In Re: Amendments to Rules Regulating the Florida Bar - Rule 5-1.1

── In Re: Amendments to Rules Regulating the Florida Bar - Rule 5-1.1 ── Court: Supreme Court of Florida Date: June 04, 2026 Category: General Supreme Court of Florida ____________ No. SC2025-1730 ____________ IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO RULES REGULATING THE FLORIDA BAR – RULE 5-1.1. June 4, 2026 PER CURIAM. The Florida Bar petitions this Court to amend Rule Regulating The Florida Bar 5-1.1 (Trust Accounts). 1 The proposed amendments change the minimum interest rate in rule 5-1.1(g)(5) (Eligible Institution Participation in IOTA)2 that banks and other financial institutions participating in the Interest on Trust Account (IOTA) program must pay on deposited funds. With this change, the interest rate provision in the rule would match recently enacted 1. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 15, Fla. Const.; see also R. Regulating Fla. Bar 1-12.1. 2. This Court first adopted a voluntary IOTA program in 1978, and then made participation mandatory for Bar members in 1989. See In re Int. on Tr. Accts., 538 So. 2d 448 (Fla. 1989). Since 1990, the IOTA program rule has included a provision governing interest rates. See R. Regulating Fla. Bar 5-1.1(d)(4) (1990). legislation on the same subject, see Fla. HB 893 (2026). The Florida Bar’s Board of Governors approved the proposed amendments in concept by a voice vote on September 19, 2025, and the Board of Governors’ Executive Committee later unanimously approved the text of the proposed amendments. 3 Consistent with rule 1-12.1(g), the Bar published formal notice of its intent to file the proposed amendments on its website and in The Florida Bar News. The notice directed interested parties to file comments directly with the Court. No comments were received. The Court, having considered the petition, hereby amends rule 5-1.1 as proposed by the Bar. Under the amended rule, banks and financial institutions participating in the IOTA program must “pay, net of all fees and charges assessed by the eligible financial institution, the Wall Street Journal Prime Rate in effect on the first business day of each month less 300 basis points (3.00%) with a floor of 0.25% and a ceiling of 1.50%.” Rule Regulating The Florida Bar 5-1.1 is amended as set forth 3. To the extent the Bar did not follow the procedures in rule 1-12.1 in proposing these amendments, we waive the requirements of that rule. See R. Regulating Fla. Bar 1-12.1(i). -2- in the appendix to this opinion. Deletions are indicated by struck- through type, and new language is indicated by underscoring. The amendments shall become effective June 30, 2026, at 12:01 a.m. It is so ordered. MUÑIZ, C.J., and LABARGA, COURIEL, GROSSHANS, FRANCIS, and SASSO, JJ., concur. TANENBAUM, J., dissents with an opinion. THE FILING OF A MOTION FOR REHEARING SHALL NOT ALTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THESE AMENDMENTS. TANENBAUM, J., dissenting. This rule—both the proposed new text and the text it replaces—far exceeds the limited scope of this court’s regulatory and rule-making authority under the Florida Constitution. The only regulatory authority this court has concerns the “admission” and “discipline” of lawyers. Art. V, § 15, Fla. Const. The only administrative rule-making authority the court has pertains to the “practice and procedure in” and “the administrative supervision of all courts.” Art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const. Yet, through the rule being amended, the court continues its attempt to regulate the interest the banks pay on money deposited with them as part of its interest- skimming Interest on Trust Accounts (“IOTA”) program. While the -3- rule characterizes financial institutions’ participation in the IOTA program as “voluntary,” it still mandates those participating institutions pay a rate meeting court-set parameters. One still must ask, though: “Or else what?” The court of course is free to require lawyers un