Jesse Scheckner
With budget negotiations still at a standstill, Florida legislative leaders have advised members of the Senate and House not to return to Tallahassee until after Memorial Day, as the 2025 Session continues beyond its scheduled end date.
In memos to their respective chambers, Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez confirmed what many Capitol watchers expected: The budget logjam remains unresolved, and conference negotiations will not begin next week.
“Senators do not need to return to Tallahassee prior to Memorial Day,” Albritton wrote in his message to Senators. “We plan to announce further scheduling updates midweek, before the Holiday Weekend, to provide as much advanced notice as possible.”
Perez offered similar guidance in a note to House members, thanking them for their “flexibility and commitment” as the Session stretches into an unplanned overtime period.
“At this point, you will not need to be in Tallahassee prior to Memorial Day. I hope this gives you the clarity needed to plan accordingly,” he wrote Thursday. “We will provide another update by the middle of next week as things continue to develop.”
The 2025 Regular Session was supposed to end earlier this month, but persistent disagreements between the House and Senate over key spending priorities have forced an extension. The holdup stems from deep divisions over allocating funds across various issues, including infrastructure, health care, and education, as state revenues face tighter constraints than in prior years.
The chambers have yet to agree on top-line allocations, a necessary step before a formal budget conference can begin, and a roughly $3 billion difference between their spending plans persists.
Budget Chairs from each chamber, Palm Harbor Republican Sen. Ed Hooper and Dover Republican Rep. Lawrence McClure, have been in talks, but no public breakthroughs have emerged.
Hooper told Florida Politics last Friday, after dueling memos from Albritton and Perez came out, that budget negotiations have stalled, but “it’ll get worked out.” McClure appeared less optimistic and criticized the upper chamber for going back on its word, saying, “They constantly changed their mind. So we in the House have to ask ourselves, how can we trust their word?”
Perez made a similar assertion Wednesday.
Albritton said he and Hooper “have continued to have productive discussions” with the House and are making “progress” in negotiations. However, he emphasized that more time is needed to conclude those discussions responsibly.
“Our goal is to bring the allocations discussion to a conclusion and announce a schedule for the budget conference as quickly and responsibly as possible,” he said.
In the meantime, lawmakers remain in limbo, juggling legislative uncertainty with obligations back home in their districts.
Until then, Session remains in a holding pattern, with Florida’s $113 to $117.3 billion state budget still hanging in the balance.
