Ryan Nicol
With budget negotiations now bumped to conference Chairs, the chambers remain far apart on multiple budget items related to State Attorney’s Offices across Florida.
The biggest of those is a holdover from negotiations last week. The House wants to spend nearly $3.6 million to replace vehicles, while the Senate has not been willing to go along with that spending item.
Up until the bump offer, the Senate had provided a separate line item of nearly $415,000 to purchase additional vehicles, while the House had stuck to its larger number to replace vehicles.
Now, the House is also going along with the $415,000 total, but is standing firm to also spend $3.6 million for replacements.
That’s is a bigger gap than differences between all other items still being negotiated combined.
The House last week did back off a proposal to eliminate more than 300 positions that had been vacant for at least 90 days. But the chambers have maintained a separate line item for other potential cuts, and they remain unchanged from their respective positions into the bump process. The Senate would chop 59 positions, while the House wants to cut 95.
The House also has nearly $399,000 slotted for a “full restoration of budget reductions.” The Senate is at $0.
But the House isn’t the only chamber looking to spend big bucks. The Senate is slotting nearly $511,000 for public records management expenses and nearly $180,000 for body camera evidence review. The House is at $0 for both of those proposals.
Those positions have been unchanged since last week, but there has been other movement.
The Senate also wants nearly $759,000 for additional staffing for specialty diversion courts. The House sat at $0 before this week. But the lower chamber is now willing to slot $375,000 for that line item.
But with such a hefty gap regarding vehicle replacement, the chambers are still nearly $3 million apart regarding State Attorney’s Office spending. The Senate is at more than $1.86 million, while the House budget nears $4.79 million.
The chambers have a target date of June 16 to approve the budget, meaning they’ll need to agree on numbers by June 13 to satisfy the state’s 72-hour cooling off period before a budget can be signed by the Governor.
