehicle, its contents, the driver or a passenger solely because of a seat belt violation. Legal cannabis does not give Illinois drivers the search shield California and New York rely on.

Native Plants

Florida Statute 373.185 declares Florida-friendly landscaping a matter of state policy and prohibits any deed restriction, covenant, or local ordinance from preventing property owners from installing native, drought-tolerant plant landscapes.

Rainwater Harvesting

Illinois has never adopted a statewide plumbing standard for rainwater harvesting. The Department of Public Health proposed one in December 2018, but it never took effect, and the Illinois Plumbing Code still contains no harvested-water subpart.

Tree Removal & Heritage Trees

Florida Statute 163.045 prohibits cities and counties from requiring permits, fees, or replanting when a residential homeowner removes a tree documented by a certified arborist or licensed landscape architect as posing a danger.

Water Restrictions

Florida Statutes Chapter 373 grants water management districts authority to impose mandatory landscape irrigation restrictions that apply uniformly across all counties and municipalities, overriding any conflicting local schedules during declared water shortages.

Weed Ordinances

Illinois law designates noxious weeds and requires landowners to control them on all property regardless of municipal weed ordinances.

Golf Carts & Low-Speed Vehicles

Florida flips the usual assumption: a golf cart is barred from public roads unless a county, a municipality, or a water control district has affirmatively designated that road for cart use and posted signs saying so. Low-speed vehicles are treated as real motor vehicles and may be driven on any street posted at 35 miles per hour or less anywhere in the state, but they must be titled, registered, insured and driven by a licensed driver. Since the 2023 amendment, a golf cart driver under 18 must hold a valid learner's or driver license, and a driver 18 or older must carry government-issued photo identification. Golf carts themselves are exempt from registration and license plates under Fla. Stat. section 320.105.

Illinois runs two different regimes and the answer depends entirely on which vehicle you own. A golf cart is a non-highway vehicle under 625 ILCS 5/11-1426.1, and driving one on any street, highway or roadway is unlawful unless a municipality, township, county or other unit of local government has first passed an ordinance or resolution authorising it on roads under its jurisdiction. Even then the cart may be driven only where the posted speed limit is 35 miles per hour or less. A low-speed vehicle, by contrast, is lawful by default on any Illinois street posted at 30 miles per hour or less under 625 ILCS 5/11-1426.2, and a local government has to act to prohibit it. Both require a valid driver license and mandatory insurance.

Aircraft Noise

Aircraft noise in Illinois is governed exclusively by federal aviation law, leaving cities and the state without authority to regulate flight operations or in-flight sound.

Decibel Limits

Illinois sets uniform statewide decibel limits for stationary industrial and commercial noise sources through Pollution Control Board rules under the Environmental Protection Act.

Abandoned Vehicles

Florida Statutes Chapters 705 and 715 establish uniform procedures for declaring vehicles abandoned, providing notice, and disposing of them through licensed wreckers.

The Illinois Vehicle Code establishes uniform procedures for declaring, towing, and disposing of abandoned vehicles on public and private property across all jurisdictions in the state.

EV Charging

Florida law protects condominium unit owners' rights to install electric vehicle charging stations in their designated parking areas under Fla. Stat. 718.113(8), while commercial installations follow uniform Florida Building Code permitting statewide.

Illinois law guarantees renters and condo owners the right to install EV charging stations, preempting local restrictions on residential charging access at multi-unit buildings.

Towing & Impound Rights

Florida caps the drop fee a tower can charge at half the posted rate if the owner shows up mid-tow, requires a signed itemized receipt, and forces storage lots within 10 to 15 highway miles of the pickup point. Redemption runs 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., the vehicle must come back within an hour of a request, and no waiver of damage claims can be a condition of release.

Illinois runs two layers of private-property towing law, and which one you are under depends on the county. Statewide, 625 ILCS 5/4-203(f) governs every nonconsensual tow from private property: if you reach your car before it is actually removed the tow truck must disconnect and let you go on payment of no more than one-half the posted rate, with a receipt; the tower must notify police within 30 minutes; the lot must carry signs in 2-inch light-reflective letters posted for at least 24 hours beforehand; and the vehicle must be released within one-half hour of your request during business hours. On top of that, Chapter 18a of the Vehicle Code, enforced by the Illinois Commerce Commission, applies only in counties of 1,000,000 or more, which means Cook County, and in smaller counties whose county board votes to opt in, minus any municipality that has filed a resolution opting out. In Chapter 18a territory an ordinary car cannot be charged a drop fee at all, there is no storage charge for the first 24 hours, and the tow distance is capped at 10 or 15 air miles.

Snow & Sidewalk Clearing

The Illinois Snow and Ice Removal Act shields residential property owners from liability for natural accumulations cleared in good faith, applying uniformly statewide.

Eviction Notice & Process

Fla. Stat. § 83.56 requires a 3-day notice to pay rent or vacate for nonpayment, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays from the count. For lease violations, the landlord serves a 7-day notice to cure (or a 7-day unconditional notice for repeat or non-curable violations). Only a court may order eviction through Florida's summary procedure.

