‘Deal has blown up’: Daniel Perez confirms breakdown in budget negotiations

A sequence of images of a blasting operation of a rock hill to make way for an airport runway expansion project.

House Speaker Daniel Perez says the budget deal leaders in the House and Senate had been working on “has blown up.”

He’s also accusing Senate President Ben Albritton of “breaking his commitment to the House” regarding bringing the House tax proposal to the Senate floor for a vote.

As a result, Perez said “alternative dates” for budget negotiations will be announced “as soon as possible,” but added that the House will still meet on Tuesday for a floor session “to pass a concurrent resolution extending the timeline through the end of June.” The current extended Session was scheduled to conclude June 6.

“I’m keenly aware that the uncertainty around the schedule causes problems for you and your families, but we will continue to work with the Senate to lock down dates as soon as practical,” Perez wrote in a memo to House members.

Perez said the House will also be holding a meeting of the Select Committee on Property Taxes on Tuesday.

“While the circumstances leading to this conference are less than ideal or even expected, as Members of the Florida House, our responsibilities do not change,” Perez wrote. “We will deliver a fiscally conservative budget that cuts government waste and puts Florida on the best possible trajectory for long-term success.”

Albritton told Senate members he does not expect budget conferences to begin next week as anticipated.

The previously scheduled 60-day Regular Session ended one week ago, with lawmakers voting to send Session into extra innings after the chambers failed to reach consensus on a budget on time.

Passing a balanced budget is the only constitutional obligation lawmakers have during their annual Legislative Session. A budget must be passed by the end of June, as the current fiscal year budget ends. The new budget takes effect July 1.

At issue throughout the process has been the House’s insistence on cutting the state sales tax, with the Senate preferring a different route, such as eliminating sales tax on clothing and shoes up to $75. Meanwhile, Gov. Ron DeSantis has pushed for reducing, and eventually eliminating, property taxes to offer residents financial relief.

DeSantis has blamed the House for the ongoing budget impasse, speaking at the end of April in Fruitland Park where he explained that the House was operating on “personal agendas.”

“I think the House’s position has been, ‘Well, you know, the Governor has gotten everything he wants, so whatever he’s for, we’re against.’ And that’s why they’ve been running themselves ragged with this really dysfunctional and unsuccessful House of Representatives this Legislative Session,” DeSantis said at the time.

Earlier Friday, sources told Florida Politics that budget negotiations had deteriorated significantly over the last 24 hours. DeSantis has said publicly he would veto the House tax cut plan. According to several sources with knowledge of the process, the Senate is appearing to side with DeSantis and abandon a multipoint framework for the deal that extended the Session.

As a result, sources said the House took a top Senate priority — the Rural Renaissance package — off the table.

Albritton confirmed in his own memo to Senate members shortly after Perez’s memo went out that DeSantis’ concerns about tax relief were at least partially attributable to the delays. 

“Specifically, that the proposal for an across-the-board sales tax cut would unduly benefit tourists and foreigners and is, ‘dead on arrival,’” he wrote. 

“From speaking with Senators, I know many of you share concerns with both the number and the policy of that framework and instead favor targeted tax relief that benefits growing families and seniors aging with dignity.”

Sources said there was a lot of anger going around, including levels of animosity between the two chambers veterans said they had never seen.