(The Center Square) – The goal of Wednesday’s budget conference committee hearings between the two chambers of the Florida Legislature was simple: Turn yellow into gray.
The two sides are working on the details of a budget deal that was reached in principle last week.
The way it works is the House conferees issue an offer on a spreadsheet and the Senate counters. Any yellow highlighted cells on the spreadsheet show where the two chambers are in disagreement. Once agreement is reached, either by one side agreeing to the specific appropriation or by the proposing side pulling it back, the yellow cell becomes gray, signaling concurrence.
For total K-12 appropriations, the Senate’s first offer of $20.88 billion in all funds is only $55 million more than the House’s counter-proposal of $20.83 billion.
On K-12 general fund appropriation projects, the House’s first offer is more than $25 million than the Senate’s first offer ($50.2 million) at $75.2 million and is $32 million more than the House’s budget bill, HB5001.
For agriculture, environment and general government, the Senate’s offer is $2.93 billion, eclipsed by the House’s offer of $3.01 billion.
The two chambers will continue to work on a compromise as they face a July 1 deadline for a new budget. The Senate and House will hold a full sessions on Thursday.
One bill that might be considered is a change to the state’s rainy day fund, which is known as the Budget Stabilization fund, via a constitutional amendment. The present cap on general fund revenues that can be committed to the fund is 10%, but if the resolution is passed and 60% of Florida voters approve of the measure in November 2026, the cap will increase to 25%.
Lawmakers must allocate $750 million annually to the rainy day fund until the new percentage is reached and they’ll move that outlay into reserve until voters decide on the amendment. The current balance is $4.44 billion (9.2% according to Florida TaxWatch), but the cap would increase to $13 billion by 2026-2027.
According to legislative leaders, work on the budget is planned to be completed by June 13 and a vote, after the constitutionally mandated 72-hour cooling off period, scheduled for June 16.
