Florida vs Washington: Local Ordinance Comparison (2026)

ADU Rules

Washington HB 1337 (RCW 36.70A.681) requires cities and counties to allow two ADUs per lot in urban growth areas, preempting restrictive local rules.

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.

Washington RCW 15.60 requires all beekeepers with one or more hives to register their apiaries annually with the Washington State Department of Agriculture, supporting disease tracking and pollinator health statewide.

Breed Restrictions

Washington RCW 16.08 governs dangerous and potentially dangerous dogs through behavior-based standards rather than breed identity, requiring registration, secure confinement, and liability insurance for declared dangerous dogs across all jurisdictions.

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.

Washington bars owners from willfully or negligently letting livestock run at large in any stock restricted area under RCW 16.24.065. Owners are liable for trespass damage, and neighboring landowners need not fence animals out to recover.

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.

Washington RCW 16.30 prohibits private possession, breeding, and importation of dangerous wild animals including big cats, bears, wolves, and primates, applying uniformly statewide with limited grandfather and accreditation exceptions.

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.

Washington bans intentionally feeding or attracting large wild carnivores, bears, cougars and wolves, to any land or building, and treats a first intentional violation as a misdemeanor under RCW 77.15.792.

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.

Washington adopts the International Building Code statewide through chapter 51-50 WAC, setting maximum heights and stories tied to construction type and occupancy classifications.

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.

Washington RCW 70.345 requires licensing for vapor product retailers, distributors, and delivery sellers, with state Department of Revenue oversight and tax collection.

Home Cultivation

Florida prohibits home cultivation of cannabis for both recreational and medical use; only state-licensed Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers may grow cannabis.

Washington uniquely prohibits recreational home cultivation of cannabis statewide, with cultivation only permitted by licensed producers and qualifying medical patients.

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.

Commercial drone operations in Washington are governed by FAA Part 107, with state law adding criminal liability for invasive uses and limited authority over state-owned land.

Recreational Drones

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

Paid Leave Preemption

Washington RCW 49.46.200 mandates paid sick leave for nearly all employees, and RCW 50A.04 provides paid family and medical leave funded by payroll premiums.

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.

Washington's Shoreline Management Act (RCW 90.58) requires Shoreline Substantial Development Permits for most construction within 200 feet of marine and freshwater shorelines statewide.

Flood Zones

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

Washington requires all communities participating in the National Flood Insurance Program to adopt floodplain ordinances meeting state minimum standards under RCW 86.16.

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.

Fireworks

Florida permits consumer fireworks use on July 4, December 31, and January 1 under Section 791.08, Florida Statutes, exempting those days from the state's general fireworks prohibition, though local regulations and recorded HOA covenants can still apply.

Consumer fireworks are legal statewide under RCW 70.77 on specified dates, but sky rockets, missiles, firecrackers, and bottle rockets are banned. Cities and counties may restrict or ban fireworks entirely but cannot expand state-allowed dates or types.

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.

Washington's Clean Air Act (RCW 70A.15) bans outdoor burning in urban growth areas and most cities. The Department of Ecology and clean air agencies enforce statewide standards regardless of local rules.

Propane Storage

Washington adopts the International Fire Code statewide under RCW 19.27.031, including NFPA 58 standards for liquefied petroleum gas (propane). These rules govern container placement, capacity, and installation regardless of city.

Wildfire Zones

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

Washington adopted the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code statewide under RCW 19.27.560, effective July 1, 2023. New construction in designated WUI areas must meet ignition-resistant building, defensible space, and water supply requirements.

Local Firearms Preemption

Florida Statute 790.33 expressly preempts the entire field of firearm and ammunition regulation to the state, voiding all local ordinances and imposing personal civil penalties on local officials who knowingly enact or enforce conflicting rules.

Washington RCW 9.41.290 broadly preempts local firearm regulation, reserving authority over firearm laws to the state legislature with very limited exceptions.

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.

