(a) The electors of evey county and municipality reserve the right to limit housing growth by initiative and referendum without legislative inhibition or penalty. This right is further reserved on a countywide basis whereby electors throughout a county may elect to limit housing growth uniformly in all local governments and any part of such, within such county by initiative and referendum.

(b) Privately owned residential housing growth in the counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Orange, Pinellas, Duval, Alachua, Lee, Polk, Brevard, Volusia, Pasco, Seminole, Sarasota, Marion, Collier, Manatee, Lake, Escambia, Saint Lucie, Martin, Okeechobee, Highlands, Hardee, DeSoto, Charlotte, Leon, Glades, Hendry, Sumter, Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, and Monroe, including all local governments in such counties, shall not exceed one percent (1%) annually for the years 2020 and 2021. In said counties, each local government and any part of such shall allot building permits so that housing growth does not exceed a one percent (1%) annual growth rate in the total number of housing units in each said year. Beginning 2022, such growth limitations may be amended or repealed by initiative and referendum or otherwise shall remain in effect.

(c) No permits to build new privately owned residential housing units shall be issued in said counties including all local governments contained within or any part of such said counties beginning with the declaration of voter approval of this section until January 1, 2020.

(d)(1) Signature requirements for initiative and referendum for enacting, repealing, or amending, proposals to regulate the growth of privately owned residential housing for local governments shall be five percent (5%) of the total number of voters participating in the most recent general election in such local government. Such proposals on a countywide basis shall include the summation of such requirement from each local government within such county.

(2) Petitions for countywide proposals shall be issued by the respective clerk of the courts for all local governments within such county with stated minimum signature requirements for each such entity.

(3) Only one challenge for the form and content of a petition shall be allowed and must be filed within ten (10) business days following approval by the clerk of a local government or by the clerk of the courts in the case of countywide petitions and before signature gathering commences. An expedited judicial decision for such a challenge shall be final.

(4) Only one challenge for signature sufficiency shall be allowed and must be filed within ten (10) business days of the clerk's certification of signature sufficiency and after allowing for additional needed signatures. Recertification shall not exceed two weeks and shall be final.

(e) If any provision of this section is held invalid, the remainder of this section shall remain unimpaired.

(f) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) "annual growth" means that which occurs in a particular calendar year measured in the total number of housing units above that for the previous year.

(2) "housing unit" means a building or any portion of a building designed for occupancy as complete, independent living quarters for one or more persons, having direct access from the outside of the building or through a common hall and having living, sleeping, kitchen, and sanitary facilities for the exclusive use of the occupants. A detached home has one housing unit whereas an apartment building with eighty apartments has eighty housing units.

(3) "local government" means a city, town, or municipality.

(4) "privately owned residential housing" means a summation of housing units which are residentially zoned or otherwise intended for private residential use. Those owned by a federal, state, Native American, or local government entity, or an educational, medical, or penal facility are excluded as are commercially zoned accommodations such as hotels and motels.