---
type: "Bill"
title: "Motor Vehicle Dealers"
description: "Motor Vehicle Dealers; Revises definition of \"rental company\" to exclude certain motor vehicle dealers, for purpose of determining minimum insurance coverage requirements; provides specified motor vehicle dealers & affiliates are immune to causes of action & not vicariously or directly liable for harm to persons or property under certain circumstances; provides specified motor vehicle dealers & affiliates are not adjudged liable in civil proceedings or guilty in criminal proceedings under certain circumstances."
jurisdiction: "us/states/fl"
legislature: "Florida Legislature"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 977"
citation: "Florida HB 977 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
chapter_law: "2020-108"
primary_sponsors: ["Rommel"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 39
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-12-17"
last_action: "2020-06-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5109b794-4ca2-44e4-9041-9d84a2dbd71e"
source_url: "http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/977/ByCategory"
source_hash: "c22e7dea0023111a7ff7fe354ce0b6c97881e704d536291cac3f1a6a732ef3ad"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-fl"]
---

# Florida HB 977 (2020) — Motor Vehicle Dealers

Motor Vehicle Dealers; Revises definition of "rental company" to exclude certain motor vehicle dealers, for purpose of determining minimum insurance coverage requirements; provides specified motor vehicle dealers & affiliates are immune to causes of action & not vicariously or directly liable for harm to persons or property under certain circumstances; provides specified motor vehicle dealers & affiliates are not adjudged liable in civil proceedings or guilty in criminal proceedings under certain circumstances.

**Enacted** — Laws of Florida, Chapter 2020-108.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **H 977 Filed** (filed) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/977/BillText/Filed/PDF)
2. **H 977 c1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/977/BillText/c1/PDF)
3. **H 977 c2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/977/BillText/c2/PDF)
4. **H 977 e1** (engrossed) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/977/BillText/e1/PDF)
5. **H 977 er** (enrolled) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/977/BillText/er/PDF)

## Votes

- Passage, Third Reading — **117–0** (pass) · lower
- Favorable With Committee Substitute (Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee) — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- Passage — **111–0** (pass) · lower
- Favorable (Judiciary Committee) — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Favorable With Committee Substitute (State Affairs Committee) — **23–0** (pass) · lower
- Third Reading — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Rommel — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-12-17** Filed `filing`
- **2020-01-03** Referred to Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee; Judiciary Committee; State Affairs Committee `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-14** Introduced `introduction`
- **2020-01-31** On Committee agenda-- Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, 02/04/20, 12:00 pm, Reed Hall
- **2020-02-04** CS by Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee; YEAS 11 NAYS 0
- **2020-02-05** Pending review of CS under Rule 7.18(c)
- **2020-02-05** CS by Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee read 1st time
- **2020-02-06** Now in Judiciary Committee
- **2020-02-10** On Committee agenda-- Judiciary Committee, 02/12/20, 10:00 am, Sumner Hall
- **2020-02-12** Favorable by Judiciary Committee; YEAS 16 NAYS 0 `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-02-12** Now in State Affairs Committee
- **2020-02-25** On Committee agenda-- State Affairs Committee, 02/27/20, 8:00 am, Morris Hall
- **2020-02-27** CS/CS by- State Affairs Committee; YEAS 23 NAYS 0
- **2020-02-28** Pending review of CS -under Rule 7.18(c)
- **2020-02-28** CS/CS by State Affairs Committee read 1st time
- **2020-03-02** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-03-03** Placed on Special Order Calendar, 03/06/20
- **2020-03-06** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2020-03-06** Placed on 3rd reading
- **2020-03-09** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-09** CS passed; YEAS 117 NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2020-03-09** In Messages
- **2020-03-09** Referred to Infrastructure and Security; Judiciary; Rules `referral-committee`
- **2020-03-09** Received
- **2020-03-10** Withdrawn from Infrastructure and Security; Judiciary; Rules `withdrawal`
- **2020-03-10** Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading
- **2020-03-10** Substituted for CS/SB 1738
- **2020-03-10** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2020-03-10** Placed on 3rd reading
- **2020-03-13** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-13** Amendment(s) adopted (717452)
- **2020-03-13** CS passed as amended; YEAS 39 NAYS 0 -SJ 857, 858 `passage`
- **2020-03-13** In returning messages
- **2020-03-13** Concurred in 1 amendment(s) (717452) -HJ 1222, 1223
- **2020-03-13** CS passed as amended; YEAS 111 NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2020-03-13** Ordered engrossed, then enrolled
- **2020-06-17** Signed by Officers and presented to Governor
- **2020-06-27** Approved by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2020-06-29** Chapter No. 2020-108

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5109b794-4ca2-44e4-9041-9d84a2dbd71e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Florida legislature records).