Illinois requires a 5-day written notice for nonpayment of rent (735 ILCS 5/9-209), a 10-day notice to quit for lease violations (735 ILCS 5/9-210), and a 30-day termination notice for ending a month-to-month tenancy without cause (735 ILCS 5/9-207). Only a court may order eviction.

Just Cause Eviction

Florida's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, Chapter 83 Part II, exclusively defines lawful eviction grounds and procedures statewide, preempting cities from adding just-cause requirements that restrict when a landlord may terminate a tenancy.

Landlord Entry & Notice

Under Fla. Stat. § 83.53, a Florida landlord must give at least 24 hours' notice to enter for repairs and may enter only at reasonable times, defined as between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. No notice is required in an emergency or to preserve the premises, and access may not be used to harass the tenant.

Lease Termination & Notice to Vacate

For a month-to-month tenancy, Fla. Stat. § 83.57 now requires 30 days' written notice (raised from 15 days by 2023's HB 1417). Breaking a fixed-term lease triggers landlord remedies under § 83.595, including a pre-agreed early-termination fee capped at two months' rent. Servicemembers may terminate early under § 83.682.

Under 735 ILCS 5/9-207, ending a month-to-month or other tenancy under one year requires 30 days' written notice; a week-to-week tenancy requires 7 days. The statute lets the landlord 'terminate the tenancy by 30 days' notice, in writing,' and then bring an eviction action. Fixed-term leases end on their stated date.

Rent Control

Florida effectively bans local rent control. State law bars any city or county from imposing controls on rents, and the 2023 Live Local Act removed the old narrow exception that had allowed a one-year emergency referendum riddled with exemptions. There is no statewide rent cap, so landlords set increases freely by lease terms.

Illinois has no statewide rent control and no cap on rent increases. The Rent Control Preemption Act, 50 ILCS 825, bars every unit of local government, including home rule cities, from enacting, maintaining, or enforcing any ordinance that controls the rent charged for private residential or commercial property. No Illinois municipality has enforceable rent control.

Rent Increase Notice

Florida has no rent control and no statute setting a maximum rent increase or a dedicated advance-notice period. On a month-to-month tenancy, a new rent takes effect only through the termination/change notice in Fla. Stat. § 83.57, which 2023's HB 1417 (ch. 2023-314) lengthened from 15 to 30 days.

Illinois has no statewide statute setting a maximum rent increase or a dedicated advance-notice period for raising rent, and the Rent Control Preemption Act (50 ILCS 825) bars local rent control. On a month-to-month tenancy, a rent change takes effect only through the 30-day termination notice in 735 ILCS 5/9-207.

Rental Registration

Florida Statute 509.032(7) preempts local regulation of vacation rental bans, duration, and frequency, while FS 83.425 (2023) preempts local regulation of residential tenancies, leaving cities only narrow room for rental registration programs.

Repairs & Habitability

Fla. Stat. § 83.51 requires landlords to comply with applicable building, housing, and health codes or keep the structure, plumbing, and (for most multi-unit buildings) heat, running water, hot water, and pest control in working order. Tenants enforce these duties through the § 83.56 seven-day written notice to cure before withholding rent or terminating.

Illinois recognizes an implied warranty of habitability in every residential lease through case law, not a single statute. The Illinois Supreme Court established it in Jack Spring, Inc. v. Little (1972), holding that all residential leases include the warranty, fulfilled by substantial compliance with applicable building codes. Chicago's RLTO adds detailed statutory standards.

Security Deposit Rules

Florida places no dollar limit on residential security deposits, but it enforces tight deadlines. If the landlord makes no claim, the deposit must be returned within 15 days of move-out. If the landlord intends to keep any part, written certified-mail notice is due within 30 days, and the tenant then has 15 days to object.

Illinois sets no statewide cap on residential security deposits. Under the Security Deposit Return Act, 765 ILCS 710, a landlord of a building with 5 or more units who keeps any of a deposit for damage must furnish an itemized statement within 30 days of move-out, or return the deposit in full within 45 days, or owe double the deposit plus attorney's fees.

Squatter's Rights & Adverse Possession

Adverse possession in Florida requires 7 years of actual, continued, exclusive possession plus paying all taxes within a year and filing a return with the property appraiser (Fla. Stat. § 95.18). Separately, the 2024 anti-squatter law HB 621 (Fla. Stat. § 82.036) lets owners have a sheriff remove unauthorized occupants within hours, without a lawsuit.

Adverse possession in Illinois generally requires 20 years of possession (735 ILCS 5/13-101). The period drops to 7 years when the occupant holds under claim and color of title 'made in good faith' and pays all taxes assessed (735 ILCS 5/13-109), or holds connected record title with 7 years of actual residence (735 ILCS 5/13-107).

Short-Term Rental Permits

Florida law preempts the regulation of vacation rental licensing and inspections to the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), though local zoning and registration are permitted.

Taxes & Fees

Florida imposes a 6% state sales tax, plus county discretionary surtaxes of 0.5 to 1.5%, on rentals of living accommodations for six months or less, applying universally to short-term rentals.

