(The Center Square) – Florida’s legislative session ended with several notable pieces of legislation passing both chambers, but unfinished business with the budget and no property tax relief proposal means lawmakers will have to return to Tallahassee to hash it out in special session.
Second-term Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis already called a special session on congressional redistricting to take place in April.
Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Bartow, said in his closing remarks that lawmakers will also return to complete work on a balanced budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year and to put “a meaningful option” for property tax relief on the November ballot.
A major bill that passed was Florida’s version of the SAVE Act, which requires voters to show ID proving U.S. citizenship and scrapping student IDs as an acceptable form of voter ID.
Large data centers in Florida will be regulated under another bill that cleared both chambers, though some of the bill’s strongest provisions were watered down before its passage.
Also clearing the Legislature: a bill that allows the state’s Chief of Domestic Security within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement the authority to designate a group as a domestic or foreign terrorist organization if certain conditions are met.
Some of the session’s most prominent priorities failed to reach the finish line. At the beginning of the year there were at least seven proposals addressing property tax relief. None passed.
“This session has been a failure,” said House Democratic Caucus Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa. “Republicans fought among themselves and Floridians lost.”
Driskell criticized Republicans, saying they did not adequately focus on affordability.
The Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights, backed by DeSantis, passed the Senate but did not advance in the House. The bill would have installed parental controls and protections for minors while regulating the use of AI in the state.
DeSantis blamed the House for “blocking” the bill.
Of the more than 1,800 bills that were filed this legislative session, approximately 185 general bills passed both chambers, according to the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber said there remains a $1.4 billion difference in the House and Senate budgets with which lawmakers will have to contend.
House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, acknowledged in the final week of the regular session that it was “abundantly clear” the state budget would not be completed in time to avoid a special session.
“Despite wild rumors to the contrary, I intend for us to continue working until both the House and Senate agree that we have disposed of all pending matters before the Legislature,” said Perez.
