Gray Rohrer
Florida lawmakers now have two extra days to wrap up budget negotiations, almost an eternity during the usual frantic last-minute crush of Session. Several key areas were sticking points as lawmakers tried to bring the 2022 budget — and the Legislative Session — in for a landing.
Legislative leaders late Tuesday announced they would not finish a new state budget in time to meet the state’s 72-hour mandatory “cooling off” period that requires the budget to be available to legislators and the public for three days prior to a final vote.
Senate President Wilton Simpson then announced on Wednesday the plan is to vote next Monday — which breathed more time into the last rounds of negotiations.
Legislators already have struck deals on dozens of items. That includes pay raises for state workers, the amount of money going to Florida’s tourism marketing agency, VISIT FLORIDA, and a pledge of recurring money for Moffitt Cancer Center’s planned Pasco County expansion.
But here’s a look at some notable items that held up the vote and led to a short delay to the end of Session.
— Simpson’s water bill: A bill making changes to state water management laws, land conservation programs and permitting processes (SB 2508) is at the heart of the dispute between the chambers. A top priority for Simpson, it’s a conforming bill that must pass along with the budget, and contains several items that must be included in the final budget.
There are $320 million in Everglades restoration and land conservation funds tied to the outcome of negotiations over the bill. The underlying bill requires the South Florida Water Management District to abide by current laws and rules when distributing water from Lake Okeechobee, allows the Rural and Family Lands program to purchase more than just land easements, and relaxes permitting rules.
The measure drew criticism from DeSantis when it was released, in part because it diverted funding from a key Everglades reservoir. The Senate later amended the bill.
— Tax package: The annual tax package from the Legislature was formally included as part of the budget talks on Tuesday. The House passed HB 7071 earlier in the Session, which includes several sales tax holidays for back-to-school items, hurricane preparedness items, tools for skilled workers and tickets to cultural events. There’s also a one-year sales tax break on diapers and infants’ and toddlers’ clothing.
— Federal COVID-19 stimulus money: Both chambers stuttered on how to spend about $3.5 billion in federal COVID-19 stimulus funds. The money wasn’t included in the House or Senate’s initial budgets. The funding has some guidelines from the federal government on how it can be spent, and the money was seen as a potential way to help paper over differences in funding priorities between the chambers.
— Workforce education grants: One of the top priorities of House Speaker Chris Sprowls has been workforce development grants. Five grants in the higher education budget totaling $135 million were agreed to by the Senate early on in negotiations, but the funding pot was reopened in the last public meeting between the Appropriations Committee chairs.
There is $35 million for state universities and colleges in the Open Door Grant Program, set up last year to help students complete career and technical education programs by covering tuition, fees, books and testing costs. Another $100 million aimed at boosting nursing education was included in the latest House budget offer but found resistance in the Senate.
— Sprinkle list: One of the penultimate moments of the budget process is the so-called “sprinkle list.” That’s legislative parlance for a list of stand-alone appropriations that, during the 11th hour of Session, are placed in the budget by House and Senate leaders.
This list — which many times includes millions for building projects — usually is never made public until the top budget negotiators close out their work. Simpson has promised he will once again include funding for long-acting reversible contraception, or LARC, for low-income women who don’t qualify for Medicaid. Simpson, a pro-life Republican, is unabashed in his support of the issue, noting that preventing an unwanted pregnancy can change the trajectory of a young woman’s life. Simpson included LARC funding in the 2021 budget, but it was vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
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Christine Jordan Sexton of Florida Politics contributed to this report.
