House, Senate Still at Odds Over Budget

By The News Service of Florida

With just over a week left in the scheduled regular session, House and Senate leaders aren’t yet into formal budget negotiations.

House Budget Chairman Lawrence McClure said Thursday talks with his Senate counterparts to set up budget negotiations will continue into the weekend.

“I’m going to be doing it from Plant City with my kids,” McClure told the House. “We’ll keep talking next week. We hope to get close.”

Lawmakers are slated to end the 60-day session on March 13. To meet that timeline, the House and Senate would have to complete negotiations and have a spending plan completed by Tuesday because of a state law requiring a 72-hour “cooling off” period before lawmakers can vote on the completed budget.

The House has put forward a $113.58 billion proposal, while the Senate plan came in at $115 billion.

The two chambers have been unable to agree how much money should be set aside for different “silos” of the budget, such as education, transportation or the environment.

Wednesday afternoon, House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, said the two chambers have “a fundamental disagreement on what the (overall) budget should look like.”

“The House believes we should spend less money. The Senate believes we should spend more money. I am concerned with the future of the state of Florida,” Perez told reporters.

When asked if a decision was made to extend the session or come back at a later date to complete the budget, Perez replied, “a decision has not been made.”