Florida Budget Talks Stall Over Healthcare, School Spending Disputes
Florida lawmakers remain far apart on healthcare funding and school spending as budget negotiations hit the halfway point in special session.
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Florida lawmakers concluded their first week of budget special session negotiations Friday with significant disagreements remaining over healthcare funding, education spending, and whether Governor Ron DeSantis should receive security protection after leaving office.
“We’re at the midpoint in the negotiations,” Rep. Jason Shoaf of Port St. Joe, House budget chair for transportation and economic development, told reporters Friday.
Second Year of Budget Delays
For the second consecutive year, Republican legislators failed to complete the state budget during the regular 60-day session that ended in March. The Legislature is constitutionally required to pass the General Appropriations Act annually, and the delay forces taxpayers to cover additional costs for the extended session.
Last year’s extended session cost Florida taxpayers more than $259,000, according to legislative records.
Key Spending Disputes
While the House and Senate reached agreement last month on overall spending amounts for the new budget, they remain divided on specific allocation details. Budget conference committees have spent recent days exchanging offers contained on spreadsheets.
Major disagreements include whether to itemize state spending that helps families send children to private schools, funding levels for DeSantis’s “job growth grant fund” that allows the governor to award economic development grants, and healthcare spending for poor, elderly, and disabled residents.
Governor’s Security Detail Controversy
The Senate made a budget offer this week proposing that the state’s top law enforcement agency provide DeSantis and his family with security for one year following his departure from office in January. The proposal was first reported by Seeking Rents investigative reporter Jason Garcia on social media.
The House, which has been at odds with DeSantis for the past two years under Speaker Daniel Perez of Miami, has not agreed to the security funding proposal.
Lawmakers are scheduled to work through the weekend to prepare new negotiation offers for Monday as they attempt to resolve the budget impasse. The special session is scheduled to continue through May 29.
