\n\t\t\t\t\t\tFor the second straight year, lawmakers will need extra time to complete the budget \u2013 the one bill the Legislature is constitutionally required to pass each year.Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, said talks with House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, on topline budget numbers are continuing, but they\u2019ll end the session on Friday and return in mid-April to finish their work.\u201cI respect the priorities of each party, because we all have a role to play in a balanced budget that keeps Florida strong, safe and free,\u201d Albritton said. \u201cI look forward continued productive discussions on joint allocations in the coming weeks, and to resuming our work on the budget in the near future.\u201dPerez echoed those remarks.\u201cIn the weeks ahead, we will continue working with our Senate counterparts to ensure we return in the proper posture to complete our constitutional responsibility of passing a state budget,\u201d Perez said.The move means all bills that don\u2019t pass by Friday, the scheduled last day of the regular session, will die.Unlike last year, when a standoff over tax cuts led to the extended session, there isn\u2019t a single policy dispute that\u2019s created the deadlock.The $1.4 billion gap between the House and Senate\u2019s preferred budgets isn\u2019t that large considering the $115 billion current spending plan, but each chamber has refused to budge on priority bills for the other chamber.\u201cThere\u2019s a subtext of animosity and mistrust among what (former Governor) Lawton Chiles called the three legs of the stool \u2013 the Senate President, the House Speaker and the Governor. And I think that\u2019s in our way,\u201d Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, a former Senate President who has served in the Senate for more than a decade, told the News Service of Florida.\u201cIt\u2019s the same people coming back to the same place with the same grudges trying to do the same thing in the same way. So surprise, surprise, it doesn\u2019t seem to work.\u201dThat animosity and mistrust are lingering from last year\u2019s session, when Gov. Ron DeSantis balked at a plan from Perez to cut the state sales tax, fearing it would crowd out his push for a large property tax cut. Albritton has mostly backed DeSantis\u2019 agenda, while Perez has resisted it.Last year, the dispute ended without any of the leaders getting their top priority passed \u2013 the compromise on the tax cuts didn\u2019t include an overall sales tax cut or a property tax cut and Albritton\u2019s push for an infusion of funding to rural areas, a bill known as \u2018Rural Renaissance,\u2019 didn\u2019t pass either.This year, the House didn\u2019t consider the Rural Renaissance bill, and the Senate hasn\u2019t addressed a property tax cut measure that passed the House.DeSantis has been pushing for a property tax cut for more than a year, but hasn\u2019t put forth a detailed plan to put on the November ballot. He said Thursday he prefers a special session concentrated solely on property taxes, something Albritton has said he\u2019d support.Other DeSantis priorities, such as a ban on vaccine mandates for children to be accepted to K-12 public schools and consumer protection restrictions on artificial intelligence, didn\u2019t advance in the House.Lawmakers are already set to return to the Capitol on April 20. DeSantis has called a special session to redraw congressional districts.\u201cI don\u2019t know that there\u2019s any magic elixir that can be poured in the water coolers here that can make it all go away,\u201d Gaetz said. \u201cThat\u2019s why they have elections. That\u2019s why they have term limits.\u201dDOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tTALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
For the second straight year, lawmakers will need extra time to complete the budget \u2013 the one bill the Legislature is constitutionally required to pass each year.<\/p>\n
Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, said talks with House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, on topline budget numbers are continuing, but they\u2019ll end the session on Friday and return in mid-April to finish their work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI respect the priorities of each party, because we all have a role to play in a balanced budget that keeps Florida strong, safe and free,\u201d Albritton said. \u201cI look forward continued productive discussions on joint allocations in the coming weeks, and to resuming our work on the budget in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perez echoed those remarks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the weeks ahead, we will continue working with our Senate counterparts to ensure we return in the proper posture to complete our constitutional responsibility of passing a state budget,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n
The move means all bills that don\u2019t pass by Friday, the scheduled last day of the regular session, will die.<\/p>\n
Unlike last year, when a standoff over tax cuts led to the extended session, there isn\u2019t a single policy dispute that\u2019s created the deadlock.<\/p>\n
The $1.4 billion gap between the House and Senate\u2019s preferred budgets isn\u2019t that large considering the $115 billion current spending plan, but each chamber has refused to budge on priority bills for the other chamber.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a subtext of animosity and mistrust among what (former Governor) Lawton Chiles called the three legs of the stool \u2013 the Senate President, the House Speaker and the Governor. And I think that\u2019s in our way,\u201d Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, a former Senate President who has served in the Senate for more than a decade, told the News Service of Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the same people coming back to the same place with the same grudges trying to do the same thing in the same way. So surprise, surprise, it doesn\u2019t seem to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
That animosity and mistrust are lingering from last year\u2019s session, when Gov. Ron DeSantis balked at a plan from Perez to cut the state sales tax, fearing it would crowd out his push for a large property tax cut. Albritton has mostly backed DeSantis\u2019 agenda, while Perez has resisted it.<\/p>\n
Last year, the dispute ended without any of the leaders getting their top priority passed \u2013 the compromise on the tax cuts didn\u2019t include an overall sales tax cut or a property tax cut and Albritton\u2019s push for an infusion of funding to rural areas, a bill known as \u2018Rural Renaissance,\u2019 didn\u2019t pass either.<\/p>\n
This year, the House didn\u2019t consider the Rural Renaissance bill, and the Senate hasn\u2019t addressed a property tax cut measure that passed the House.<\/p>\n
DeSantis has been pushing for a property tax cut for more than a year, but hasn\u2019t put forth a detailed plan to put on the November ballot. He said Thursday he prefers a special session concentrated solely on property taxes, something Albritton has said he\u2019d support.<\/p>\n
Other DeSantis priorities, such as a ban on vaccine mandates for children to be accepted to K-12 public schools and consumer protection restrictions on artificial intelligence, didn\u2019t advance in the House.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers are already set to return to the Capitol on April 20. DeSantis has called a special session to redraw congressional districts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know that there\u2019s any magic elixir that can be poured in the water coolers here that can make it all go away,\u201d Gaetz said. \u201cThat\u2019s why they have elections. That\u2019s why they have term limits.\u201d<\/p>\n
DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the second straight year, lawmakers will need extra time to complete the budget \u2013 the one bill…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[22264,88998,5238,9935,89000,2683,28,30,49630,29,5052,213,88997,51463,88996,88999,88995,164],"class_list":["post-190524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-albritton","tag-animosity","tag-bill","tag-budget","tag-budget-standoff","tag-desantis","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-lawmaker","tag-florida-news","tag-house","tag-late-news","tag-mistrust","tag-perez","tag-senate-counterpart","tag-session","tag-tax-cut","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}