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Drew WilsonFebruary 29, 2016

The Senate inched closer to the House Transportation and Economic Development budget Monday night with its third proposal, cutting the difference between the two chambers to a couple dozen line items and disagreements on funding sources. The House and Senate came to terms on the Department of Transportation budget earlier Monday, but still had a wide gulf between […]

Ryan RayFebruary 29, 2016

The Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations/General Government Appropriations conference committee held their final meeting of the 2016 Session on Monday, but the late-evening meeting did not bring final closure on several unresolved line items. The House and Senate proposals remained just $6 million apart in terms of bottom-line figures – out of a mammoth $2.7 billion […]

Drew WilsonFebruary 29, 2016

The joint budget conference on Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development came a bit closer to agreement Monday afternoon, with the third House offer closing out the largest chunk of the $12.8 billion budget segment. With the addition of $3.2 million for a trio of line items, lawmakers now agree on a $10.75 billion budget for the Department of […]

Ryan RayFebruary 29, 2016

The bicameral panel budget charged with writing the state’s budget for courts and law enforcement met for the last time during budget year 2016-17 on Monday. House and Senate leaders said they worked to compromise on “99 percent” of the budget, leaving aside just a handful unresolved of line items and proviso language. Conference Committee […]

Ryan RayFebruary 29, 2016

The Committee on Government Operations Appropriations/General Government Appropriation held its fourth and final meeting of the budget conferencing period Monday morning. Chairwoman Rep. Jeanette Nunez and Vice Chairman Sen. Alan Hays closed out “back of the bill” differences, but couldn’t agree on about a dozen line items. They will be “bumped up” for consideration by chief budget writers […]

Associated PressFebruary 29, 2016

As the Florida legislative session nears its end, some lawmakers are in a race against time to correct what they say is an injustice to the working poor: the suspension of driver’s licenses for reasons unrelated to driving violations. License suspensions can result from a minor infraction and can lead to thousands of dollars in […]

Ryan RayFebruary 28, 2016

An obscure but heated battle over a state contract potentially worth hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ money is at stake as budget conferees continue to hammer out differences between House and Senate proposals. At issues is the radio equipment law enforcement agents use to communicate. Problems with communication gear have led to the deaths of several […]

Ryan RayFebruary 28, 2016

House and Senate budget conferees remain some distance away from reconciling their varying budget proposals, with a nominal $8 million and several line items standing between lawmakers and a unified budget proposal to send to Gov. Rick Scott. The elephant in the room? Neither proposal circulating in the Conference Committee on House Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations/Senate […]

Ryan RayFebruary 28, 2016

House and Senate justice budget writers appear within striking range of a deal to reconcile their proposals, which sat at $3.5 million apart after two meetings on Saturday, one-10th of 1 percent over the overall budget. As of Sunday afternoon the gap was narrowed to about $441,939 in general revenue, though the way the money […]

Associated PressFebruary 28, 2016

Florida legislators are moving quickly to bridge their differences on a roughly $80 billion state budget. Legislators met in the Capitol over the weekend to work out spending on key areas such as education, transportation and health care. Legislative leaders Friday reached a broad budget deal regarding tax cuts and overall spending. Now budget committees […]

Tag: 2016 Legislative Session

Senate, House TED proposals inch closer, bump other items to budget chiefs

Ag & Natural Resources budget panel wraps up talks

TED budget conferees wrap up negotiations

Justice budget writers wrap up conference talks, agree on “99%” of priorities

Government ops budgets inch closer but law enforcement radios dispute remains

Some Florida lawmakers want reform of driver’s license suspensions

State police radio replacement dispute becomes budget conference sticking point

House, Senate TED budget writers still unresolved on DEO funding

Budget writers nearing deal on courts, legal funding

Florida lawmakers moving quickly to wrap up budget talks