TALHASSEE – The interim budget deal made by Florida legislative leaders last week is “exploding,” according to a memo from House Speaker Daniel Perez.
Florida’s 2025 session is already overtime. Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton were unable to agree to the budget, which is the only necessary obligation that Congress must complete.
The collapse of leadership transactions within the budgetary framework means legislative sessions will be pushed even longer. On Friday, the final date of the session, lawmakers approved a resolution extending the session until June 6th.
Now, the house plans to extend the session “until the end of June,” Perez said in his note. However, the Senate is planning to expand it further if it becomes necessary, according to a spokesman.
For lawmakers to pass the budget on time, they must complete it by June 27th and vote by June 30th. State law requires a 72-hour public review period before the final passage of the budget.
The latest budget update comes after Gov. Ron Desantis rejected the House plan for the sales tax cuts, announcing that “Florida’s final tax package will die upon arrival.” The governor who has let go of the house leader for recent months has said that sales tax cuts will benefit out-of-state tourists than Floridians.
DeSantis also framed the sales tax cuts as contradicting plans to cut property taxes.
Perez defended the sales tax cuts, but Albritton hesitated more.
Last week, Albritton said “as part of an agreement with the House.” The Senate said it will take up a tax relief package that includes a $2.8 billion cut.
Perez said $2.5 billion was a repeated cut, of which $1.6 billion would be in sales tax. “It’s better to do the right thing than to do quickly,” Perez, who released a summary of last week’s deal.
In his memo Friday, Perez expressed his disappointment that Albritton “will no longer bring the House historic tax proposal to the Senators.”
“This blows up the budget trading framework we negotiated, as we are sure you can be grateful,” Perez said in a memo.
Albritton sent a note to the senator on Friday, saying DeSantis said the full sales tax cut was “dead on arrival.”
Albritton said senators are also concerned about the cuts.
Albritton’s notes did not directly say he had returned to the framework he agreed with House leaders.
But he said he wanted a tax package that was “long-term sustainable and leaves room for voters in a balanced budget to consider meaningful property tax relief.”
Changes to Florida’s property taxes must be approved by at least 60% of voters in future elections. Lawmakers have the ability to propose proposed amendments to the vote so that people can vote, but this year they did not pass proposals to do so.
Perez set up a special committee to consider property tax proposals for the 2026 election, saying DeSantis’s office is not offering any specific plans.
However, DeSantis dismissed the effort, saying, “I will not convene a committee of 37 when I am trying to accomplish something.”
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau Reporter Ana Ceballos contributed to this report.
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