Washington's Gambling Commission is the only licensing authority for commercial card rooms statewide. RCW 9.46.070(2) lets the commission issue one-year licenses to food-and-drink businesses to run social card games, including house-banked games, as a commercial stimulant. RCW 9.46.0282 caps every licensed room at fifteen tables. Critically, RCW 9.46.295 hands every city and county the power to ban card rooms outright inside its own borders, license or no license.

Charitable Bingo and Raffles

Florida lets charitable, nonprofit, and veterans' organizations run bingo without applying for any state gaming license: the statute itself sets the eligibility bar and the limits. A group must have operated for three years, donate every dollar of net proceeds to its charitable work, cap jackpots at $250 with no more than three per session, cap every other prize at $50, and hold games no more than two days a week, under Fla. Stat. § 849.0931.

Washington exempts bona fide charitable and nonprofit organizations from Gambling Commission licensing when raffle, bingo, or amusement-game revenue stays under $5,000 a year. Members-only raffles under RCW 9.46.0315 face no event cap, while public bingo, raffle, or amusement-game events under RCW 9.46.0321 are limited to two per calendar year, twelve consecutive days each, with the same $5,000 combined ceiling. Cross either threshold and a WSGC license becomes mandatory.

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.

Sports betting is legal in Washington only at tribal casinos operating under a class III gaming compact amended to include it, as RCW 9.46.0364 authorizes following ESHB 2638 (2020 c 127). There is no commercial sportsbook license available to anyone else, and even in-casino mobile wagering works only while the bettor is physically on tribal gaming premises, per RCW 9.46.0368.

Assessment & Dues

Under Fla. Stat. § 720.3085, unpaid assessments become a lien on a parcel, and the homeowners' association may foreclose like a mortgage. Before recording the lien the association must send a 45-day written notice by certified and first-class mail, and a second 45-day notice is required before foreclosure can begin.

Washington has two regimes. Communities created on or after July 1, 2018 fall under WUCIOA (RCW 64.90), whose lien carries a 6-month super-priority over first mortgages and can be foreclosed like a mortgage. Older associations use the Homeowners' Associations Act (RCW 64.38), whose lien may be foreclosed only after strict notice and dollar thresholds.

CC&R Enforcement

Under Fla. Stat. §§ 720.303 and 720.3035, a Florida HOA enforces its recorded covenants and architectural standards, but only where authority is stated or reasonably inferred in the governing documents, and standards must be applied reasonably and equitably to all owners. HB 1203 added new limits and written-denial transparency rules effective July 1, 2024.

Washington HOAs may adopt and enforce rules and architectural standards and enforce the recorded declaration. Under WUCIOA, RCW 64.90.405 authorizes rule adoption and enforcement, while RCW 64.90.510 fixes outer limits the rules cannot cross (flags, solar, signs). Older HOAs draw the same rulemaking power from RCW 64.38.020.

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

Washington homeowners associations and condo boards may not prohibit or unreasonably restrict a unit owner's electric vehicle charging station installed for personal, noncommercial use within the unit's boundaries or a designated parking space. RCW 64.90.513 reaches virtually every Washington HOA and condo, including communities formed before July 1, 2018, and requires any required approval to follow a 60-day deemed-approved review process.

Flag Display Rights

Florida law bars homeowners associations from stopping owners from flying up to two flags, each no larger than 4 1/2 by 6 feet, including the U.S. flag, Florida's state flag, military branch flags, the POW-MIA flag, and first responder flags. Owners may also erect one freestanding flagpole up to 20 feet tall regardless of association covenants, subject to building codes, zoning setbacks, and sightline and easement restrictions.

Washington's older Homeowners' Association Act, chapter 64.38 RCW, applies to HOAs formed before July 1, 2018 that have not opted into the newer Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act; RCW 64.38.033 bars those associations from banning outdoor U.S. flag display or blocking a flagpole installed for it. RCW 64.90.510 sets a parallel rule for WUCIOA communities. Associations may still adopt reasonable placement, manner, and flagpole-size rules under either chapter.

