TALLAHASSEE, Fla — As the Memorial Day weekend begins, Florida remains without a state budget, and time is running out. With the legislative session originally scheduled to end May 2, lawmakers are now more than 20 days overdue — and still no agreement is in sight ahead of the July 1 deadline and start of the new fiscal year.
The Capitol sits quiet, with no lawmakers in either chamber and no budget deal on the table. This silence follows the collapse of a previous “framework” agreement announced at the start of the month.
Watch full report from Forrest Saunders
“Members… good things come to those who wait,” House Speaker Danny Perez (R-Miami) said during the final moments of the regular session on May 2. But the waiting hasn’t helped.
Governor Ron DeSantis rejected the proposed tax package, which focused on reducing sales taxes, and instead championed a property tax rebate program.
“Any Florida last tax package is going to be dead on arrival. We are not going to knee cap our ability to provide you property tax relief, just so we can give a little bit of a benefit to Canadian tourists,” said DeSantis on May 7.
Following the governor’s comments, the Senate withdrew support for the package. Senate President Ben Albritton later suggested in a memo that the reoccurring sales tax cuts were too deep and wouldn’t deliver noticeable relief to Floridians.
In response, the House returned to Tallahassee, voted to extend the session from June 6 through the end of next month. The Senate, however, has yet to sign on.
After, House Speaker Perez told members of the press he doesn’t support the governor’s rebate plan, warning it could deepen the state’s spending problems.
"We can go with a critical needs budget and make sure that, you know, we take care of what's necessary and move all the rest of the money into reserves. Or we can go back to the old deal that we had, if they the Senate wants to honor their word from last week. And if there's another option for the tax cut that I'm missing but that still obliges us to the recurring tax cut— well, then, call me and tell me what that offer may be," Perez said during a press gaggle on May 13.
Though there were hints of progress in recent memos, promised mid-week updates never materialized. Meanwhile, Florida Democrats are placing blame squarely on the Republican leadership.
“Because they were spending so much time renaming the Gulf of America and spending so much time trying to take down the governor— and look, you know, I understand that— but they neglected their number one responsibility, which is to pass a budget to make sure that our government is functioning for the next year,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried on May 8.
As negotiations drag on, the consequences of continued inaction are becoming more severe. July 1 is the constitutional deadline for Florida to adopt a budget. If the deadline passes without a plan, the state could experience its first-ever true government shutdown.
The governor’s office says emergency and executive orders might be used to continue funding at current levels, but such a move has never been tested. What comes next remains unclear—but one thing is certain: time is ticking.
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