2 days ago
Lawmakers seal lean budget deal, aim for June 16 final vote
State lawmakers finally put the finishing touches on a drawn-out budget negotiation this year, agreeing to nearly $560 million in funding for projects and sealing deals on environmental and higher education funding.
The move sets up a vote on the 2025-26 budget – delayed for more than a month over a standoff between House and Senate leaders over tax cuts – for June 16. Florida's constitution requires a 72-hour 'cooling off' period once the budget is made public before legislators can vote on it.
A price tag for the total budget wasn't available the afternoon of June 13, but House budget chief Lawrence McClure, R-Dover, said it would be less than Gov. Ron DeSantis' proposal of $115.6 billion. The current year's budget is $118.6 billion.
'Choices have to be made, right? And we all come from different corners of this state with different experiences and different situations so that conversation took a little bit longer than expected,' McClure told reporters.
'Hopefully next year's legislature and future legislatures will be the beneficiaries, where otherwise they would have been making equally if not more difficult decisions than we did this year,' he added.
The cuts include eliminating more than 1,000 vacant positions throughout the state government and setting aside $750 million per year into a key reserve fund.
Not every portion of the budget, though, will see cuts. State workers will receive an across-the-board raise of 2%, and teachers and law enforcement will receive targeted raises, as will judges, state attorneys and public defenders.
As part of the last-minute deals, lawmakers agreed to $560 million in special projects in what have come to be known as "sprinkle lists," a nickname from the idea that lawmakers are "sprinkling" extra money across the state.
That includes $136.9 million to boost nursing home reimbursement rates, $23 million in operational funds for the Florida State Guard, $10 million for a cancer research fund supported by First Lady Casey DeSantis and $1.8 million for the Mary Brogan Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program.
Senate budget chief Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, said with President Donald Trump and other top federal officials talking about phasing out the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it was important to provide funding for the Florida State Guard to help state residents recover from future hurricanes.
'We heard yesterday from our friends in Washington after this hurricane season there may be no more FEMA. We may be on our own some day and that would not be the time to start thinking, 'Should we plan ahead?' ' Hooper said. 'The State Guard's an important part of making sure we have the resources.'
Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, has said he wanted to cut expenses, concerned about a projected $7 billion shortfall in two years if current spending trends continued. But he clashed with Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, about how to do it.
Perez's main priority was cutting the state sales tax from 6% to 5.25%, costing state coffers about $5 billion per year. Albritton initially refused to go along, concerned such a big cut would hamper the ability to fund vital programs for a growing state.
The dispute pushed the budget negotiations past the original May 2 end date for the regular session. Then a 'framework' agreed to by Albritton and Perez to cut the sales tax to 5.75% was scuttled by DeSantis, who vowed to veto any tax cut plan that included an overall sales tax reduction. He was concerned such a move would crowd out his push for a property tax cut on the 2026 statewide ballot.
When House and Senate negotiators went back to the drawing board, another framework for a tax cut deal emerged, with $1.6 billion in cuts. Those details still need to be worked out, but Hooper and McClure said they'd meet again to hash out a deal on the tax bill.
Before the latest agreement, lawmakers knew they were pressed for time to pass a spending plan. The fiscal year ends June 30, and if a budget isn't in place by then, parts of state government may need to shut down.
'We knew that we had to come here to get where we are today because, come July 1, nobody wanted a government shutdown. Nobody wanted employees to be without a paycheck,' Hooper said.
Lawmakers are poised to vote on the budget the evening of June 16. DeSantis, who has line-item veto authority, must still sign it into law by June 30. Given the fights with the Legislature, he could wield a heavy veto pen when he does.
This is a developing news story and will be updated. Check back later for more.
Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@ Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida lawmakers cut state budget deal, sets up June 16 vote
