Taxes, state employees top discussions in House, Senate spending panels
By: Christine Sexton and Jay Waagmeester
House and Senate spending committees in the Florida Legislature Wednesday signed off on proposed state budgets that are more than $4 billion apart in total spending, setting up a showdown as legislators reach the midway point of their 2025 session.
The stark differences in their budgets will need to be reconciled over the next few weeks. The two chambers will formally vote out their budgets next week.
The House-proposed budget adds up to nearly $113 billion while the Senate spending plan is nearly $117.4 billion — both less than the $118.6 billion being spent in this fiscal year’s budget. Those figures include total spending, including federal funds.
The main reason for the wide gap is that the House wants to trim spending now and return dollars leadership claims don’t need to be spent. To that end, the House wants to cut the state’s sales taxes by roughly $5 billion — a move that if ultimately approved would cut levies Floridians pay on a wide array of goods, ranging from non-food items they buy at the grocery store to cars, but leave less to spend on programs.
“We must remove the temptation to spend,” said Rep. Lawrence McClure, chair of the House Budget Committee.
Both budget plans drew criticism for their cuts to support for access to accelerated courses at public schools, Everglades restoration, and state employees. Senate Appropriations Chairman Ed Hooper noted that state employees “will be one of the bigger issues in conference that we’re going to have to deal with.”
Drugs and money
One glaring difference when it comes to state employees is that the Senate plan includes a 4% pay increase. The House budget doesn’t include money for pay raises. “The Senate budget recognizes the importance of our state employees,” Hooper said.
The House budget eliminates positions that have been vacant for more than 90 days. The House budget funds 106,780 positions. The Senate budget also eliminates vacant positions but maintains authority for the agencies to hire those employees. The Senate budget funds 112,842 positions.
The House proposes a strict drug formulary for employees using their state insurance coverage — a move that one House Republican predicted could save $126 million.
But it was the chambers’ conflicting positions on education funding that drew the most attention, both in public testimony and discussion among the members.
Both chambers would increase bottom-line spending on education from the near-$28.6 billion being spent today. The House earmarks $29.33 billion, while the Senate version is $29.57 billion.
Most of the debate in the House committee Wednesday focused on changes the chamber would make to financing for educational options. The chamber’s proposed budget would reduce financial incentives to schools by half for every student who passes advanced placement tests, take dual-enrollment courses, or receive certifications for international baccalaureate courses.
In the current year, schools receive $865 for each student who passes an AP exam.
Students from Rickards High School, where Leon County’s IB program is located, shared how the program changed their lives and opened opportunities for them at colleges like Cornell and Dartmouth.
Following their testimony, House Budget Committee Vice Chair Susan Valdés counseled patience.
“We heard you. This is just in the committee process,” said Valdés, who switched parties from Democratic to Republican after winning reelection in November. “This is a proposed piece of legislation — this is what’s proposed and then we go from there. So, this is not the end product. Ok? So, your voices have been heard.”
The Senate proposes reducing the funding for passing the tests by 50%, too, although schools would keep the money for other needs, if desired. Sen. Danny Burgess, chair of the education budget subcommittee, said the Senate version is “better aligning additional program costs for advanced courses with funding provided through the bonus FTE.”
He referred to the state’s per-student financial support for public schools.
What about taxes?
The budget represents just part of the state’s financial picture. Taxes are another. House Speaker Daniel Perez and Gov. Ron DeSantis both want to return at least $5 billion to taxpayers but disagree sharply over how to do that. Senate President Ben Albritton has refrained from embracing either side so far and is taking a more cautious approach.
Perez wants to permanently roll back the state’s sales tax from six cents on the dollar to 5.25%. DeSantis wants to eliminate property taxes next year, via a constitutional amendment placed before voters in 2026, and, in advance of that, provide an average $1,000 rebate to the 5.1 million homesteaded properties across Florida.
“These are both significant ideas, worthy of our thought and consideration,” Albritton told his senators this week in an open letter. “However, at this point, I believe it is prudent that a final tax cut package of this size be predominantly nonrecurring, while permanent tax cuts are explored during the interim.” “Nonrecurring” means the cut would be for one year only.
The House Ways and Means Committee, meanwhile, passed the Perez tax plan unanimously on Wednesday.
Bridge the gap
While the budgets are about $4.4 billion, apart the Senate has included $200 million in a separate bill for Albritton’s “Rural Renaissance” initiative, intended to boost economies in less developed sections of Florida. That means there’s a $4.6 billion difference in proposed funding between the chambers.
The spending gap must be bridged before legislators can begin fine-tuning the budget. Although legislators discuss hundreds of bills each session, the budget, known as the General Appropriations Act, is the only bill legislators are required to pass each year.
Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment imposing a 72 hour “cooling off period” on the budget with the goal of allowing members time to go through the document and read the fine print. The 72-hour requirement means that the spending plan must be printed and put on members desks by April 29 if they hope to adjourn on time on May 2.