31-05-2025
‘Where's the budget?' Floridians grow impatient over state budget battle
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — As Florida eyes the skies for hurricane season, there's another storm brewing over at the statehouse, Lawmakers have yet to hammer out a budget plan and the clock is ticking.
State senators and representatives have been back home in their districts for about a month now, and their constituents have one big question: where's the state budget?
DUI driver who killed Lake Placid teen drove 5x the legal limit
'They're wondering when we're going to complete the budget; there's, there's a lot of that more than I anticipated,' said State Senator Nick DiCeglie, R-Indian Rocks Beach.
With weeks to go before the new fiscal year kicks off, 8 On Your Side spoke to several local leaders in the bay area to get to the bottom of the budget battle.
'What I assured them is a number of things, #1 is that there will be a state budget,' said State Representative Berny Jacques, R-Seminole. 'There will be no state government shutdown. They can take that to the bank. Secondly, I make sure that they know that we are going to cut wasteful spending in state government. That's not negotiable. There will be cuts to wasteful spending. And third, I let them know that the key functions of government will be funded everything from public safety to education. Those things will be funded in an adequate and a strong manner.'
'I do anticipate us getting this budget done by June 30,' said Senator DiCeglie, R-Indian Rocks Beach. 'We will eventually get our heads together and hash this out, come to an agreement, and pass a budget that I think all of us would be very proud of.'
'The work is still ongoing,' said State Representative Adam Anderson, R-Palm Harbor. 'We still need to get our budget done, it's the one thing that we're constitutionally required to do when the legislature meets and we're still working on that. It's a process that involves a little bit of a shift from where we've been in the past.'
So, what's the hold up? According to lawmakers, it's the tax reform package.'We're trying to decide, you know, the tax package,' DiCeglie said. 'There are sales tax elements to it. We've got sales tax holidays that are element.'
DiCeglie said they want to tackle this issue carefully and make sure that two, three years down the road, they aren't putting future legislatures in a position to have to raise taxes.
House members agree, hoping this time around they can shift the narrative of past sessions, saying it's not just about the year ahead.'Whenever we go through a change from what the status quo is, you know, sometimes it could look a little bit messy from the outside, but everyone's on the same page to be able to get to the arrival point,' Anderson said. 'There might be a little difference of opinion of how we get there, but those things are getting flushed out and the conversations are ongoing.'
The governor continues to flag major issues with budget delays, saying budget delays are already affecting Floridians back home from getting sales tax relief — like his 2nd Amendment tax holiday, a hurricane preparation sales holiday, and a boater fuel sales tax.'You only have one job, one real job in the legislature, and that's to do the appropriations and the budget,' DeSantis members extended the budget deadline until June 6, which is only one week away.
So, can they pass a budget before then? Some lawmakers are not too hopeful, waiting for the governor to step in.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
