With one signature by Gov. Ron DeSantis, visitors to Florida will no longer have to worry about potential trespassing charges for walking on the beach.

The governor signed Senate Bill 1622 on Tuesday, which overrides a 2018 law that limited public access to privately-owned beaches and prohibited counties from passage of “customary use” ordinances that allowed beach access.

The measure also streamlines beach restoration efforts.

“By repealing the law, we return the authority back to local communities,” DeSantis said at a signing ceremony in Santa Rosa Beach. “Cities and counties can now adopt ordinances recognizing recreational customary use, walking, fishing, sunbathing, swimming, without having to obtain a judicial declaration. This bill is about restoring local control, cutting legal red tape and putting our residents first, but it goes even further to strengthen our coastal communities.”

The 2018 law came about after property owners sued Walton County and its commission over its “customary use” ordinance passed in 2016 that said “the public’s long-standing customary use of the dry sand areas of all of the beaches in the county for recreational purposes is hereby protected.”

This sand area extended from the toe of sand dunes to the high-water line.

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