With billions on the line for Florida’s schools, the environment, and its neediest citizens, state legislators return to Tallahassee Tuesday to finally craft a new state budget.
Republicans who control the Legislature were unable to piece together the state fiscal year 2026-27 budget during their regular session that ended in March. The standoff was largely due to a push by House Speaker Daniel Perez and his allies to cut spending below existing levels even as the state continues to grow. The state fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30.
House and Senate leaders on April 23 announced a deal on budget allocations covering different spending areas, agreeing to spend $52 billion.
The announcement did not include the overall dollar amount for the FY 2026-27 budget, only the general revenue allocations. That’s Florida’s main budget account that comes from sales taxes, corporate income taxes, and other sources. (The state also funds operations through trust funds and other sources including federal money.)
Legislative leaders have not announced an agreement on a tax relief package.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday took a shot at the Legislature for not completing its work on time but was optimistic a budget would get passed during the special session.
“I just think it’d be a mistake to drag it out any more. It should have been done in March. There’s no reason why it couldn’t have been done in March. And I think it is going to get done, and they’re not going to be able to just come back and go on vacation if it’s not done. It’s gotta get done in this period of time, and we will make it happen.”
Legislators, meanwhile, will delve into the nuances of spending over the next two weeks.
“We put our money behind the things we value,” said Rep. Fentrice Driskell, the House Democratic leader who did not sound optimistic Monday when discussing the budget session.
In messages to members, both Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton insisted they will find a way to pay for priorities while lowering overall spending.
Some of those priorities include the state workforce. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Ed Hooper told reporters earlier this month the chambers agreed to not increase state employees’ health insurance premiums, which he said would be a significant investment. State employees pay raises, though, are still a discussion item.
The main job each year of the Florida Legislature is to pass an annual budget which authorizes billions in spending on education, healthcare, the environment, transportation, public safety, and more.
It’s the second time in as many years the Legislature has been unable to get the budget, the one must-pass bill, done during its regular session.
The indecision comes at a cost to taxpayers. The 2025 budget special session cost $259,000.
Education
Education, both K-12 and higher education, accounts for more general revenue spending than any other area.
The House and Senate were within $200 million in the approximately $23 billion budget area.
The agreed-to GR allocation and the amount education conferees will be able to spend reflects the Senate’s original proposed budget, $22.8 billion.
There are some significant differences between the House and Senate budgets when it comes to improving school infrastructure.
The House is proposing $360 million for maintenance, repair, and renovation for fixed capital outlay, while the Senate is proposing $261 million.
Nearly all (99%) of the Senate’s fixed capital outlay is targeted for charter schools, $261 million. That House budget also earmarks $260 million for charter school improvements but includes another $50 million in capital outlay for the Florida College System and the State University System.
Additionally, the House and Senate budgets provide funding for specific SUS projects with the former agreeing to spend $449 million and the latter offering another $233 million.
SUS specific projects include:
- The Florida A&M University and Florida State University College of Engineering building (House $92 million, Senate $20 million)
- The University of South Florida College of AI, Cybersecurity, and Computing facility (House $25 million, Senate $15 million)
But there are more than capital outlay differences between the chambers’ education proposals.
The House includes $15 million for FSU to administer a grant for local governments to develop cybersecurity risk management programs. The Senate budget does not.
The Senate proposes $7 million for the Rural Incentive for Professional Educators program, while the House does not include funding.
The Senate allocates $6 million for Schools of Hope, while the House does not. That program was expanded drastically last legislative session, allowing private charter schools to open inside certain public school buildings.
The Senate allocates $30.4 million for regional education consortium services and the House dedicates $1.7 million.
Most of the Senate’s wish, $25 million, is for the Rural School District Supplemental Services grant program.
HHS: The year of provider cuts?
Spending on health and human services, from funding hospitals, nursing homes, and managed care plans to providing the elderly with meals and keeping seniors and children safe, accounts for the second largest slice of the general revenue pie.
