They had 60 days to pass a budget. They failed. Now the Florida Legislature will have to return to Tallahassee

Yahoo

03-05-2025

TALLAHASSEE — They had one job.
The Florida Legislature had 60 days to pass a balanced budget – the only job the state constitution requires of them. And they couldn't do it.
The combative tone among legislative leaders and Gov. Ron DeSantis was foreshadowed by a bitter battle in February over immigration that took three special sessions to pass into law.
The regular session started out in March as one of mutual cooperation between the Senate and House leaders as they asserted their independence from DeSantis – all Republicans – and set their own agendas. That spirit of cooperation turned into one of mutually assured destruction in the final days as they clashed over their different policy and fiscal priorities.
That failure to resolve crucial differences leaves important matters up in the air, including how much the state should spend on public schools and health care, immigration and highway construction, and whether Florida residents can expect a tax cut or rebate.
And it will to force them to come back to Tallahassee later this month to finish crafting a budget and get it approved before the next fiscal year begins July 1. In the waning hours of the regular session that ended Friday, House and Senate leaders said the Legislature would return May 12 and work through June 6 to finalize a budget as well as the Senate President's signature rural renaissance bill.
They also announced they have come up with a framework for the state budget that would provide $2.8 billion in tax cuts, including a permanent $1.6 billion reduction in the sales tax.
The state hasn't seen such a legislative logjam in a decade, said Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political science professor. He saw a parallel between the current mess and the 2015 budget standoff over Medicaid expansion that prompted then-Speaker Steve Crisafulli of Merritt Island to adjourn the House without warning days before session was scheduled to end.
There are several factors at play this year, Jewett said, but the underlying driver is that for the first time in six years the Legislature is 'acting as an independent branch of government as a check and balance on the governor's office,' Jewett said.
'When the legislative branch was under the control of Gov. DeSantis, they did get a lot more done,' Jewett said. 'This is a more messy democracy, with three powerful personalities. But all are broadly on the same page. They are all conservative Republicans who are all talking about cutting taxes.'
Several issues have driven a wedge between the House and Senate. The House gutted one of Senate President Ben Albritton's centerpiece bills, the Rural Renaissance Act, and the Senate balked at reinstating lawyers fees that were eliminated two years ago as part of a tort reform bill to bring down insurance costs.
The Legislature was also distracted by a month-long investigation into First Lady Casey DeSantis' passion project, Hope Florida, and its support charity.
But the biggest driver of this session's discontent has been over the budget and taxes, Jewett said.
DeSantis has called for the elimination of property taxes, which would require putting a constitutional amendment before voters in November of 2026. Economists say the drawback to that idea is that property taxes provide the primary fuel for city, county and school board budgets and would require raising sales taxes to replace billions of dollars in lost revenue, or cutting deeply into some of the government services that residents most value — like schools, city streets and flood control.
House Speaker Daniel Perez of Miami announced a bold and ambitious plan to permanently roll back the state sales tax rate from 6% to 5.25%, which would cost the state $5 billion in revenue. To cover that gap, Perez encouraged House members to dig deep, scrutinize agency budgets and trim waste to make up for that revenue loss. The result was a $112.95 billion budget, billions less than the Senate proposed to spend.
Albritton said such a drastic permanent cut could destabilize the state economy, suggesting instead a more gradual reduction in the tax rate over several years. He also offered a tax package in the Senate's proposed $117.35 billion budget that includes redoing several popular sales tax holidays and creating a permanent sales tax on clothing that cost $75 or less.
Albritton said he agreed property tax reform would be something worth looking into, while Perez created a select committee to spend the next several months studying the options and coming up with one or more proposals to recommend to the Legislature next session.
'The governor is a lame duck, and can't exert pressure like he used to,' Jewett said. 'The House and Senate can't agree and the House is determined to see a permanent change in the sales tax rate as opposed to just spending $4 billion less.'
If they were just negotiating a dollar amount, he said, both sides would have more room to negotiate and maybe even meet in the middle. 'Even if it passes, it will be interesting to see what DeSantis does, because they are not following his blueprint,' Jewett said.
But Perez hasn't budged on his sales tax cut, despite several counter-offers from the Senate.
With legislators unable to reach an agreement on spending and taxes, cracks started to show in the veneer of politeness, as the House and Senate accused each other of holding things up and DeSantis sided with the Senate.
Tempers flared in the middle of the last week of session when the House deleted part of a bill that would have created an addiction recovery center at the Florida Institute of Mental Health and named it after Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg.
Republican and Democrat lawmakers protested the deletion of Rouson's name, while Rouson demurred and said the work was more important than whose name was on the center.
'I'm just really glad that in a year and a half we will have another speaker that will support naming the program after you,' said Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, a Naples Republican and Albritton's predecessor as Senate President.
'Maybe this will be some indication why on Day 58 of this Session, we don't have a budget agreement,' said Senate Appropriations Chair Ed Hooper, R- Palm City. 'This is what we deal with. We will make it right, or else.'
Perez bristled at Hooper's comments, saying it was beneath the dignity of the Senate. He said he was willing to work with the Senate to honor Rouson, but he saw the effort to name the center after him 'as a means of emotionally blackmailing the House into doing what they want.'
DeSantis, who has been especially miffed at Perez after the speaker's sharp comments on Hope Florida, said on X the House's decision on the Rouson center was just typical behavior for what he called the 'least productive' chamber in decades.
'The Florida House of Pettiness in all its glory,' he wrote.