Florida lawmakers pass $115B budget, ending weeks-long standoff

Yahoo

24-06-2025

Two weeks away from a state government shutdown, and 45 days past their original deadline, Florida lawmakers finally passed a budget for 2025-26 late in the evening of June 16.
The $115.1 billion spending plan is $3 billion less than the current year, ending an extended stalemate between the House and Senate over tax cuts.
Senate budget chief Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, admitted there were 'shouting matches' and 'finger pointing' in the deadlock over the budget between the chambers.
But 'nobody on either side can claim 'we won,' because I hope the state of Florida won,' he said ahead of the vote.
On the main budget bill (SB 2500), the Senate approved it unanimously and the House voted 103-2, with only Reps. Dotie Joseph, D-North Miami, and Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, voting against it.
Despite the overwhelming support for the main appropriations bill, Democrats expressed frustration and disappointment with other bills to put parts of it into effect.
They took issue with provisions to allow Gov. Ron DeSantis' office to probe spending by local governments, to allow charter school operators to set up shop within an existing public school and to reverse a decision made last year to dedicate funding from the Seminole Gaming Compact to environmental and land conservation programs.
Rep. Robin Bartleman, D-Weston, took particular issue with the charter school provision, known as Schools of Hope, in SB 2510. A similar bill failed to pass during the regular session, but the provision popped up in what's known as a budget conforming bill negotiated between the chambers.
The bill 'got debated in the Senate and that bill did not cross the threshold,' Bartleman said. 'Why are you messing with schools that are working? This is a sin.'
The bill passed along partisan lines, 80-24 in the House and 25-9 in the Senate.
During the regular session that was supposed to end May 2, House and Senate leaders reached an impasse over tax cuts. House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, preferred to cut the state sales tax from 6% to 5.25%, while Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, feared such a large cut would jeopardize funding for vital services in future years.
DeSantis, too, threatened to veto a sales tax cut when Albritton and Perez reached an initial deal for a smaller sales tax cut, fretting it would threaten his push for large property tax cuts.
The tax cut bill (HB 7031) doesn't have an overall sales tax cut or a property tax cut, but includes the elimination of the tax businesses pay on rents and targeted exemptions of sales tax for certain items. The bill will cost state coffers $1.3 billion, with $904 million of it coming from the business rent tax elimination.
Republican legislative leaders defended their work as providing a balanced budget – something required by the state constitution – while giving tax breaks to help families and businesses.
"Florida Senate Republicans recognize that it is hardworking families and business owners, not the government, who create jobs and build thriving communities throughout our state,' Senate Republican Leader Jim Boyd of Sarasota said in a statement.
'We are always mindful that every dollar state government spends comes from a family or business that earned it. Our constituents are counting on us to invest their tax dollars wisely, with a focus on the long-term financial stability of our state.'
The budget – which goes into effect July 1 – now heads to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who didn't attend the traditional 'hanky drop' ceremony at the end of session because he is on a trade mission in France. The governor must sign the budget into law like any other bill, but has line-item veto authority for it, and may well excise a fair amount of spending.
If you can't read the budget bill posted above, click here.
Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at [e-mail]. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: $115B state budget clears Legislature 45 days past original deadline