Budget Update
The House and Senate are about $400 million apart in their initial proposed spending plans released towards the end of last week.
The House, typically a more conservative chamber, published an $89.9 billion budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year. The Senate plan totals $90.3 billion. The two chambers are constitutionally bound to agree to a budget each year.
Both chambers are proposing spending plans that are well below what Gov. DeSantis recommended. The spending plan DeSantis presented to the Legislature ahead of Session totaled $91.3 billion.
When the Senate released its budget, it provided details for spending on Hurricane Michael. The chamber wants to send $1.6 billion worth of emergency funds to the Panhandle, and included an extra $220 million in the actual appropriations bill.
Sticking points between the House and Senate are expected to unfold in the coming days of Session. But already lawmakers have identified potentially problematic parts of the budget that will have to be negotiated between Appropriations Chairs Sen. Rob Bradley and Rep. Travis Cummings.
State Sen. Travis Hutson, who wrote the spending plan for the Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development budget committee, said this week that he expects money for the state and local affordable housing trusts -- also known as the Sadowski Trust -- will be an issue for the budget chairs to work out. Currently, the House is nearly $210 million short of the Senate’s spending plan for affordable housing. Both Senate President Galvano and Chair Bradley have said they’d like to fully fund the affordable housing pool at more than $331 million.
As well, Hutson said he expects the two budget chairs to negotiate funding for VISIT FLORIDA and Enterprise Florida.
The Senate has set aside $50 million for VISIT FLORIDA, the state’s premier tourism-marketing agency, and $18 million for Enterprise Florida.
The House, meanwhile, has moved forward with a spending plan that has $19 million for VISIT FLORIDA to carry the agency toward its planned sunset date, Oct. 1. The Senate is seeking to repeal the shuttering of the agency, currently written into state law. The House also proposed eliminating funding for Enterprise Florida altogether.
