Florida House and Senate at odds with each other and DeSantis over budget plans
News and commentary for Floridians and other thoughtful Americans
By Christine Sexton
The Tallahassee money games have begun.
The Florida House and Senate have released dueling state budget plans that are about $1 billion apart, with the House proposing to spend $113.6 billion and the Senate $115 billion between July 1 this year and June 30, 2027.
Neither the House nor the Senate budget meets the $117.4 billion spending level Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed in his Fiscal Year 2026-27 budget request submitted in January.
And the legislative proposals fall short of the governor’s wishes on several fronts. For instance, DeSantis pushed for $62 million for the Florida State Guard, a $26 million increase over its existing budget.
The House’s budget would slash funding for the State Guard altogether, whereas the Senate would direct $33.9 million to the guard, or about $700,000 less than today.
Other examples of DeSantis’ legislative budget request falling short with legislative leaders include:
Teacher pay raises: The governor wanted $200 million in additional funds for teacher pay raises. The House and Senate offered half that amount, with the former proposing $101.4 million and the latter willing to appropriate $100.3 million.
Schools of Hope: The governor’s legislative budget request included $20 million for Schools of Hope, or charter schools that may co-locate in struggling public schools. The Senate’s proposed budget would allocate $6 million for the charter schools, keeping funding at existing levels, while the House, which has traditionally championed Schools of Hope, eliminates funding for them altogether.
Job growth grants: DeSantis asked for $50 million for a program that awards money to cities and counties. The Senate agreed to the request, but there is no funding for it in the House budget.
Emergency fund: The governor asked for $500 million for a controversial emergency fund that has been used to pay for immigration enforcement. The Senate has offered $250 million while the House only set aside $100 million and has recommended limiting the fund to natural disasters.
Food testing: The governor announced in a budget-related press release that he wants $5 million to expand testing for contaminants, such as heavy metals, bacteria, pesticides, and microplastics, to safeguard public health and ensure that food and household items used by Floridians are safe and trustworthy. The Senate’s proposed budget includes $2 million for testing. The House budget doesn’t include any funding for the program.
The House included a proposal from the governor to transfer the campus of the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee to New College of Florida. The Senate does not include that proposal.
The Senate proposes $200,000 to fund the “Patriotic displays in classrooms” bill, which would put pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in each public school in the state. The House did not lay out a specific line item for that.
Past midway point
The release of the proposed spending plans by the House and Senate marks the beginning of the Fiscal Year 2026-27 budget negotiations.
Tensions were high leading to the eventual public release of the spending plans, with House budget subcommittee chairs announcing last week they had shared their spending recommendations on health care, education, the environment, and government with House Appropriations Committee Chairman Lawrence McClure.
By early that afternoon, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Ed Hooper said the Senate, which had been prepared to release its spending plan that day, would delay until next week so the chamber could move in concert with the House.
After Hooper’s mid-day statement, the House released its budget Thursday night.
The Senate then issued a statement late Thursday announcing it would release its proposed budget — and respective conforming and implementing bills — Friday.
Although the Senate proposes spending $1 billion more than the House, Hooper contended in a written statement that the Senate’s proposed budget is conservative.
“Limiting the size and scope of government helps keep Florida affordable for families and seniors. Many items needed to raise a family and retire with dignity are tax free, and we want to keep it that way,” Hooper said.
“Our revenue forecasts, while still growing, have stabilized, so by spending less than we have, we are continuing to right-size our budget for the long-term, maintaining a healthy savings account, and preserving the permanent, meaningful, broad-based tax relief that families and businesses plan for and count on.”
Christine Sexton, the primary reporter on this story, has spent more than 30 years reporting on Florida health care, insurance policy, and state politics and has covered the state’s last six governors. She lives in Tallahassee. Reporter Jay Waagmeester contributed to this report.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:
Related:
Buried in the budget: Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump and Newsmax
Big Sugar wants Florida lawmakers to make its critics shut up
Florida Legislature may expand its Veggie Libel Law--you say tomato, I say, see you in court
Onward thru the fog
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog. That includes both original reporting and shared stories such as this one today.
Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.
J.C. Bruce
Sharing is caring
As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 750,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends. If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.
More online
Thank you for reading the Tropic Press newsletter. You also have access to the Tropic Press website for additional and previous posts, an archive of posts from our advice columnist, Miss Mingo, occasional guest commentaries, and information about The Strange Files series of mysterious adventures and other books.
Parting Shot:
I love how millions of $$$ are thrown around like they are playing a game of Monopoly and Risk rather than committing Florida taxpayer money on projects that may or may not be useful to us. Sadly, it's no different at the Federal level. Didn't the federal government do food testing? It seems wasteful to have each state do its own testing.
The only thing the Republicans understand about money is when they’re stealing it or making it for themselves.