Florida Senate Budget Rollout Delayed

By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida

Senate Appropriations Chairman Sen. Ed Hooper, R-Trinity, said Wednesday his chamber’s planned roll out of the proposed fiscal year 2026-2027 budget has been delayed a week as they await action from the House.

“Traditionally, the House and Senate roll their budgets out the same week,” Hooper told members of the Senate. “It’s important for us to keep that tradition and roll out the same week as our partners in the House. This year, the House is the host, and it will be their bill that we adopt finally.”

Hooper said he planned to have the Senate’s budget out on Wednesday. But now he expects the Senate to introduce its spending plan in the Appropriations Committee on Feb. 12 and reach the Senate floor on Feb. 18.

Last year, the regular session was delayed 45 days as the two chambers couldn’t reach agreement on the budget and corresponding tax package.

Hooper said talks with the House appear better than a year ago.

“We look forward to working with our House partners and getting to the budget process and getting underway as soon as possible,” Hooper said. “We have great partners in the House. (House Budget) Chairman McClure (Rep. Lawrence McClure, R-Dover) and I are working very closely together. We communicate well with each other, much better than the 105-day session we all endured last session. I have every expectation that we will continue to work well together, and an expectation we will complete our budget in a very timely manner.”

On Tuesday, Senate President Ben Albritton gave a “stay tuned” after acknowledging that “it is fair to say that it appears at this moment that the House and the Senate are not on the same page as it relates to timing of a budget rollout.”

Following an appearance in the Historic Capitol Museum on Tuesday with House Speaker Daniel Perez, Albritton said the two are “communicating” and not engaged in an on-going “civil war.”

“My goal is, and I believe we will see that in the end, is that this stuff will find alignment, and we’ll move forward, not that the budgets will be completely reconciled, I’m saying the timing of when they are rolled out, I’m saying stay tuned. We’re working in that direction,” said Albritton, a Wauchula Republican.

On Jan. 23, a panel of economists known as the Revenue Estimating Conference, pointing to “elevated” national economic uncertainty, added just $502.5 million to the projected revenue for fiscal year 2025-2026 and $70 million for fiscal year 2026-2027. General revenue is closely watched because it is a major source of money for schools, health programs and prisons.