Florida lawmakers (finally) complete budget deals, set for vote Friday

---

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – House and Senate leaders reached a final deal on the state budget late Sunday night, the last step in an extended process that required a special session to complete for the second year in a row.
The spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1 will be nearly $115 billion, less than the Senate’s preferred budget but not the $113.6 billion plan preferred by the House.
House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, had insisted on larger cuts to the existing budget, fearing projected deficits in future years if spending wasn’t curtailed. The chambers couldn’t reach an agreement during the regular session that ended March 13.
Legislators plan to approve the budget Friday and send it to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Here’s a look at some of the agreements reached Sunday:
Education
After clashing during the regular session over the state voucher program, the chambers agreed to keep the $4.5 billion for scholarships for homeschool and private school tuition inside the main funding formula for K-12 public schools.

An audit showing mismanagement of the program in November spurred the Senate to push for changes to ensure scholarship funds are being paid correctly, but the House wouldn’t go along.
The chambers also approved a provision to prevent deep cuts to school districts, which are seeing declining enrollment. Two counties, Union and Glades, saw their school districts put on emergency administration after enrollment declines jeopardized their solvency, and lawmakers moved to prevent the same from happening in other counties.
A measure setting aside $7 million for capital improvements at private schools in “financially disadvantaged” areas was amended to require the funds to be spent in rural counties with less than 10,000 people, with the funds disbursed by Dec. 1.
Lawmakers will also allow Florida State University to use existing funds to pay for the acquisition of Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare. FSU agreed to buy the hospital from the City of Tallahassee earlier this year, paying $3.6 million per year for 30 years, and investing $1.7 billion in the same period.

There’s also a deal in place to transfer control of the University of South Florida’s Manatee-Sarasota campus to New College of Florida, which the House wanted but the Senate resisted until late in budget negotiations.
Health care
In the health care portion of the budget, one point of contention was the Cancer Innovation Fund championed by First Lady Casey DeSantis. The Senate preferred $30 million while the House didn’t want to fund the program that seeks to boost cancer research, but the chambers settled on $20 million on Sunday evening.
Lawmakers provided emergency funding during the regular session to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which faced cuts by the Department of Health amid a shortfall of federal funding. That funding only lasts until June 30, the end of the fiscal year. Now, the program that helps HIV patients get needed prescriptions will receive $75 million, as top budget negotiators acknowledged the cuts earlier this year pushed people in the program to get private coverage to get their medications.

A $50 million fund that was part of a 2024 law championed by Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, who was Senate President at the time, was eliminated in the last round of budget talks. The Health Innovation Council, though, still has funds from the current year to help bring new medical technologies to hospitals.
The House wanted $250,000 to study the effects of leaving the federal health care exchange, where residents can shop for Affordable Care Act plans, but the Senate didn’t agree to it.
Environment
When the Legislature ended the regular session without a budget in place, DeSantis threatened to veto the spending plan if it didn’t include enough funding for Everglades restoration projects.
The final budget deal has $514 million for such projects, which McClure and Hooper said should satisfy DeSantis. But they said his veto threat wasn’t on their mind during negotiations.
“$514 million is well above the statutory minimum and it is a lot of money and should continue the (Everglades restoration) efforts,” House budget chief Rep. Lawrence McClure, R-Dover, said.

The chambers also agreed to $425 million for the Rural and Family Lands program, which pays for easements on agricultural land to prevent development on farmland.
Other issues
As part of the budget deal, the state will also provide $4.5 million in grants to county supervisors of elections to pay for software or hardware to conduct post-election audits.
And there will be $4 million for the families of the Groveland Four – Ernest Thomas, Charles Greenlee, Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin – African-American men falsely accused of raping a white woman in Lake County in 1949. They were pardoned in 2019 and exonerated in 2021. The Senate had the measure in its initial budget but the House resisted the provision until the last week of budget talks.
One issue where the chambers couldn’t reach an agreement was on security funding. The Senate wanted to pay for a security detail for DeSantis and his family for one year after he leaves office on Jan. 5, but the House wouldn’t go along. Also, the Senate didn’t agree to the House push to provide security to the nominees for governor of each major party after the Aug. 18 primary election.