TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida lawmakers are now aiming to finish the state budget next week, after House and Senate leaders said Friday that negotiations will continue through Memorial Day weekend.
“We continue to make meaningful progress on the budget,” House Speaker Daniel Perez said in a memo to members. He said House Budget Chair Lawrence McClure and Senate budget Chair Ed Hooper are authorized to continue conference meetings Tuesday, May 26, beginning at 8 a.m. “until completion.”
WATCH: Florida lawmakers eye Friday budget vote after holiday weekend talks
Perez said he hopes the budget will be formally placed on lawmakers’ desks Tuesday, which would trigger Florida’s constitutionally required pause before a final vote.
“The Conference Report for the General Appropriations Act will hopefully be placed on the desk on Tuesday, initiating the constitutionally required 72-hour cooling-off period,” Perez said.
The House is scheduled to convene Friday, May 29, at 10 a.m. for questions and debate on the General Appropriations Act, implementing bill, conforming bills and tax package. Perez said that, once the 72-hour period expires, lawmakers will vote on the budget and “adjourn sine die.”
Senate President Ben Albritton laid out a similar timeline, saying a budget conference meeting was noticed for 4:20 p.m. Friday and that any senator in Tallahassee was welcome to attend “to participate in the meeting and hear public testimony.”
“Chair Hooper and I will continue to work on the budget throughout the long weekend,” Albritton said. “At this time, our goal is to finalize all decisions and lay the budget on the desk by the close of business on Tuesday evening at the latest.”
Albritton told senators they should be prepared to return to Tallahassee on Thursday, May 28, ahead of a Friday vote on the budget and related bills. He said the exact timing Friday will depend on when the budget is placed on the desk earlier in the week.
“As you are aware, the time the budget is laid on the desk earlier in the week will dictate the time of our sitting on Friday,” Albritton said. “We will share more concrete information about scheduling when the budget conference concludes next week.”
The update means Florida lawmakers are heading into Memorial Day weekend without a finished budget deal, despite earlier hopes that the special session would wrap more quickly. The special session began May 12 after the House and Senate failed to reach agreement during the regular session.
Lawmakers had faced a roughly $1.4 billion difference between the House and Senate spending plans when they returned to Tallahassee. Leaders have said there are multiple unresolved spending issues, but they have offered few public details about the sticking points.
Rep. Danny Nix, R-Port Charlotte, said earlier this month that the process was taking time because lawmakers were “fighting for a fair and balanced budget.”
Optimism had been higher heading into the special session. Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Pensacola, said he believed lawmakers were ready to “lay our swords down” and “get the people’s business done.”
The delay comes as Gov. Ron DeSantis has been publicly reminding lawmakers of his line-item veto authority. Speaking Thursday to the Federalist Society, DeSantis said he considers whether members support his agenda when reviewing local budget projects.
“If the members are supporting good policy, then, you know, I see their budget items, that’s just something you take into account,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis, Friday, also said he would sign a gas tax holiday if lawmakers include one, though he has argued toll relief would deliver more direct savings. Democrats have been calling for a gas tax cut for months.
“We’ve done that in the past when there have been increases in the gas tax,” Senate Minority Leader Lori Berman said in March. “Let’s do it right now.”
For now, lawmakers’ immediate goal is reaching a final agreement by Tuesday. If they do, the Legislature could vote Friday and end the special session just over a month before the July 1 start of the new fiscal year.
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