Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Michael MolineApril 30, 2017

House and Senate negotiators agreed on $40 million in water projects and a $23 million higher education budget Sunday, but major decisions on charter schools, Lake Okeechobee restoration, and more remained unsettled. Carlos Trujillo and Jack Latvala, respectively the House and Senate budget chairmen, made progress during what Latvala said would be their last meeting […]

Michael MolineApril 29, 2017

House and Senate higher education conferees agreed Saturday to trim cuts to developmental education programs at state colleges, but sent a disagreement about control of state university support foundations up the chain of command. Lead Senate negotiator Bill Galvano indicated at one point during an afternoon meeting that the developmental spending might have to be […]

Michael MolineApril 29, 2017

The main things separating the House and Senate on civil and criminal justice spending is whittling down Senate member projects and construction costs in the juvenile justice and prison systems. That’s according to Rep. Bill Hager, the lead House negotiator, speaking following a conference subcommittee hearing Saturday morning. “These are really not sticking points. It’s […]

Michael MolineApril 28, 2017

House and Senate negotiators have agreed on per-student spending in the PreK-12 education budget — and it wouldn’t go up much compared to existing spending. The Senate side on Friday accepted the House call for 1.2 percent increase — to about $7,220. The conferees were still talking about how much to spend on the House’s […]

Michael MolineApril 28, 2017

House negotiators gave ground toward Senate President Joe Negron’s ambitious plan to bolster Florida’s state colleges and universities Friday. They accepted a series of spending amounts for specific programs. “Tuition assistance was real big in our offer,” House negotiator Larry Ahern said. “We’ve moved to a lot of the Senate positions. We concur with a […]

Michael MolineApril 28, 2017

If you can read a spreadsheet, you might be able to figure out the offer the House made Friday morning on the agriculture, environment, and natural resources budget. If you can’t — well, lead House conferee Ben Albritton wasn’t willing to explain it to you. Albritton distributed a spreadsheet listing the House position, but declined to discuss […]

Michael MolineApril 27, 2017

The House-Senate budget conference committee convened Thursday, exchanged pleasantries, and dispersed to begin working toward a compromise $83 billion spending plan for next fiscal year. “Let the games begin,” said Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Latvala, who’ll serve as chairman of the conference. “We look forward to making quick and aggressive counter-offers, and we look forward […]

Scott PowersMarch 7, 2016

The University of Central Florida has walked a careful path to line up support for what had been a controversial plan for a downtown Orlando campus, and now the university has everything but the governor’s signature. No one is taking that for granted, though. Over the weekend, with pushes from Senate President Andy Gardiner of […]

Tag: conference committee budget

Big budget questions headed to House and Senate presiding officers

Conferees bump university foundation-control question to budget chairmen

House, Senate moving closer on civil and criminal justice spending

PreK-12 conference eyes paltry per-student spending hike, with supplements

House warms to Joe Negron’s ambitious higher education agenda

Environment and natural resources conferees go light on details

Budget conference committee gets down to work, with time running short

With downtown campus funding in budget, UCF hopes it has satisfied Rick Scott