Florida lawmakers are supposed to wrap up their business in the State Capitol by next Friday, but indications are they’ll be headed into overtime this year.
With the House and Senate about $4.5 billion apart on their spending plans, there’s still a lot to negotiate, and due to the statutorily mandated 72-hour cooling-off period, lawmakers would have to publish the budget by Tuesday to finish on time.
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Disagreements over how to cut and how much to cut taxes are at the center of the spending disagreements.
UCF political science professor Dr. Aubrey Jewett explained the House wants to slash taxes by $5 billion by cutting three-quarters of a percent of the state sales tax.
Meanwhile, the Senate is proposing a $1.8 billion tax package that includes various sales tax holidays and permanent sales tax exemptions for clothes and shoes under $75.
“And right now, it’s not looking too good because neither the House or the Senate seems like they want to give,” said Jewett.
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House Speaker Daniel Perez (R-Miami) said this week, he thinks there’s still time to strike a deal.
But Senate President Ben Albritton (R-Bartow) isn’t so optimistic.
“You know, our clock has essentially run out,” said Albritton Thursday.
The divide over tax cuts is also driving other differences between the two budget proposals.
For example, the Senate is proposing per-student funding increases and Everglades restoration funding twice that of the House.
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Governor Ron DeSantis told Action News Jax when it comes to the two spending plans, he favors the Senate’s proposal, even though both budgets don’t address his call for property tax relief.
“The House budget is defunding parts of highway patrol. They’re defunding 87 positions, defunding body armor. Is that what voters signed up for? I think they want to support law enforcement,” said DeSantis.
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And Jewett noted, while it’s not unusual for lawmakers to take an extra day or two during session, the drastic differences this year make it hard to predict how long this budget fight could drag out.
“Right now, it certainly looks like we may go into overtime. It’s still possible they could get it resolved by Tuesday,” said Jewett. ”We’ll see.”
Session overtime would come at a cost to taxpayers.
Jewett explained that each day lawmakers spend in the Capitol comes with a roughly $50,000 price tag.
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