HOA Fines & Enforcement

Under Fla. Stat. § 720.305, a Florida HOA may fine up to $100 per violation and $1,000 in the aggregate unless the governing documents allow more. The association must give at least 14 days' written notice and a hearing before a committee of at least three members, who must approve the fine by majority vote.

Both Washington regimes let HOAs impose reasonable fines, but only after notice and an opportunity to be heard and only under a fine schedule already adopted by the board and furnished to owners. WUCIOA communities use RCW 64.90.405; older associations use RCW 64.38.020. Neither statute sets a dollar cap on fines.

Lien & Foreclosure Limits

A Florida association can foreclose an assessment lien in the same manner a mortgage is foreclosed, but only after two separate 45-day notices, and fines are largely off limits: a condominium fine may never become a lien under Fla. Stat. § 718.303(3), and a homeowners' association fine of less than $1,000 may not become a lien under § 720.305(2). The sharpest Florida-specific limit protects lenders instead of owners. Under § 718.116(1)(b) and § 720.3085(2)(c), a first mortgagee that takes title by foreclosure or deed in lieu owes the association only the lesser of 12 months of back assessments or 1 percent of the original mortgage debt. A recorded condominium claim of lien also dies one year after recording unless the association sues within that year.

Washington associations do hold a super-lien. Under RCW 64.90.485(3)(a)(i) of the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, an association's lien jumps ahead of a first mortgage for six months of common expense assessments, plus up to $2,000 in foreclosure attorneys' fees if the association gave the lender 60 days' notice. Foreclosure itself is gated: the association cannot file until the owner owes the greater of three months of assessments or $2,000, until 90 days have passed since that amount accrued, until two preforeclosure notices have gone out 60 days apart, and until the board votes to foreclose that specific unit.

Rental Restriction Limits

Florida limits how homeowners' associations can restrict renting out a home, but only in communities governed by Chapter 720, not condos or co-ops. Under Fla. Stat. § 720.306(1)(h), a rental ban or rule an HOA adopts after July 1, 2021 binds only owners who buy in afterward or who individually consent to it, not every existing owner. Two carve-outs bind all owners regardless of consent: bans on rentals shorter than six months, and limits of three rentals per calendar year.

Washington condominium and HOA boards cannot cap or ban unit leasing by ordinary board rule. RCW 64.90.510(10)(c) lets a board restrict leasing only to the extent the rule mirrors institutional lenders' underwriting requirements, the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac-style owner-occupancy test used to keep a project warrantable. Any broader rental cap, waitlist, minimum lease term, or ban has to be written into the recorded declaration and approved by owners holding at least 67 percent of the association's votes.

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.

Washington runs a cottage food permit through the state Department of Agriculture, not through the local health district. Under RCW 69.22.030 the permit is issued for two years and costs a $125 basic hygiene inspection fee plus a $75 public health review fee and a $30 processing fee. RCW 69.22.050(1)(a) caps annual gross sales at $35,000, measured per domestic residence and not per person, and WAC 16-149-040(1) repeats that figure in the rule WSDA filed on December 11, 2023. You may sell only shelf-stable items on your permit, only directly to the eater, and never by mail, shipping, consignment, wholesale or out of state.

Home Daycare

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

Washington licenses family home child care providers through DCYF and preempts local zoning that would treat licensed home daycares as commercial uses requiring special permits.

Home Kitchen Operations

Washington has no microenterprise home kitchen permit. WAC 246-215-08300 bars operating a food establishment without a permit from the local health jurisdiction, and the one permit exemption you can apply for, WAC 246-215-08305, expressly requires "not using any food prepared in a residential kitchen or other nonapproved facility" and limits you to ten listed foods such as popcorn, corn on the cob and cotton candy. Cooked meals from a home kitchen are lawful only where the operation falls outside the definition of "food establishment" in WAC 246-215-01115(50)(c), which carves out nonprofit bake sales, licensed family day care and adult family home kitchens, private events, potlucks, a youth beverage stand, and a two-bedroom owner-occupied bed and breakfast serving breakfast only.