The agreed-to HHS GR allocation for FY 26-27 is $19.2 billion, which is a smidge higher than what the Senate had proposed spending ($19.18 billion) and lower than the House’s proposed $19.2 billion.
While the House and Senate aren’t far apart in their overall spending on HHS, there are some significant differences, including proposed reductions to Medicaid providers.
The House budget included a 1.3% “efficiency” savings, or a $206.2 million reduction to managed care plans.
Additionally, in an attempt to reduce infant mortality rates, the House has proposed withholding 2% of payments to managed care plans. The plans with the highest reductions in infant mortality rates and the plan with the largest reduction in infant mortalities would earn back the 2% withhold.
Other plans that lower their infant mortality rates would earn back 1% of the withhold. And plans whose infant mortality rates increase would have a four-month ban on new enrollment in the House budget.
The Senate budget doesn’t contain any reductions or holdbacks for contracted Medicaid managed care plans. The Senate budget does, however, propose a 3% reduction in hospital reimbursements. That proposed cut isn’t in the House budget.
The Senate will renew its push to reduce hospital rates as $10 billion in supplemental Medicaid funding — much of which was promised to hospitals in last year’s budget but was jammed up by the Trump administration’s slow approval — heads to hospitals.
While the managed care plans and hospitals face reductions, Florida’s nursing homes are looking at potential increases. It’s a matter of how much.
The Senate budget proposes a $68 million recurring hike in reimbursements, of which $30 million is general revenue, the House has proposed an $82.4 million recurring increase, of which $36.4 million is general revenue.
Natural resources
Legislative leaders have agreed to spend $1.38 billion in general revenue for agriculture, natural resources, and the environment.
That’s much closer to the Senate’s proposed $1.4 billion. The House had initially agreed to a final number nearly half as large.
Among the biggest discrepancies in the chambers’ proposed spending plans involve funding the Everglades. The House has agreed to spend $350 million for Everglades restoration, with $155 million of that for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan or CERP, a cost-sharing agreement between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Florida to restore, protect, and preserve the greater Everglades ecosystem.
Other funding for the Everglades has gone to investing in water quality improvements.
The Senate is proposing more than $813 million for Everglades restoration, with $455 million of that for CERP. That’s more than the $810 million Gov. DeSantis requested for the Everglades restoration, of which more than $670M he targeted to CERP.
Gil Smart, policy director with Friends of the Everglades, hopes the agreed-to allocation means the House will meet the Senate’s proposed funding levels.
“There seems to be this idea that once the Everglades Agriculture Area (EAA) Reservoir Project and other CERP projects are done, that Everglades restoration will be completed — we disagree.”
Regarding state parks, both chambers are proposing $25 million for repairs for the 176 parks. While it doubles what the governor recommended, the funding is considered paltry by environmental groups.
A coalition of more than two dozen groups sent a letter to lawmakers in early March warning that it would take 30 years to complete the $759 million in repairs flagged in a December 2025 Department of Environmental Protection report.
Florida Forever
An extremely sensitive issue for many Floridians is the Legislature’s decision to defund the state’s main land acquisition program, Florida Forever, and direct the funds instead to the Family Lands Protection Program.
The Senate is allocating only $35 million to the Florida Forever program, while the House zeros out that line item completely. By contrast, the House is allocating $200 million to the Family Lands Protection Program and the Senate earmarking $300 million.
While the public has access to Florida Forever-purchased lands, the Family Lands Protection program doesn’t allow public access. It allows agricultural landowners to permanently preserve their land from development and has no public access requirements.
GOP lawmakers have hailed land protection easements as a way to protect future land development and continue agricultural operations that are vital to the state’s economy.
St. Petersburg Democratic House Rep. Lindsay Cross disagreed during budget debate earlier this year. ““You can’t just park on the side of the road, sneak under a barbed wire fence, and take your family for a hike on a cattle ranch,” she said.
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