Legislature Agrees on Budget
March 7th, 2018 by Jake Stofan
This is the second year In a row lawmakers have failed to complete the budget in time to end session in 60 days.
The failure was highlighted by Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Chris King Wednesday morning.
“I believed one-party state government was not working. I am more convinced of that today than I have ever been,” said King.
The sticking point… healthcare spending.
“Not surprisingly the Hospital part of the budget is proving to be difficult,” said Senate Appropriations Chair Rob Bradley, Tuesday morning.
But negotiations started to gain momentum early Wednesday
“Our budget chair is continuing to negotiate with the House and we hope that in the next few hours we’ll get some resolution,” said Senator Wilton Simpson.
And after countless closed door negotiations, a deal was announced early afternoon.
But the budget needs 72 hours to cool off before lawmakers can call it a year, meaning session will be extended.
Each extra day will cost tax payers roughly $60,000.
Governor Rick Scott seems to be leaving it up to the Legislature to determine how session will be extended.
“I look forward to the session finishing, getting the budget done, having an opportunity to go through the budget,” said Scott.
Senate Minority leader Oscar Braynon has his bets on lawmakers choosing to extend to Monday.
“If we’re going to do it we’d probably do a come back versus stay until Saturday and Sunday,” said Braynon.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Richard Corcoran said the best case scenario would be lawmakers staying in town through Saturday to wrap up the session.
Although agreed on, the details of the budget have yet to be released.
Posted in State News | No Comments »