Recording Police

Florida is an all-party consent state, but that rule reaches less far than it sounds. Fla. Stat. § 934.03(2)(d) makes interception lawful only when every party consents, while § 934.02(2) limits the whole chapter to an "oral communication" uttered with an expectation of non-interception "under circumstances justifying such expectation." Florida has enacted no express right-to-record statute of the kind California and New York have, so the protection for a bystander recording comes from that definition rather than from a grant of permission. The concrete Florida limit is distance: since chapter 2024-85, § 843.31 makes it a second degree misdemeanor to approach or remain within 25 feet of a first responder after a verbal warning with intent to impede, threaten, or harass.

Washington is an all-party consent state, and the rule lives in the Washington Privacy Act at RCW 9.73.030. That section reaches only a private communication or a private conversation, not every conversation, and it gives Washingtonians a safe harbor no case law is needed to find: under RCW 9.73.030(3), consent is treated as obtained the moment one party announces in any reasonably effective manner that the conversation is about to be recorded, so long as the announcement is itself part of the recording. Saying out loud that you are recording, on the recording, is what the statute asks for. Doing it without announcing risks a gross misdemeanor and a civil claim for liquidated damages under RCW 9.73.060.

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.

Washington has no general stop-and-identify statute. Someone stopped on a sidewalk in Seattle, Spokane or Tacoma and asked who they are has no statutory duty to answer, and staying silent is not by itself an offense. The duty appears only once a vehicle is in the picture: RCW 46.61.021(3) requires anyone questioned during a traffic infraction investigation to identify themselves and give a current address, and RCW 46.61.020 makes it a misdemeanor for the driver or the person in charge of a vehicle to withhold a name and address or to supply a false one.

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.

Washington has no statute telling an adult driver what happens when an officer asks to search the car, and there is no logging or written-consent requirement of the kind Texas and Illinois adopted. It does have one hard statutory rule that no other part of the Revised Code of Washington matches: under RCW 13.40.740, a driver under 18 must be given access to an attorney before consenting to a search of a vehicle under their control, that consultation cannot be waived, and statements that follow a defective consultation are inadmissible in juvenile or adult criminal court. For adults the only statutory limit on a traffic stop is the closed list of things RCW 46.61.021(2) authorizes an officer to do while writing the ticket, and searching is not on it.

Composting

Washington requires jurisdictions over 25,000 to provide organics collection and bans certain organic waste disposal under RCW 70A.205.545.

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

Washington law expressly permits rooftop rainwater collection for onsite use without a water right permit, preempting any municipal prohibition on basic harvesting.

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.

Washington Department of Ecology administers water rights and may issue drought emergency orders that override local outdoor watering practices statewide.

Weed Ordinances

RCW 17.10.140 makes every Washington landowner eradicate all Class A noxious weeds and control the spread of Class B and C weeds designated for their region. County noxious weed control boards enforce it: a certified-mail notice under RCW 17.10.170 gives at least ten days to act before the board can control the weeds itself, lien the property, and issue a civil infraction.

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.

Washington splits small street-legal vehicles into three statutory classes by top speed, and the rules for each are different. A golf cart tops out at 20 mph and may use public streets only inside a golf cart zone a city or county has created by ordinance under RCW 46.08.175, on roads posted 25 mph or less. A neighborhood electric vehicle runs above 20 up to 25 mph and may use roads posted 35 mph or less statewide under RCW 46.61.725 without any local ordinance. A medium-speed electric vehicle, a class few states have, runs above 25 up to 35 mph, needs a roll cage or crush-proof body, and gets the same road access under RCW 46.61.723. NEVs and MSEVs must be registered, plated, insured and driven on a valid license; golf carts need none of those.

