Legislature extends session until June 6 to finish budget, tentative agreement on $2.8 billion tax relief package reached

The two chambers’ budgets are $4.4 billion apart and contain plenty of policy differences as well. Behind the scenes negotiations were not sufficiently fruitful. They couldn’t really get into debating the details of the budget until they decided how much money they can spend, and the gulf between their tax relief plans made that uncertain.

Both chambers proposed record tax relief packages. The House’s $5.5 billion proposal is centered around a reduction in the state sales tax from 6.0 percent to 5.25 percent. The Senate believes a revenue reduction of that size is not responsible and would lead to budget shortfalls in the near future. They countered with a  package that totals more than $2 billion, but it would be a recurring loss to the state of $751 million, compared to the Senate’s nearly $5.0 billion recurring loss. The Senate’s big provisions are a sales tax exemption for clothing and shoes, a variety of sales tax holidays, and a one-time $790 million motor vehicle registration rebate.

Before adjourning, Speaker Perez said they had reached a tentative agreement on tax relief. He said it would total a record $2.8 billion, $2.5 billion of which is recurring. It includes a permanent sales tax cut of $1.6 billion. No other details were given.

The tax agreement should include two Florida TaxWatch priorities, a reduction in the Business Rent Tax (BRT) and a five-year extension on the moratorium on local governments increasing communications services tax (CST) rates. The House included both these provisions in its original tax package. The Senate package had the CST moratorium, and the President said he has offered the House a reduction in the BRT from 2.0 percent to 1.0 percent.

Both presiding officers said there was an agreement on a “framework” for the budget. However, allocations (the amount available to spend in each policy area) are still undecided.

Select Committee will Explore Property Tax Relief Over the Summer

This week, Speaker Perez appointed a select committee to study property taxes over the summer and develop proposals for major property tax relief. He has directed the committee to draft one or more proposed constitutional amendments for consideration during interim committee meetings in the fall. The Speaker wants the House to vote on the bills in Week 1 of the 2026 session. The committee met for the first time today, to hear a presentation on property taxes and a brief discussion on potential ideas put forward by the Speaker.

Other Legislation

Legislation passing in the final days include:

HB 443 will allow charter schools to adopt their own codes of student conduct and exceed enrollment caps if they can handle the growth and notify the sponsor. High-performing charters will be able to assume the charter of another school in the districts if initiated by the other schools. The bill also allows full-time virtual students to participate in interscholastic athletics at public or private schools. A provision to give charters the right of first refusal when a school board is selling any real property was removed before final passage.

Other bills benefiting charter schools passed that include provisions such as requiring that charter schools get a proportional share of the local government infrastructure sales surtax, allowing only parents to approve a schools conversion to a charter, and increasing Schools of Hope.

A bill (HB 209) to prevent the development of state parks, such as the proposal for golf courses, resort-style lodges, and pickle ball courts that surfaced last year, was amended by the Senate on Wednesday. The House concurred with the amendment, even though some think the amendment weakened the bill,  The bill now goes to the Governor.

SB 108 creates a process for review and repeal of administrative rules.  All existing rules would have to be reviewed by 2030 (20 percent a year for five years). New rules would have to be reviewed five years after adoption. Agencies will be required to publish rule changes electronically and make incorporated documents publicly accessible. It will also require tracking of agency compliance with licensing timeframes. 

 SB 7012 addresses child welfare issues, including addressing the workforce shortage by creating a Child Protective Investigator and case manager recruitment program, as recommended by Florida TaxWatch. It also  convenes a case management workforce workgroup composed to address current policy gaps and develop actionable recommendations.

SB 1730 is another update to the Live Local housing legislation passed in 2023. It includes a number of provisions to promote more affordable and workforce housing, including requiring cities and counties to permit affordable multifamily or mixed-use residential developments in areas zoned for commercial or industrial use.

HB 1205 will, depending on who you ask, either make bringing proposed constitutional amendments to the ballot through the citizen initiative process extremely difficult or protect the integrity of the process, The bill adds new restrictions on petition gathering, calls for heavy fines for wrongdoing and requires supervisors of elections to notify voters who signed petitions and inform them of their right to revoke their signatures.

SB 180 is wide-ranging emergency preparedness and response legislation. It will require local governments to better prepare for hurricanes, update public hurricane shelter funding priorities, creates the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, and more,

HB 1123 authorizes municipalities to use revenue generated by  the operation of a central sewage system to expand their central sewage system. Florida TaxWatch supports this as a way to facilitate the conversion of septic tanks to sewer systems.

Both chambers have now passed a bill (SB 296) to turn back the 2023 law that prevented high school start times earlier than 8:30 a.m. and middle schools earlier than 8:00 a.m.

HB 295 directs the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to develop a statewide waste reduction and recycling plan.

SB 480 allows the Florida Farm Bureau to offer health coverage plans to farmers.