As talks over a budget agreement loom over the state capital, legislators in the Florida House and Senate will return to Tallahassee to discuss a potential redrawing of the congressional map ahead of the November election.
A special session called by Gov. Ron DeSantis beginning April 20 will bring House and Senate members back to the state capital for the first time since the conclusion of a 60-day session on March 13. Legislators left without approving a budget for the coming fiscal year. And talks over bridging the $1 billion spending difference likely won’t happen between the House and Senate during the special session.
The House (HB 5001) and Senate’s (SB 2500) proposed budgets for fiscal year 2026-27 total $113.58 billion and $115.03 billion, respectively. Health and Human Services received the largest portion of funding for the House and Senate’s proposed budgets, totaling $49.33 billion and $49.09 billion, respectively. The state’s combined education programs and services received the second largest proportion of funding, $31.83 billion and $31.80 billion, respectively.
State Rep. Jim Mooney, who represents the Florida Keys and south Miami-Dade, said there haven’t been any new developments in terms of when the chambers will convene and pass a budget.
The Florida Legislature is constitutionally required to pass a balanced state budget, known as the General Appropriations Act (GAA), annually during its legislative session, which takes effect on July 1. That means legislators have until June 30 to come to agreement on a spending plan.
Mooney said the difference in spending between the chambers is closer than the $3 billion separation between the House and Senate seen during the previous budget cycle. The legislature ultimately approved a $117.9 billion budget last June, of which DeSantis vetoed $564 million before signing a $117.4 billion spending plan.
“We’re closer and we have plenty of time,” Mooney said. “Everybody wants stuff. The speaker and Senate president want things. The 120 House members and 40 Senators want things.
State Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, too, hasn’t heard anything suggesting the budget would be taken up during the special session for congressional redistricting.
“The focus, as it stands, appears to be limited to that call,” she said. “That said, I remain optimistic that both chambers will be able to close the gap and finalize a budget before July 1.”
In early March, Speaker Danny Perez noted the disagreements in the budget, stating the “House believes we should spend less money; the Senate believes we should spend more money.”
Senate President Ben Albritton noted how the two chambers weren’t too off in terms of spending.
“If you look at the budget as a whole, there are a couple of silos we’ll figure out,” he said during a recent interview with CBS Miami.
Despite the budget differences, both chambers allocated $20 million for the Florida Keys Stewardship Act. Funds support stormwater, canal restoration projects and other water quality projects from Key Largo to Key West.
“We don’t ask for anything we don’t have a use for,” Mooney said in relation to the project requests for his district. “If you look at some of the projects that have gotten funded in the state, you’d scratch your head and go, ‘What?’ For us, the money gets spent the right way.”
Rodriguez said she expects negotiations to continue following the special session.