Aircraft Noise

Aircraft noise in Washington is preempted by federal aviation law, and the state expressly excludes aircraft in flight from its noise control regulations under WAC 173-60-050.

Construction Hours

Washington's noise code exempts temporary construction sounds during daytime hours from EDNA limits, while night construction still must comply with strict nighttime sound levels.

Decibel Limits

Industrial sources in Washington must comply with EDNA limits set by WAC 173-60, with the receiving residential zone limited to 60 dBA daytime and 50 dBA nighttime.

Abandoned Vehicles

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

Washington's RCW 46.55 governs how abandoned vehicles are impounded, noticed, redeemed, and auctioned, providing a uniform statewide framework that local jurisdictions must follow.

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.

Washington prohibits homeowner and condominium associations from banning EV charging stations and requires EV-ready parking in new construction. RCW 64.38.062 covers HOAs and RCW 64.90.513 covers condominium and WUCIOA communities.

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.

Washington caps what a private-property tow can cost. Under RCW 46.55.118, a class A, D or E tow truck operator's filed hourly towing rate cannot exceed 135 percent of the State Patrol's negotiated class A rate, daily storage cannot exceed 135 percent of the negotiated storage rate, and the after-hours release fee cannot exceed 100 percent of the negotiated fee. Every registered operator is bound, with a letter of appointment or not.

Late Fees & Grace Periods

Under RCW 59.18.170, a Washington landlord may not charge any late fee on rent paid within five days of its due date; a fee may begin only once rent is more than five days past due. The statute sets no specific dollar cap, though some cities and counties impose stricter local limits.

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.

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.

Washington sets no dollar cap on residential security deposits, but it controls how they are collected and returned. A landlord may collect a deposit only with a written rental agreement and a written move-in checklist describing the unit's condition. After the tenancy ends, the landlord has 30 days to refund the deposit with an itemized statement of deductions.

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.

Washington's general adverse possession period is 10 years under RCW 4.16.020, requiring possession that is actual, open and notorious, exclusive, hostile, and continuous. A shorter 7-year period applies under RCW 7.28.070 when the occupant holds under good-faith color of title and pays all taxes legally assessed on the land for those seven years.

Farm Nuisance Protection

Florida Statute 823.14, the Florida Right to Farm Act, protects established bona fide farm operations from nuisance suits and local ordinances that would inhibit standard agricultural practices conducted in good faith.

Insurance Requirements

Washington requires short-term rental operators to maintain at least $1 million in primary liability insurance, or to operate through a platform providing equivalent coverage, under RCW 64.37.050. This statewide requirement applies regardless of local rules.

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.

Washington imposes statewide sales tax and lodging taxes on short-term rental stays under 30 days. Operators must register with the Department of Revenue, collect applicable taxes, and remit them regardless of local jurisdiction.

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.

Plastic Straw Rules

Washington RCW 70A.550 limits single-use food service ware including plastic straws and utensils to upon-request distribution at restaurants and food service businesses.

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.

Washington WAC 246-260 regulates public spas and hot tubs at hotels, apartments, gyms, and HOAs, requiring permits, water testing, temperature limits, and posted bather safety warnings under RCW 70.90 statewide.

Flavored Tobacco Bans

Washington has not enacted a statewide flavored tobacco ban, leaving flavor restrictions to limited Department of Health authority and federal FDA enforcement on flavored vapor cartridges.

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 expressly illegal in Washington. RCW 46.61.608(3) states flatly that no person shall operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows of vehicles, and subsection (2) separately bars a rider from overtaking and passing within the same lane as the vehicle being overtaken. There is no filtering exception for stopped traffic, no speed-differential allowance, and no local opt-in. The only carve-outs in the section are for police officers on duty and for passing a pedestrian or bicyclist at three feet or more. A violation is a traffic infraction, not a crime, under RCW 46.63.020.

