Done deal: Florida legislators reach budget, tax agreements

Amid looming federal cuts, legislators finalized the state spending and tax relief plans for the next fiscal year Friday, announcing they expect to take a final vote on the budget Monday evening.

As of Friday evening, the budget had not been printed, but Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, told reporters the spending plan is about $500 million less than what Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposed $115.6 billion budget for state fiscal year 2025-26.

Friday marked the 102nd day of this year’s legislative session, which was extended because of the legislative leaders’ failure to pass a budget. Disagreements over the size of the budget and what approach to take on tax cuts created a rift that pushed lawmakers to come back to Tallahassee to pass a budget before June 30 to avoid a government shutdown.

House Budget Committee Chair Lawrence McClure, R-Dover, said the debate took longer than it should have, but put the blame in part on special sessions on immigration called prior to the start of the 2025 legislative session.

“That took a lot of bandwidth from both chambers, membership and staff. So I’m not excusing that we’re delayed in getting this budget done, but there were contributing factors that largely were out of the control of either chamber,” he said. “I’m glad we did the work on immigration. It was important work. But I’m thankful we were as thorough as we were,” on the budget.

Preparing for Congress fallout

McClure also stressed the leaner budget. He emphasized the $1.5 billion set for reserves over the next two fiscal years, which the GOP-led Legislature is touting as an answer for a potential recession. 

“For starters, it’s a smaller supplemental list than many years prior,” McClure said, adding, “we’ve put a bunch of recurring money in reserve stabilizing the long-term future.”

Lawmakers last dipped into the Budget Stabilization Fund, which currently has $4.4 billion, during the Great Recession.

Still, President Donald Trump’s plan to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency after this year’s hurricane season worried Hooper, he said. The Senate agreed to provide $23 million for the Florida State Guard — DeSantis had requested $62 million — keeping in mind the civilian volunteer force’s role in responding to emergencies. 

“We heard yesterday that, from our friends in Washington, after this hurricane season, there may be no more FEMA,” Hooper said. “We may be on our own someday, and that would not be the time to start thinking about what should we plan ahead. … Just the state guard is an important part of making sure our state has the resources because the National Guard; it could be called anywhere.”

The Florida State Guard has mainly been part of DeSantis’ messaging against illegal immigration, particularly in sending troops to Texas’ southern border.

Hooper also expressed concerns about the multi-billion-dollar cut to Medicaid that Congress could enact. About 44% of federal funds coming into the state are for Medicaid. 

“We hope they never change the formula of the Medicaid reimbursement,” he said. “We’re in trouble if they do.”

Legislators earmarked nearly $560 million for local projects important to members. The supplemental funding was included on so-called sprinkle lists the chambers released Friday.  But those hundreds of millions went to more than local projects.

The powerful nursing home industry was able to secure significant Medicaid rate increases for long-term care facilities on both the House and Senate sprinkle lists. In the aggregate, the chambers agreed to a $176 million hike, of which about $18 million is recurring. That’s on top of a near $110 million rate increase the chambers had already agreed to put in the budget.

The increase in funds is expected to be coupled with new requirements on nursing homes that will be addressed in separate legislation, known as the conforming bill. It will be one of a spate of issues contained in SB 2514 the health care conforming bill.

In a prepared statement Emmett Reed, CEO of Florida Health Care Association, said the investment “reflects a strong commitment to quality and recognizes the importance of the state’s continued support to address our profession’s workforce challenges and elevate the life-enhancing services provided to Florida’s seniors and individuals with disabilities.”

The House targeted $23.3 million in state and federal funds to a Medicaid managed care program for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The program is a priority of House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, who pushed this year to take the small pilot program available in two Medicaid regions statewide.

Farmers Feeding Florida

Republican Senate President Ben Albritton, of Wachula, had to give up his dreams for a $200 million “Rural Renaissance” to invest in the state’s underdeveloped and economically challenged communities. But he managed to keep most of the money for tackling food insecurity. 

Before budget negotiations fell apart earlier in the year, the Senate’s budget included two grant programs through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services: $12 million to expand the infrastructure of food banks in rural communities, and another $38 million to help food banks buy products from Florida farmers. 

In this final deal, Albritton gets to keep $10 million for food bank infrastructure and $28 million for farmers to feed communities. Food bank networks across the state counted on this investment following the loss of millions in federal funds they used to buy fresh produce.

Education

The Senate included in its sprinkle list $300,000 for an “Intellectual Freedom Survey,” half for the State University System and half for the Florida College System. The survey is meant to “compile and analyze the annual intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity survey.”

The House included $7.5 million for Florida Polytechnic University to increase its enrollment to 3,000 students. Its fall 2024 enrollment was more than 1,770. 

The chambers agreed to fund $42.4 million to Florida State University for operational funding, the most of any institution. Florida International University would receive $35 million under the proposed budget for operation enhancement. 

Between the two chambers’ sprinkle lists, $10 million has been allocated to security for Jewish day schools.

In its Friday offer, the Senate rejected a House proposal to require private universities to meet performance metrics to accept scholarships for in-state students. 

The House included in its sprinkle list $4 million for Florida State University, half for the newly created Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases and half for Sunshine Genetics Pilot Program. 

Delivering for DeSantis

In the sprinkle list, the Senate was more amenable to DeSantis’ requests. 

Aside from including funds for the State Guard, the upper chamber also included $25 million for the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund, an initiative to encourage public infrastructure projects. In total, the budget includes $50 million out of the $75 million in DeSantis’ proposed budget. 

Cancer funding has been a priority for the DeSantis administration which pushed this year for a number of changes to how the state funds cancer research. 

While the DeSantis administration fell short on its efforts to redirect $127 million in cancer funds it did succeed on other fronts. The Legislature agreed to establish a five-year $30 million research incubator for pediatric cancer research and clinical trials with the direction to partner with Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, Nemours Children’s Health, Wolfson Children’s Hospital, and Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.

Businesses get more in tax cut deal 

After Perez pushed for a $5 billion annual sales tax cut and Albritton wanted to permanently exempt sales tax on clothing under $75, the legislative leaders have settled for a $1.29 billion tax package that mostly benefits businesses. 

A repeal of the business rent tax will cost the state $904.8 million in general revenue annually, while the sales tax cuts that average Floridians could take advantage costs $331 million.

Some of the sales tax cuts include a month long exemption for back-to-school items in August, a permanent exemption for disaster preparedness, and exemptions for sunscreen, life jackets, and helmets. 

“Nobody’s going to get rich and go to have a European vacation, but, look, it’s a smaller budget than last year,” Hooper said. “It’s something that we’ve only been working on since, what October, right after the election, and today, being day 102, it’s landing. Will you save a ton of money because of what we do? Probably not. You will save some.”

This story has been updated to include a comment from the nursing home industry, details about the tax relief package, and to update information about a newly established cancer research incubator.