'Blew up': Florida House speaker slams Senate president for breaking state budget deal

Saying Florida Senate President Ben Albritton "blew up the framework for the budget deal we had," House Speaker Daniel Perez said lawmakers now must extend the 2025 session to June 30 to finish the 2025-26 state budget – the one job they are constitutionally mandated to do each year.
In a May 9 memo to his members that was released to the news media, Perez, R-Miami, said Albritton, R-Wauchula, broke "his commitment to the House" and said he would "no longer bring the House's historic tax proposal to the Senate floor."
That's because Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier in the week said he would veto any proposed cut to the state sales tax, claiming it would jeopardize his push for cuts to property taxes. 'Any 'Florida last' tax package is going to be dead on arrival,' he told reporters at an event in Tampa.
The veto threat upended what was called a 'framework' for a budget deal agreed to by House and Senate leaders, who failed to reach an agreement during the 60-day regular session that was supposed to end May 2. Lawmakers still need to come to accord on what could be a $115 billion budget.
In his own memo released soon after Perez's, Albritton said that "throughout the entire course of negotiations with the House, the Senate has been and remains committed to tax cuts that offer broad-based and meaningful tax relief for families, seniors, and small businesses."
"... It is important to me that we develop a tax relief package that is sustainable for the long term and leaves room in our balanced budget for the voters to consider meaningful property tax relief on the ballot at the next general election," he added. "We will continue to work towards a final budget and tax relief package the House, Senate and Governor can support."
Albritton also made clear that no work on the budget could begin the week of May 12, when lawmakers were expected to return to Tallahassee: "As soon as we determine a date to start the budget conference, we will certainly let you know."
Meantime, Perez said he was "keenly aware that the uncertainty around the schedule causes problems for you and your families, but we will continue to work with the Senate to lock down dates as soon as practical."
"... We will still be meeting on Tuesday, May 13 to hold a floor session to pass a concurrent resolution extending the timeline through the end of June. We will also hold a meeting of the Select Committee on Property Taxes."
A request for comment is pending with the governor's office; DeSantis was in Jacksonville the morning of May 9 holding a roundtable on tax cuts.
"Our responsibilities do not change," Perez added. "We will deliver a fiscally conservative budget that cuts government waste and puts Florida on the best possible trajectory for long-term success."
This story, which contains previously published material, is developing and may be updated. Check back later for more.
Jim Rosica is a member of the USA TODAY Network – Florida Capital Bureau. Reach him at jrosica@tallahassee.com and follow him on Twitter/X: @JimRosicaFL.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Perez: Senate president's actions force session extension to June 30

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