Plate Covers & Obstruction

Florida treats an obscured plate as a crime, not a ticket. Fla. Stat. section 320.061(1) makes it unlawful to apply or attach any substance, reflective matter, illuminated device, spray, coating, covering or other material onto or around a license plate which interferes with the legibility, angular visibility or detectability of the license plate number or validation sticker, or with the ability to record them, and a knowing violation is a misdemeanor of the second degree. Subsection (2) creates a narrow safe harbor: a plate frame or decorative border is not an offense provided it does not obscure the alphanumeric designation or the registration decal in the upper right corner. Separately, Fla. Stat. section 316.605(1) requires the plate, its printing and its registration decal to be plainly visible and legible at 100 feet and provides that nothing shall be placed upon the face of a Florida plate except as permitted by law or agency rule.

Washington bans license plate covers outright. RCW 46.16A.200(7)(c)(i) makes it unlawful to use license plate holders, frames, covers, or other materials that conceal, obstruct, distort, change, alter, or make a plate illegible, and subsection (5)(a)(iii) separately requires every plate to be kept clean and uncovered and plainly readable at all times. A frame is the one accessory the statute permits, and only if it does not obscure the tabs or the identifying letters and numbers. Washington does allow a named list of racks and hitches to temporarily block one of two plates, an exception most states do not have, but that permission never extends to a cover.

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.

Nothing in Washington law restricts a radar detector in a private passenger vehicle. Chapter 46.37 RCW, the vehicle equipment chapter that fixes fog lamp mounting heights to the inch and tint reflectance to the percentage point, contains no reference to radar detectors, nor does chapter 46.61 RCW, the rules of the road, and RCW 46.37.010(3) affirmatively preserves the use of additional accessories that are not inconsistent with the chapter or with State Patrol rules. The real prohibition is for commercial motor vehicles. WAC 446-65-010(1)(s) adopts 49 C.F.R. Part 392 in its entirety for motor carriers operating in intrastate or interstate commerce, and 49 C.F.R. 392.71 bans a radar detector from being used in, or even contained in, a commercial motor vehicle.

Underglow & Auxiliary Lighting

Florida is one of the states that says yes to underbody lighting in so many words. Fla. Stat. § 316.235(3) provides that any motor vehicle may be equipped with one or more lamps or devices underneath the vehicle, and then attaches three conditions by cross-reference. Those conditions are the real rule: § 316.2397(1) forbids any lamp showing red, red and white, or blue visible from directly in front, § 316.2397(7) bans flashing lights outside a short list of turn, hazard and low-visibility uses, and § 316.238 requires you to dim within 500 feet of an oncoming vehicle. Blue is reserved statewide to police, certain heavy government fire vehicles and corrections vehicles on emergency calls.

Washington splits its extra-lighting rules between the statute and the State Patrol's rules, and the part most drivers care about lives in the rules. RCW 46.37.180 allows up to two spot lamps, two fog lamps, two auxiliary passing lamps and two auxiliary driving lamps, each with its own mounting height, while WAC 204-21-230 bans aftermarket neon lighting devices on a vehicle in motion on a public roadway and reserves red, blue, flashing white and green lamps to named classes of vehicle. The same rule contains Washington's distinctive escape hatch: a vehicle that is not in motion and is parked on private property may use aftermarket lighting. Violating a State Patrol lighting rule is a traffic infraction under RCW 46.37.010(2).

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).

Washington lets you tint every window except the windshield down to 24 percent light transmission, with outward reflectance capped at 35 percent, but RCW 46.37.430(5)(a) measures that as net film screening, meaning the aftermarket film plus whatever tint the manufacturer already built into the glass. Only one sheet of film per window is allowed, and mirror finish, red, gold, yellow and black films are banned outright. The windshield takes only a transparent strip along the top edge that stops at the AS-1 line or six inches down, whichever comes first. Because Washington runs no periodic safety inspection for private cars, the rule is enforced entirely at the roadside, and the shop that installed the film faces a criminal charge while the driver faces an infraction.