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Ryan RayFebruary 27, 2016

Legislative budget writers moved the needle during their second conference meeting Saturday night, narrowing the discrepancies between House and Senate proposals to just $3.5 million dollars, about 0.1 percent of the $4.1 billion proposed criminal and civil justice budget. This time it was the Senate’s turn to make an offer, and committee Vice Chairman Sen. Joe […]

Associated PressFebruary 27, 2016

The head of Florida’s economic development agency is warning that the state could lose out on 50,000 jobs because of the Legislature. Bill Johnson, the president and CEO of Enterprise Florida, made that prediction in an email he sent Saturday to business partners statewide. Legislative leaders late Friday announced they were rejecting Gov. Rick Scott‘s […]

Ryan RayFebruary 27, 2016

The Government Operations/General Government budget conference held its second meeting Saturday, as the sub-chairmen for each chamber – Rep. Jeanette Nunez and Sen. Alan Hays – continued to wrangle spreadsheets as they inched closer to squaring the $10 million in differences between their respective proposals. This time it was the House’s turn to respond to a Senate offer from […]

Ryan RayFebruary 27, 2016

The conference committee on the state justice budget appeared Saturday afternoon to be going smoothly, with the House accepting the Senate position on more than two dozen line items, but making different offers on many others. In all the differences totaled nearly $10 million, about $5 million of that in recurring general revenue dollars and some $5 million […]

Ryan RayFebruary 27, 2016

The Senate accepted the House’s offer on funding for the Transportation and Economic Development budget silo, but with a catch – that the two chambers must still work out proviso language on two transportation programs. One of those two programs, which provide services to the transportation disadvantaged, was particularly important to Sen. Audrey Gibson, a Democrat from […]

Ryan RayFebruary 27, 2016

The Senate presented its first offer on funding for the government operations segment of the budget Saturday morning. Budget writers sounded conciliatory during the meeting, but the two chambers’ proposals remained $10.9 million apart. The biggest difference between the Senate and House offers, according to Legislative IQ powered by LobbyTools, is that the Senate would […]

Ryan RayFebruary 27, 2016

After the initial meeting of 2016 legislative budget conference Friday evening, senior budget writers – in particular House Budget Chairman Rep. Richard Corcoran – told reporters the Legislature had so far more or less ignored two of Gov. Rick Scott‘s key priorities Corcoran said their current proposal contains “zero” towards a $250 million dedicated Florida Enterprise Fund for […]

Ryan RayFebruary 26, 2016

House and Senate budget writers met Friday night to organize the 2016 Budget Conference process. They plan to meet through the weekend as they negotiate how to reconcile the $1 billion gulf between their spending plans as they allocate taxpayers’ money to keep Florida’s government running. Rep. Richard Corcoran, House budget chief, said after the […]

Jim RosicaFebruary 25, 2016

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Legislative leaders issued a joint statement on the 2016-17 state budget Thursday night: Members, We are pleased with the progress President (Tom) Lee and Chair (Richard) Corcoran (the Senate and House budget chiefs) have made and are optimistic we will be ready to begin the budget conference this weekend. We will update you as early […]

Drew WilsonFebruary 24, 2016

The Senate Wednesday passed a bill aiming to improve the Florida Early Steps program, a priority of Republican Senate President Andy Gardiner. SB 7058 brings eligibility guidelines for the Early Steps program in line with federal requirements and defines the program’s goals, which include providing timely screenings of infants and toddlers for developmental disabilities. The bill also requires […]

Tag: 2016 Legislative Session

Justice budget writers closing out differences; House, Senate $3.5 million apart

Jobs chief: Florida could lose out on thousands of jobs

Government operations budgets inch toward reconciliation

Justice budgets growing closer together, though $10 million in differences remain

House, Senate agree on TED budget proposal

House, Senate gov’t ops budget proposals still nearly $11 million apart

Rick Scott’s office claps back at budget chiefs after priorities snubbed

Budget conferees begin weekend of negotiations

Budget conference to begin this weekend

Developmental disabilities screening program passes Senate