Budget talks start Tuesday, with goal of finalizing by mid-June

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. 5/1/25-House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Lawrence McClure, R-Dover, tells his chamber they are still working to craft a state spending agreement with the Senate, Thursday at the Capitol in Tallahassee. The regular session of the Legislature will end Friday without lawmakers having approved a budget. COLIN HACKLEY PHOTO

After weeks of sending offers back and forth to no avail, leaders in the Florida House and Senate have reached a budget agreement, allowing lawmakers to return to Tallahassee next week for budget conferencing to finalize additional details ahead of the July 1 deadline that averts a state government shutdown. 

A budget memo from House Speaker Daniel Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton indicates a new budget should be passed June 16. It includes $2.25 billion in recurring revenue reductions, a sticking point for the House during protracted negotiations, but far less than the House had originally sought. Those reductions include $900 million in cuts through eliminating the business rent tax, a priority of Perez; $350 million in permanent sales tax reductions; and $250 million in debt reduction. The budget will also include $750 million in annual payments to the state Budget Stabilization Fund, which serve as rainy-day resources. 

On the rainy-day funds, the budget calls for increasing the fund from 10% to 25%, allowing the $750 million payments until the new cap has been reached. The Senate will take up a joint resolution to amend the Florida constitution to raise the cap, which will also require voter approval. 

House budget chief Lawrence McClure, in previous conversations with Florida Politics, had emphasized the House’s desire to reduce recurring revenue in order to keep the state lean and increase reserves, a move intended to ensure long-term solvency. 

“In total, the framework set forth in these allocations provides for a fiscally responsible, balanced budget that reduces state spending, lowers per capita spending, and reduces the growth of state bureaucracy,” Albritton wrote in his memo to Senators. “The budget authorizes early payoff of state debt, accounts for significant, broad-based tax relief, and builds on historic state reserves for emergencies.”

Budget conferences will begin on Tuesday to iron out detailed spending plans on specific areas, such as health care, education, criminal justice and infrastructure. 

Conferences have been authorized on Tuesday to run from 9 a.m. through 8 p.m. and from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Wednesday, with a Legislative Budget Commission meeting from 11 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Conferences are only authorized from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Thursday, with a Senate sitting from 10-11 a.m.; a Senate Appropriations meeting from 2:30-5 p.m.; and another Senate sitting from 5:30-6 p.m.

Any unresolved issues in the budget after the Thursday conference will bump to McClure and Senate budget chief Ed Hooper. 

The Legislature tentatively will hold a Senate sitting on Monday, June 16th at 1 p.m. to approve the finalized budget after the required 72-hour cooling off period. An exact time will be determined once lawmakers know when that 72 hours expires. 

The current fiscal budget year ends June 30, with the new budget taking effect July 1. If lawmakers were to not pass a budget by then, it would trigger a government shutdown. 

Once lawmakers approve a finalized budget, it heads to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has line-item veto authority. He’ll have two weeks to review the budget and make vetoes. Theoretically, he could veto the whole budget, though that move is unlikely considering the threat of a government shutdown. 

The Senate released on Friday night a list of committee assignments for budget conferencing. Hooper will chair the Appropriations Conference Committee, leading Senate members Lori Berman, Jim Boyd, Jason Brodeur, Joe Gruters, Kathleen Passidomo, and Darryl Rouson. 

Brodeur, who is the Senate President Pro Tempore, will chair the Appropriations Conference Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government/Agriculture and Natural Resources, with Senate members Kristen Arrington, Berman, Colleen Burton, Jay Collins, Nick DiCeglie, Erin Grall, Stan McClain, Jason Pizzo, Ana Maria Rodriguez, Barbara Sharief and Keith Truenow. 

Sen. Illeana Garcia will chair the Appropriations Conference Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice, along with members Blaise Ingoglia, Jonathan Martin, Rosalind Osgood, Tina Polsky, Rouson, Corey Simon, Tom Wright and Clay Yarborough. 

Sen. Jay Trumbull will chair the Appropriations Conference Committee on Health and Human Services, leading Senate members Berman, Brodeur, Burton, Tracie Davis, Garcia, Gruters, Gayle Harrell, Rodriguez and Rouson. 

Harrell will chair the Appropriations Conference Committee on Higher Education, along with Senate members Jennifer Bradley, Danny Burgess, Alexis Calatayud, Davis, Thomas Leek, Carlos Smith and Trumbull. 

Burgess will chair the Appropriations Conference Committee on Pre-K-12 education, along with members Bradley, Calatayud, Don Gaetz, Shevrin Jones, Osgood, Pizzo, Simon and Yarborough. 

Leading the Appropriations Conference Committee on Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development will be DiCeglie, leading members Arrington, Bryan Avila, Mack Bernard, Collins, Grall, Ingoglia, Tom Leek, Martin, McClain, Polsky, Sharief, Smith, Truenow and Wright. 

The move toward budget conferencing comes after the House and Senate failed to reach an agreement on the budget by the end of its regular 60-day Session, which came and passed May 2, sending lawmakers into an extended Session that was scheduled to end June 6. The new timeline extends that Session even further, to June 16. 

Chief budget negotiators reached an impasse on tax cuts, with the House favoring a reduction to state sales tax in an effort to cut recurring revenue and encourage a more lean budget that would protect the state into the future. The Senate, meanwhile, never really warmed up to the House position, offering instead things like an elimination of sales tax on clothing and shoes up to $75, additional sales tax holidays and a business rent tax reduction.

The House’s original sales tax reduction pitch was to cut it from the current 6% to 5.25%, which would have reduced recurring revenue by about $5 billion. 

Muddying negotiations even further, DeSantis’ priority has been — and remains — moving toward drastically slashing property taxes. He also was vocally opposed to the House sales tax plan. 

While rough outlines have been released on the budget framework that will now be buttoned up, the memos Friday from the House and Senate did not specifically outline how the $350 million in sales tax exemptions would be laid out. 

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Florida Politics reporter Janelle Irwin Taylor contributed to this report.