Illinois imposes a 6% state Hotel Operators' Occupation Tax on short-term rentals of fewer than 30 consecutive days, including platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo, applied uniformly statewide.

Political Signs

Florida has no statewide statute that fully preempts municipal regulation of political signs on private property, but F.S. 720.304(2) protects homeowners' rights to display one portable, removable U.S. flag and certain other displays despite HOA covenants. Cities still set time, place, and manner rules.

Illinois condominium law bars board rules that impair First Amendment rights, protecting unit owners' political sign displays, but no comparable statute covers HOA political signs; flag display is separately protected in both regimes.

Plastic Bag Rules

Florida Statute 403.7033 preempts the regulation of disposable plastic bags by local governments, prohibiting cities and counties from enacting bans or fees on retailers pending a legislative review that has not occurred.

Polystyrene Foam Rules

Florida Statute 500.90 preempts the regulation of polystyrene products by local governments, blocking cities and counties from banning expanded polystyrene foam food containers, cups, and similar items.

Fencing & Safety Requirements

Florida Statutes Chapter 515 establishes minimum statewide pool barrier requirements applying to every residential swimming pool, spa, or hot tub. New pools must meet at least one safety feature requirement before receiving a certificate of completion, regardless of city or county location.

Illinois requires public and semi-public pools to be enclosed by barriers at least 4 feet high under the state Swimming Facility Code, while residential pool fencing is enforced through locally adopted building codes.

Lane Splitting & Filtering

Florida bans lane splitting in so many words. Fla. Stat. section 316.209(3) states that no person shall operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows of vehicles, and subsection (2) separately forbids a rider from overtaking and passing in the same lane occupied by the vehicle being overtaken. There is no exception for stopped or slow traffic, no speed differential allowance and no local opt-out; the only carve-out is for police officers and firefighters performing official duties. A violation is a noncriminal traffic infraction punishable as a moving violation, which under Fla. Stat. section 318.18(3)(a) means a $60 penalty and 3 points under section 322.27(3)(d).

Lane splitting is not lawful in Illinois. The Vehicle Code never uses the phrase, but 625 ILCS 5/11-703(c) makes the maneuver itself unlawful: a two-wheeled vehicle passing on the left of one vehicle may not at the same time pass on the right of another vehicle going the same way unless an unobstructed lane of traffic is available to complete the pass safely. Threading between two occupied lines of stopped traffic on the Kennedy or the Eisenhower is exactly what that sentence forbids. A separate section, 625 ILCS 5/11-704(b), adds a hard measurement for passing on the right: a two-wheeled vehicle needs at least 8 feet of unobstructed pavement to the right of the vehicle it is passing.

Radar Detector Rules

A driver of a private passenger vehicle may use a radar detector in Florida. No section of the Florida Statutes prohibits owning, carrying or operating one, and chapter 316, which carries every other piece of Florida vehicle equipment law, contains no radar detector provision to hang a citation on. The two real constraints are elsewhere. Commercial motor vehicles are barred from carrying detectors because Fla. Stat. § 316.302 adopts 49 C.F.R. part 392, which includes the federal radar detector prohibition, and the windshield rule in § 316.2952(2) leaves no lawful place to stick one on the glass.

A radar detector is legal in an ordinary Illinois passenger car. The only detector ban in the Illinois Vehicle Code, 625 ILCS 5/12-714, reaches a driver who operates or is in actual physical control of a commercial motor vehicle as defined in 625 ILCS 5/6-500(6), which means roughly 26,001 pounds or more, 16 or more passengers including the driver, or any size vehicle hauling placarded hazardous materials. Radar and laser jammers are a separate matter and are banned in every motor vehicle by 625 ILCS 5/12-613. Both sections carry the same unusual protection: an officer may not stop or search a vehicle solely because a detector or jammer is suspected.

Window Tint Limits

Florida sets a separate light transmittance floor for each piece of glass rather than one statewide number. Side wings and side windows forward of or next to the driver must pass at least 28 percent of visible light and reflect no more than 25 percent (Fla. Stat. § 316.2953), while windows behind the driver must pass at least 15 percent and reflect no more than 35 percent, dropping to a 6 percent floor on a multipurpose passenger vehicle such as an SUV, pickup or van (§ 316.2954). The windshield may carry no percentage tint at all, only a transparent strip above the AS/1 line. Every one of those percentages is read subject to a plus or minus 3 percent tolerance under § 316.2955(2).

Illinois bans tinted film on the front windshield except a nonreflective strip running no more than 6 inches down from the top, and bars any window treatment on the windows immediately adjacent to each side of the driver unless the car meets one of the exceptions in 625 ILCS 5/12-503(a-5). Those exceptions are conditional on the back of the car: front side windows may run at 50% light transmittance if no window behind the driver's seat is below 30%, or at 35% if no window behind the driver's seat is below 35%, each with a 5% variance the officer's meter must allow. The Vehicle Code sets no darkness floor at all for windows behind the driver's seat. Because Illinois runs no periodic safety inspection for ordinary passenger cars, tint is checked at the roadside with a meter rather than at an annual test.