With no new budget deal in sight, Florida House extends session to June 30
With no new deal in sight, House Speaker Daniel Perez called back his members to extend the budget talks to June 30 following the collapse of a deal with the Senate last week.
“I don’t think we’re at risk of a shutdown, but we’re no closer now than we were three weeks ago,” said Perez after the regular 60-day session ended earlier this month without producing a balanced budget as required by the state constitution. “It’s a sad day for the Legislature when we are going backward instead of forward.”
He blamed fellow Republican Senate President Ben Albritton of Wauchula for “breaking the faith” by reneging on a budget framework and $2.5 billion tax cut he’d agreed on just 10 days ago.
“As presiding officers, as elected officials – our word is our bond,” Perez said, recalling growing up in Miami where deals were made on a handshake. “Breaking our word … breaking a deal … is breaking faith not only with one another but also with our institutions. However, I will not allow these actions to deter us from fulfilling our constitutional obligations.”
Perez also called out fellow Republican, Gov. Ron DeSantis – who was in Ohio Tuesday promoting congressional term limits – for refusing to “have a conversation” with him or other House leaders about the budget, saying he was “no different than any seventh grader from Miami-Dade County who tweets.”
Perez told reporters he hadn’t spoken with the governor “in quite some time.”
“At some point adults have to prevail. I am willing to have that conversation with him at any moment. He is not,” Perez said. “Is he scared? Is he scared of having the tough conversation?
Instead, Perez said, DeSantis has been flying around the state on the taxpayers’ dime trashing the House spending plan.
“That is not what I would do if I were the governor, but he is entitled to make that decision,” Perez said. “If he would spend more time in this capital having conversations with myself and other members of the house he would understand our position and why we are in that position.”
The members have no idea when they will be back in Tallahassee for budget conference hearings. That “lack of predictability … is very disruptive,” House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa said.
“Once you pass tax cuts it’s difficult to recover that revenue, and we should not be cutting taxes at a time where we know people are going to need to lean on those services,” Driskell said.
The Legislature left Tallahassee May 3 without agreeing on a tax package for the 2025-26 budget cycle beginning July 1. They must have a balanced budget by then.
They extended the regular 60-day session to June 6 in the hopes of resolving their $4.5 billion spending gap, fueled mainly by a historic, permanent 12.5% cut in the state sales tax rate, which would reduce it from 6% to 5.25% and cut revenues by $5 billion.
But a more cautious Albritton said that was too much of a tax cut all at once and could destabilize the state economy. He suggested a more gradual reduction in the sales tax rate over several years, along with a permanent exemption on clothing under $75 and a repeat of several popular sales tax holidays offered over the past several years.
Before going into an extended recess, legislative leaders also announced they had agreed upon a framework for the state budget that would provide $2.5 billion in tax cuts, including a permanent quarter-cent cut in the sales tax rate.
That deal fell apart last week after DeSantis said such a deal was a “Florida Last’ plan that was “dead on arrival” and he would veto it.
Albritton also said Senate members felt that the quarter-cent cut was not meaningful for constituents, since it amounted to a savings of 25 cents for every hundred dollars spent. He added a permanent $2.5 billion tax cut wasn’t sustainable given projected revenue shortfalls, and a sales tax cut could limit future property tax relief.
DeSantis has proposed either lowering or eliminating property taxes altogether, which would require a constitutional amendment approved by at least 60% of voters. He blamed local governments for raking in huge amounts of property tax revenues and spending it recklessly.
“How hypocritical of us to say that local governments are spending wasteful taxpayer dollars and we’re not able to do it to ourselves,” Perez said.
Reducing spending shouldn’t be mixed up with property tax reform, Perez said, which is something the Legislature or governor cannot do anything about this year.
Instead, they can cut sales taxes and change how much tourist development tax money can be spent on marketing versus public works projects, he told the House membership Tuesday.
There are lots of things he said he is willing to entertain, he added, but not a $1,000 check to homeowners, as DeSantis proposed.
“These checks do not solve the property tax problem,” Perez said. “They are just state taxpayers apologizing for local government spending, which is the kind of irresponsible idea that I associate with California policymakers.”
Perez reminded the House members that his goal was to cut out-of-control spending, and reducing taxes was just one way to achieve that goal.
“The House is not moving,” Perez said. “I am not going to leave this Legislature in a worse position than I found it.”