Weekly Roundup: ‘Philosophical Differences’ Lead to Overtime

By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida

TALLAHASSEE — State lawmakers often assert that their single required task to complete before the end of the annual 60-day legislative session is to approve a budget for the next fiscal year.

But this year’s mission, slated to come to a close next Friday, will go into overtime, House and Senate conceded this week.

BUDGET BEDLAM

Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, outlined Thursday that ongoing budget talks have stalled over “philosophical differences” primarily regarding the chambers’ disparate tax-relief plans.

“I am disappointed to report we have not yet reached an agreement on allocations with the House,” Albritton said.

House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, blamed the Senate for favoring “pathological overspending,” as the legislative leaders try to reach an accord.

As of Friday, it remained uncertain if the 60-day legislative session would be extended by a few days to zero out budget disagreements or if lawmakers would take more time off before returning to the Capitol to complete their work before the fiscal year ends on July 1.

To end the session as scheduled on May 2, lawmakers would need to finish drawing up the budget by Tuesday. The Florida Constitution requires a 72-hour “cooling off” period before the spending plan could be approved.

The House and Senate passed budget proposals this month with a more than $4 billion gap. The House’s proposal totaled $112.95 billion, while the Senate’s weighed in at $117.36 billion.

In a blistering speech Thursday, Perez blamed the Legislature in recent years of being “addicted to spending” and accused the Senate of being unwilling to inch closer to the House’s leaner budget proposal.

“The Senate’s expectation seems to be that the House should adopt the Senate budget with only slight modifications,” Perez said. “That position is not only unacceptable but it is patronizing.”

Proposed tax cuts also have posed a major difference between the chambers.

The House has proposed a tax package (HB 7033) totaling about $5 billion, with the cuts largely stemming from a plan to permanently reduce the state’s sales-tax rate from 6 percent to 5.25 percent.

The Senate, meanwhile, has proposed a $1.83 billion tax-cut package (SB 7034) that includes eliminating sales taxes on clothing and shoes that cost $75 or less. The Senate plan also would provide a one-time credit on annual vehicle-registration fees and offer a series of sales-tax “holidays,” including a new tax cut on hunting equipment that would last more than three months.

HOPING FOR THE BEST

Rep. Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican who chairs the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee, announced Thursday that his panel has concluded a probe into a foundation linked to First Lady Casey DeSantis’ signature economic-assistance program, Hope Florida.

The speaker later Thursday told the reporters that the House probe isn’t complete.

“Maybe it’s another committee. Maybe it’s another avenue. I don’t have that answer yet. At this point all options are still on the table with Hope Florida. We have not closed the door on that,” Perez said Thursday.

The House inquiry in recent weeks became a flashpoint in a feud between Perez and the governor, who has staunchly defended the Hope Florida program. The program, launched by the first lady, is rooted in the Department of Children and Families and operates across several agencies through “hope navigators” that help connect people and families in need with faith-based or community services. The program also operates a hotline.

Andrade, an attorney, has spent weeks scrutinizing the foundation’s receipt of $10 million as part of a $67 million legal settlement that Centene, Florida’s largest Medicaid managed-care company, reached last fall with the Agency for Health Care Administration.

After receiving the money from the settlement, the foundation gave $5 million grants to Secure Florida’s Future, a nonprofit tied to the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and Save our Society from Drugs.

The groups within days made contributions to Keep Florida Clean, a political committee headed by James Uthmeier, who was then Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff and is now state attorney general. Keep Florida Clean fought a proposed constitutional amendment in November that would have allowed recreational use of marijuana.

Andrade said he was “firmly convinced” that Uthmeier and Jeff Aaron, an attorney for the foundation, “engaged in conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud” involving the settlement, but that “we as legislators will not be the ones making the ultimate charging decisions.”

Jeremy Redfern, a spokesman for Uthmeier, said Andrade’s “ridiculous allegations are false and not based on any judicial finding or evidentiary record.”

Meanwhile, DeSantis this week continued to accuse unidentified House leaders and “lefty journalists” of trying to “impugn” the Hope Florida program.

“The reality is this has done an enormous amount of good. I am proud of the program, soup to nuts,” DeSantis said Thursday during a St. Augustine event.

LEAVING THE PARTY

In a stunning move less than a week before the scheduled end of the legislative session, Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo announced Thursday that he has left the Democratic Party and registered as a voter with no party affiliation.

Pizzo, who was quickly replaced as minority leader by Lantana Sen. Lori Berman, has been an outspoken critic of Democratic Party leaders as Republicans have dominated state politics.

“Here’s the issue. The Democrat Party in Florida is dead,” Pizzo, a Sunny Island Beach lawyer, said. “There are good people that can resuscitate it. But they don’t want it to be me.”

The decision by Pizzo, who’s been an outspoken critic of state Democratic leaders and has been widely viewed as a possible gubernatorial candidate in 2026, drew harsh criticism from his onetime party colleagues.

“Jason Pizzo is one of the most ineffective and unpopular Democratic leaders in recent memory, and his resignation is one of the best things to happen to the party in years,” Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried said in a statement.

Pizzo’s defection is the latest legislative loss for Democrats. Two House members — Susan Valdés of Tampa and Hillary Cassel of Dania Beach — switched to the Republican Party following the November elections.

Democrats now hold 10 of 40 seats in the Senate; two seats are vacant.

Pizzo made the announcement a day after a heated exchange on the Senate floor amid debate over water-services legislation involving Miami Gardens, a city with a large Black population, and North Miami Beach.

STORY OF THE WEEK: ‘Philosophical differences’ on spending send lawmakers into overtime for the 2025 legislative session.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “We are doing well. We are all united. The Democratic Party is not dead.” — Sen. Lori Berman, D-Lantana, after being elected as Senate minority leader Thursday.