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Staff ReportsNovember 23, 2015

Gov. Rick Scott plans to release his recommended state budget Monday in Jacksonville. Scott’s office said he will debut his “Florida First” budget for 2016-17 at 10 a.m., at Harbinger Sign on Shad Road. The Florida Channel will carry the announcement live. Earlier this month, Cynthia Kelly, Scott’s budget director, wrote a memo in which she […]

Staff ReportsNovember 9, 2015

Gov. Rick Scott on Monday begins his “$1 Billion Tax Cut Tour,” which he says is intended to “grow small businesses and diversify” Florida’s more than $750 billion state economy. But already signs are that fellow Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature will push back. Scott says the dramatic tax cuts will help withstand the next economic downturn, whenever […]

Bill PrescottSeptember 24, 2015

Public education consumes almost 30 percent of Florida’s budget. So what are taxpayers getting for that investment, which this is year about $22.9 billion, compared to other states? Florida TaxWatch, a government watchdog think tank that evaluates government spending, has created its own guide to help answer that question: How Florida Compares – Education. The […]

Guest AuthorAugust 3, 2015

Much has been written about Gov. Rick Scott’s vetoes of member projects in the recent state budget. Although every governor has vetoed parts of the budget, this time was unusual because the governor had only a very short window to make his vetoes known. Although he vetoed a lot of projects, it does raise a […]

Mark FerruloJuly 28, 2015

Florida has the wrong leaders running our state with the wrong priorities, leaders such as Gov. Rick Scott and his allies in the Legislature who routinely ignore the needs of everyday Floridians. Bright spots, though, dot an otherwise dark sea of political pandering and corporate kowtowing. That’s why for the fifth consecutive year Progress Florida […]

Mark FerruloJuly 27, 2015

Florida has the wrong leaders running our state with the wrong priorities, leaders such as Gov. Rick Scott and his allies in the Legislature who routinely ignore the needs of everyday Floridians. Bright spots, though, dot an otherwise dark sea of political pandering and corporate kowtowing. That’s why for the fifth consecutive year Progress Florida […]

Guest AuthorJune 25, 2015

Now the Special Session is finally over and the Legislature finally finished the budget they worked on long into the night. They handed it to the governor so he could have his way with it and put his pen to paper, signing it into law with one hand and slashing it with his veto pen […]

Phil AmmannJune 23, 2015

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam expressed disapproval that Florida state firefighters are among the losers in Gov. Rick Scott’s recently signed $78.7 billion state budget. In a private ceremony Tuesday morning, Scott vetoed $1.6 million in the state budget set aside for 606 Forest Service firefighters to get $2,000 a year in pay raises each. The cuts were […]

Gary FineoutJune 1, 2015

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The Florida Legislature began its 20-day Special Session on Monday, with legislative leaders sounding more open to compromise as they race against the clock to pass a new state budget. The conciliatory tone espoused by House Speaker Steve Crisafulli and Senate President Andy Gardiner was different than just a few weeks ago when the Republican-controlled […]

Gary FineoutMay 18, 2015

Florida’s Republican-led Legislature will return to the state Capitol in June and try to do what they couldn’t do during their 60-day session that crashed to a halt. GOP legislative leaders announced late Friday that they have come up with a long list of items they want to tackle during a 20-day special session, including […]

Tag: state budget

Rick Scott to release state budget in JAX

Rick Scott kicks off “$1 Billion Tax Cut Tour” today

Shannon Nickinson: Make sure schools measure up as a top Florida feature

Barney Bishop: State budget process needs a CBIR step again

Mark Ferrulo: Florida’s “Middle Class Champions” deserve our thanks

Mark Ferrulo: Florida’s “Middle Class Champions” deserve our thanks

Gary Stein: What have tax cuts really accomplished?

Adam Putnam “disappointed” with firefighter pay raise veto

Florida legislators return with plan to end budget stalemate

ICYMI: Legislators agree to do budget, health care during session