The Senate has delayed any plans to release a budget proposal until next week following delays in the House.
Senate Appropriations Chair Ed Hooper announced that a budget proposal will be released next week from the upper chamber.
“Traditionally, the chambers introduce budgets the same week. It is important for us to keep that tradition and roll out the same week as our partners in the House,” Hooper posted on X. “As such, we have updated our schedule to roll out our budget in the committees on Thursday, the 12th, instead of this week.”
The move occurred as the House and Senate attempt to get in closer alignment about the total amount of resources available, a figure that remains in flux.
But Rep. Lawrence McClure, the House Budget Chair, signaled some tension between the bodies.
“With respect to Senator Hooper, during this term the Florida Senate has demonstrated little interest in respecting legislative traditions,” he posted. “Any timing issues they are having in pulling together their Senate budget have absolutely nothing to do with the Florida House.”
Hooper and Senate President Ben Albritton held a media availability discussing various budget challenges, from Medicaid spending to property tax relief.
“We are looking at the budget as a whole relative to last year, and that includes in tax reduction and debt reduction, all the important pieces that were part of the budget last year,” Albritton said.
“We’re looking at that relative to the one we’re building now. Now, you look at where we were, and then you have a growth of almost a billion dollars in Medicaid, and then you have other factors.”
Albritton said ultimately, the House and Senate want their budget proposals to begin close to, or below, “where we ended up last year.”
A number of factors, Albritton said, are outside the control of Senators but continue to add uncertainty to the budgeting process.
“All these numbers are part of a big number — over $100 billion — so everything that we do changes that number, impacts the total number of our budget,” Hooper said.
Of note, Albritton said he has not been lobbied about corporate income taxes amid the discussion about property tax cuts. He said the absence of businesses reaching out about that issue “is a little shocking for me.”
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