TALHASSEE — After weeks of foreclosure and stagnant negotiations, Florida legislative leaders announced their slim budget for next year on Friday.
The $115.1 billion spending plan is to limit what lawmakers say is a trend towards running out of control in Tallahassee and a trend against uncertainty about federal funds from Washington.
Lawmakers have cut more than 1,700 vacancies across the state government, hiding millions of dollars for the state’s rainy day fund, but they’re still funding millions of dollars’ priority projects.
“I thought this day would never come, but it was,” Senate Budget Chairman Ed Hooper said Friday.
Lawmakers are scheduled to vote for the budget Monday evening, finishing one of the most controversial legislative sessions in recent memory, setting up a potential clash with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Unlike a typical year when lawmakers create budgets within Florida’s usual 60-day sessions, lawmakers took 102 days to put together the final product.
That’s because lawmakers had been rebutting DeSantis since January, and he called lawmakers for special sessions to deal with immigration without clear goals or proposed laws.
Three special sessions ate important times that were used to work on a budget.
“There was a major factor that made one of the rooms out of control,” said House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Lawrence McClure.
DeSantis, who was ruthless by cutting down lawmakers’ projects in the Happy Times, is issuing a veto until the end of this month. Earlier this year, in a feud with DeSantis, the house overturned some of his budget vetoes last year. The Senate wasn’t.
Lawmakers didn’t give DeSantis everything in the amount he wanted (including money for his preferred Florida program), but they still gave him millions for the Florida State Guard and the Florida Employment Growth Grant Fund, millions remained at First Lady Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Fund.
The idea that “governor’s priorities are funded at a lower rate” is wrong, McClure said.
He said overall spending was low overall.
Less spending, perhaps less federal help
Since Desantis took office in 2019, Florida’s budget has grown by more than 26%. Budget growth has led to population growth, often outperforming inflation.
House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, called for a more lean budget this year, saying state spending was swollen and violated conservative values.
“We are spending all new and extended amounts of repetitive revenue, congratulating us on giving us a free and non-recurring sales tax leave,” Perez said on the first day of the session in March.
McClure has denounced too many federal funds over the past few years for Florida’s “unsustainable” spending habits.
About a third of the state’s budget is federal money. But lawmakers are now facing a potentially sudden reversal from the federal government.
Under Congress, which is managed by President Donald Trump and a Republican, federal lawmakers were able to pass massive cuts to Medicaid, food aid and other social programs. There is also discussion about the end of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Senate Speaker Ben Albritton said Florida believes it cannot avoid some of the burden if the federal government cuts costs.
State lawmakers are also preparing for a potential recession, snatching at least $750 million in the state’s rainy day fund and suggesting that annual funds be permanent through constitutional reforms next year.
The fund was last used during the Great Recession, urging lawmakers at the time to consider raising taxes.
“I never want a future Congress to have to be in that position,” Perez said.
However, some Democrats have raised concerns about this year’s budget bringing together state hands.
“I think the nation should actually be prepared to help people carry through those tough times, not looking for a way to cut funds,” said House Democrat leader Fentris Driskel.
Cut your budget
This year, House members have been particularly interested in DeSantis’ spending habits and governance, focusing on thousands of vacant seats across state institutions.
To make the budget slimmer, they are cutting down many positions next year. This includes more than 1,000 people from Florida healthcare institutions, including Florida’s Department of Health and the Department of Health.
Lawmakers have also set aside less than usual amounts to procure teachers and school employees. That’s about $100 million instead of about $250 million instead of the previous year.
It also doesn’t fund $2 million for Desantis’ Hope Florida program, which is supposed to lead troubled constituencies from state services to local churches and nonprofits.
DeSantis has infuriated them at this year’s newspaper conference and online video.
But he still gets a lot of what he requested. For Florida’s Employment Growth Grant Fund, lawmakers secured $50 million, $25 million less than he hoped. The First Lady-backed state cancer grant fund won $60 million.
And Congress put more than $500 million in a comprehensive Everglades restoration plan, but withheld what DeSantis wanted for over $600 million.
Some ideas for the budget appeared on the last day of negotiations. This includes $3 million in funding to grant grants to local prisons that contract with US immigration and customs enforcement agencies for immigration enforcement.
The Florida Senate also put aside $23 million to fund the Florida National Guard. This is used by DeSantis as a tool for immigration enforcement and deportation planning.
However, Hooper’s R-Clearwater said the funds have more to do with the possibility of FEMA disbanding than it relates to immigration enforcement.
Together, both chambers supported over $100 million to increase the reimbursement rates for nursing homes.
About $28 million adds to about $104 million for his other priorities towards Albritton’s prioritized farmer food sharing program.
There is no property tax
This year lawmakers are cutting taxes, but are primarily aimed at businesses.
Legislative leaders are eliminating business rent taxes and saving about $900 million a year to businesses across the state. DeSantis also suggested that he eliminate it in his budget.
However, they have not taken steps to reduce property taxes. And the House’s plan for reducing sales has been reduced to a limited sales tax reduction plan, which includes making the sales tax holiday, which is back in August each year, a permanent event, and permanently exempts tax on some items such as sunscreen and life jackets.
Lawmakers initially charged a tax package saying it was intended to benefit Florida families, but the final package exempts or reduces taxes such as NASCAR tickets, card rooms and slot machines licensing fees.
The final tax bill sets out $1 million for Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Demographic Research to conduct a state property tax investigation.
Desantis has proposed reducing or eliminating property taxes, which will allow local governments to leave important sources of income. However, he did not suggest any concrete ideas on how to do it.
In March, the governor proposed a temporary plan to use $5 billion to provide people with $1,000 homestead property tax refunds. But neither the House nor the Senate took up the idea.
A month after the legislative meeting, Perez made the shocking announcement that the House wanted to cut the state’s sales tax from 6% to 5.25%. It’s the largest state tax cut in Florida’s history, which would save Floridians nearly $5 billion a year.
But the Senate will not go along with plans. When asked why lawmakers decided to give businesses the biggest tax cuts this year, Perez said the ultimate goal was to cut the amount lawmakers could spend.
“We’ve gotten used to spending repeated dollars,” Perez said.
Times reporter Jeffrey S. Solochek contributed to this report.
