Florida Legislature to leave Tallahassee without a budget. No word on a return
Florida lawmakers are getting next week off after a grueling two-month session that failed to reach a compromise on a balanced budget.
But when they will return to finish their constitutional duty, which requires them to approve a state spending plan, is up in the air.
As bills bounced back and forth between the House and Senate on Thursday, the second to last day of session, Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez told their members to go home this weekend and stay home all of next week.
“We are still in conversations with the Senate,” Perez announced at the start of Thursday’s House floor session.
The two chambers are still about $4.4 billion apart on a state budget despite several offers and counteroffers over the past several weeks.
The next two days will be hectic as the House replies to messages from the Senate about amended bills today and tomorrow, Perez said, “and as those messages come back we’ll be having conversations with bill sponsors on certain decisions the House will have to make.”
Among the bills still being debated as of Thursday are a controversial measure to make it tougher to get citizen-driven constitutional amendments on the ballot, another that would rescind a ban on parents of adult children filing wrongful death lawsuits, and one that would prohibit developers from building golf courses and pickleball courts in state parks.
Albritton said Senate budget negotiators “continue to have “productive conversations with the House” and are “putting together a framework for a budget, and I am optimistic we will have more news to share soon.”
Neither legislative leader has said when they expect the Legislature to return to Tallahassee. They must pass a balanced budget by June 30, when the current budget cycle ends.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.