(The Center Square) – The leaders of the two chambers of the Florida Legislature struck an optimistic tone on Thursday as work continues on a budget deal.
“We don’t have a final product yet, but we both have the same goal,” House Speaker Daniel Perez said. “We want to make sure that we help everyday Floridians and families are important part of our structure, important part of the future of the state of Florida. We began to come up with the question of whether or not we have to put ourselves in an uncomfortable position to raise taxes.
“I never want a future Legislature to have to be in that position. I do not believe in raising taxes. We agree in the opposite, cutting taxes, cutting spending, wasteful spending.”
He also said that he and other House leaders are having discussions with Senate leadership on tax savings for families.
In a speech on the Senate Floor, Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, said a “a lot of progress has been made over the last couple days” and he believed that lawmakers would be voting on a budget by June 16.
“Our constituents will be proud of how we are reducing spending,” Albritton said. “In fact, while our state is growing, this year’s budget will be less than the budget we passed last year. We’re cutting taxes, offering broad based and meaningful tax relief for families, seniors and small businesses. We’re paying off debt. We know that debt limits future purchasing power.
“We want to leave the state better than we found it by paying off debt early. We’re saving for the future. We can all be proud of our historic level of reserves in our budget this year.”
Conferees from both chambers continue to work on the different parts of the budget, which legislative leaders say will be complete by June 13. After waiting the constitutionally-mandated 72 hours for cooling off, the earliest a vote could occur is on June 16.
Lawmakers adjourned on May 23 without a budget after 90 days of work in Tallahassee and had to reconvene in special session to come to a deal after a tentative agreement fell apart. The state’s new fiscal year begins on July 1.
Perez also said the House, which passed a reduction in the state’s sales tax rate from 6% to 5.25%, wanted to cut the amount of revenue to decrease surplus revenue that he said has been appropriated by lawmakers for years on pet projects.
Perez said the deal which would increase the state’s reserves, known as the Budget Stabilization Fund, would “tie up some of those savings” and accomplish a key goal of Albritton which was protecting the state against a potential recession.
With the state heavily dependent on sales tax revenue (75% to 80% of its general fund revenues), any economic downturn could turn the state’s budget surpluses into deficits.
“Saving for the future is a solid financial strategy for any family, for any business, certainly important for the government of the state of Florida,” Albritton said. “It’s all also the best way to keep our state in the best position to weather any challenges we may face moving forward.”
The Legislature aims to put an initiative on the November 2026 ballot that would increase the constitutionally-mandated cap on the state’s rainy day fund from 10% to 25% of revenues.
Lawmakers are already planning to appropriate $750 million annually into a reserve annually to increase the fund, which is now up to 9.2% of revenue or $4.4 billion.
