Florida lawmakers said this would be the year of affordability. What happened?
Florida's legislative leaders said this would be the year of affordability.
They had plans to tackle the high costs of housing, property insurance and taxes. The House speaker wanted $5 billion in sales-tax relief. The governor proposed a plan to eliminate property taxes. The Senate president called for hundreds of millions of dollars in investment to spark a 'rural renaissance' in Florida.
But in the end, their $115 billion budget mostly gave tax breaks to businesses. The sales-tax proposal never came to fruition. The Senate bill outlining a study on property-tax relief went nowhere. The Senate president's rural renaissance legislation was cut in negotiations.
'I'm not seeing any transformative policies that are going to improve the lives of Floridians,' House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell told reporters in the Capitol while the budget was being debated.
'In fact, by my estimation,' said Driskell, a Tampa Democrat, 'we're actually reducing affordable housing funding.'
Driskell said 'Republican Party infighting' had dominated Florida politics this year, delaying progress.
The legislative session was meant to be 60 days long. It ended, finally, after 11 pm on Monday — the 105th day of negotiating. The Republican civil war, as some have put it, began in January over immigration enforcement and continues to this day over Hope Florida, a program and charity spearheaded by the first lady intended to get low-income people off government aid.
House Speaker Daniel Perez defended the budget to reporters, and how long it took to craft.
'It's easy to jump to the conclusion that simply because there's civil discourse, or there's difference of opinion, that all of a sudden, you're enemies,' said Perez, a Miami Republican.
When asked why he cut the Senate president's rural renaissance project, he said: 'The House also cut the [proposal to reduce the] sales tax, and that was a priority of mine at the beginning.'
Perez said the Legislature's decision to make disaster-relief sales-tax cuts year round and extend the back-to-school holiday over a full month were both a 'win' for consumers. And they will go into effect annually without a legislative vote, which is different from years past.
'We have officially planted our flag and said, 'This is important, and it's important enough to make it permanent,'' Perez said. 'I believe we batted 1,000.'
'Did we change our position along the way? Of course, for the better.'
Lawmakers also eliminated the business-rent tax, which leaders from both parties said they hope would help small businesses. And they increased wages for state workers.
Senate President Ben Albritton said he held up on one of his key initiatives: $50 million in the budget to address food insecurity, double last year's investment.
'It's not a handout, but a hand-up, especially for hungry children in Florida,' said Albritton.
THE 'BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL'
Hungry children in Florida could get hungrier if the 'big, beautiful bill' passes in Congress.
Experts believe the legislation championed by Republican President Donald Trump would include deep financial cuts to government-sponsored food and healthcare programs.
The cuts to food assistance are expected to affect nearly 3 million Floridians, the Miami Herald reported at the end of May. The cuts to Medicaid could be as much as $2 billion a year in Florida, the non-partisan health research group KFF reported this month.
A Medicaid official told legislators on June 4 that the state Agency for Health Care Administration was 'preparing' for the cuts, but the agency has yet to release more details.
Sen. Jay Trumbull, a Panama City Republican who oversees his chamber's health budget panel, said during floor discussions that there was nothing in the budget to deal with potential federal changes to the programs, because they didn't yet know what those changes would be.
But it's clear Republicans are anticipating a softer economy going forward. One signal is that they set aside $200 million in additional money for Medicaid, anticipating more people will qualify for the government-funded health insurance, even with its strict financial requirements.
They are also preparing to spend less, pay down more debt and increase reserves.
'We want to have a more robust rainy-day fund,' said Albritton, the Republican Senate president from Wauchula.
'How do we prepare Florida for a list of uncertainties?'
Herald/Times reporter Lawrence Mower contributed to this report.
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