Last Updated: 2:34 p.m.
One of the more-contentious legislative sessions in recent history came to a close late Monday as lawmakers approved a $115.1 billion budget for next fiscal year and prepared to send it to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The Senate unanimously passed the spending plan (SB 2500), while the House approved it in a 103-2 vote. Lawmakers finished the annual session at 11:19 p.m. — more than six weeks after the scheduled May 2 end of the session.
In contrast with the previous two years, Palm Coast and Flagler County’s haul in special appropriations was very small compared to more than $100 million they received last year. Legislators approved $2.5 million for a holding tank–or an equalization tank–for Palm Coast’s wastewater system, which will significantly alleviate overflow pressure on its Wastewater Treatment Plant 1; legislators also approved a $2.5 million allocation to help upgrade that plant, for a total of $5 million. The city also got $125,000 for a planned YMCA in Town Center, money to be used toward permitting. (An earlier version of this article overlooked one of the two wastewater appropriations and misstated the city’s amount in the headline.)
Bunnell and Flagler Beach got no special appropriations.
“Here we are at the end of the long and winding road,” House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, said as the House convened Monday.
The budget, which will take effect with the July 1 start of the 2025-2026 fiscal year, remains subject to DeSantis vetoes. But it would be about $3.5 billion smaller than the budget for the current fiscal year and is less than a $115.6 plan that DeSantis proposed in early February.
Lawmakers also approved a $1.3 billion package of tax cuts, dominated by the elimination of a commercial-lease tax that has long been a target of business lobbyists.
The budget includes moves ranging from paying down state debt to giving most employees pay raises. Sen. Ileana Garcia, a Miami Republican who chairs the Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee, described the spending plan as “lean yet strategic.”
The only dissenting votes on the budget were cast by Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, and Rep. Dotie Joseph, D-North Miami. While she voted for the budget, Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said it represented “a lot of missed opportunities.”
“There was just so much time spent on conflict and controversy, that a lot of issues that would benefit working families got left behind,” Eskamani said.
The House and Senate could not reach agreement on a budget and tax cuts before the scheduled end of the 60-day session and returned this month to hash out their differences.
In addition to disagreements between the House and the Senate, Perez also has clashed this year with DeSantis. As an example, the House proposed cutting the state’s overall sales-tax rate, while DeSantis wanted to give property-tax rebates to homeowners.
Perez said he wouldn’t “shy away” from talks that may conflict with the Senate or governor.
“Our goal was to be a co-equal branch of government, have an opinion that matters, an opinion of value,” Perez told reporters Monday. “I do believe now more than ever that the House’s opinion matters.”
Lawmakers did not pass DeSantis’ property-tax rebates or reduce the overall sales-tax rate. But Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, and Perez said cutting property taxes remains a goal that lawmakers will revisit during the 2026 session.
Albritton said a focus of this year’s session was “normalizing the revenues of the state of Florida” after an influx of federal money in recent years stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We knew in the beginning we wanted to have a large-scale conversation about government efficiencies and work toward an even greater level of fiscal responsibility and accountability,” Albritton told reporters Monday. “That’s what you’ve seen. Now, was that compounded with some of the other things on the peripheral that made it look like there were some huge arguments going on? Sure, but, we stayed true to task. …. That’s the way the system is supposed to work. I don’t view this on day 105 (of the session) as a failure.”
In addition to the $904 million elimination of the sales tax on commercial leases, the tax package (HB 7031) also would require holding a tax “holiday” every August on back-to-school items, such as clothes, school supplies and personal computers. While such holidays have been held most years, they have needed annual approval; the tax package would make them recur every year.
The tax package, which was approved 93-7 by the House and 32-2 by the Senate, also includes sales-tax exemptions for hurricane supplies such as certain types of batteries and portable generators. Other parts of the package include tax exemptions on such things as sunscreen, insect repellant, tickets to NASCAR championship races, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, life jackets, bicycle helmets and admission to state parks.
Some of the heaviest debate Monday came on bills linked to the budget, including on what is known as an implementing bill (SB 2502). Democrats criticized part of that bill that could lead to the governor’s Office of Policy and Budget reviewing the budgets of local governments.
Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, asked if the governor would “send a bunch of 20-year-old bros” to review local governments. But Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Sunny Isles Beach lawmaker without party affiliation, backed the measure, saying he’s seen cities in his district “blowing untold amounts of money on really stupid things. On trips all over the world. On productions and shows.”
The House approved the implementing bill in an 87-18 vote, while the Senate approved it 24-8.
Among other concerns raised Monday by Democrats were the potential impacts of federal funding cuts in programs such as food stamps and Medicaid. Albritton said legislative leaders and the governor will address any impact “when it gets here.”
“We don’t know what those numbers are going to be yet, so our budget does not contemplate what they could be,” Sen. Jay Trumbull, a Panama City Republican who chairs the Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee, said.
Linked to the tax package is a plan (HJR 5019) to ask voters in 2026 to increase the ceiling of a rainy-day reserve, known as the Budget Stabilization Fund, from 10 percent of general revenue collections to 25 percent. The plan includes setting aside $750 million in each of the next two fiscal years in anticipation of the ballot measure passing.
Legislative leaders said the reserve fund would help future lawmakers if the state faces disasters or economic downturns.
“If there is a recession, that (future) Legislature will thank this body for the hard decisions that we made today to save money that could have very easily been spent on a bunch of pork,” Perez said.
The budget includes $580 for paying debt, and lawmakers approved a separate bill (HB 5017) that requires an annual $250 million repayment of state bonds.
Also, the package includes 2 percent pay raises for most state employees, with state law enforcement officers and firefighters in line for additional 8 percent to 13 percent boosts.
The spending plan also includes a 1.59 percent increase in per-student funding in schools, from $8,987.67 to $9,130.41. In addition, it includes $691.5 million for Everglades restoration, the same as in the current year, $675.2 million for water improvement projects and $170 million for flood and sea-level grants.
–Jim Turner, Tom Urban, with Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida
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