The extended session is over, the budget is passed – but the vendetta between Gov. Ron DeSantis and House Speaker Daniel Perez continues.
DeSantis on June 23 bashed the additional six weeks of this year’s legislative session, saying it was unnecessary. He also promised to ax “at least” $500 million from the budget using his line-item veto authority.
“The reality is the House leadership (dragged) this out for 45 days for really no reason at all,” DeSantis said. “The budget that was enacted is not any type of sea change. There were no major policy victories in it. It was something that could’ve been done 45 days ago.”
Lawmakers wrapped up the session June 16, 105 days after it started and 45 days after it was scheduled to end. They passed a $115 billion budget, more than $3 billion less than the current year, which ended an impasse between the House and Senate over how to cut taxes.
Perez, R-Miami, preferred an overall cut to the sales tax, from 6% to 5.25%, but Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, feared that would leave the state without the resources for pressing needs in future years.
Eventually they agreed to a $1.3 billion tax cut bill (HB 7031) that eliminates the tax on commercial leases and removes the tax on a suite of items related to hurricane preparedness, including batteries and tarps.
One of Perez’s main objectives with the sales tax cut proposal was to prevent spending in future years. When the bill passed, Perez said it accomplished that goal, but DeSantis doesn’t think that argument carries much weight.
Florida has a lean budget, DeSantis argued, compared to other states and has the fewest state workers per capita in the country. Perez has noted the budget is about $500 million less than what DeSantis suggested in his budget proposal, so DeSantis said to keep up the fiscal discipline, he’ll wield a hefty veto pen.
“If some of the House leadership is saying that we’re spending too much and whatever, (then) don’t I have to take at least $500 million off to get under what I recommended?” DeSantis said.
DeSantis hasn’t formally received the budget (SB 2500) from the Legislature yet, but is expected to sign it into law with his vetoes before July 1, the start of the next fiscal year.
The delay on the budget and tax bills isn’t the only point of contention between DeSantis and Perez.
The House probed a $10 million payment from a Medicaid vendor to the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity tied to an initiative helmed by First Lady Casey DeSantis. The money was funneled to a political committee that opposed constitutional amendments on the ballot last year to install abortion rights and legalize recreational marijuana.
Perez’s sales tax plan, DeSantis feared, could have elbowed out room for his plan to cut property taxes – an idea that didn’t make it into the final tax cut bill.
The first clash, though, came in January when Perez rejected DeSantis’ initial call for legislation to impose stricter immigration enforcement. They later reached a compromise but DeSantis was miffed he had to cajole a Legislature in which Republicans have an 87-33 advantage over Democrats in the House and an 28-11 advantage in the Senate.
“Almost a 3-to-1 majority and I’m having to fight tooth and nail to get legislation to deport illegals and to make sure our local governments are helping out with this?” DeSantis said. “They should’ve been crawling over hot coals barefoot to get up to Tallahassee for a special session.”
Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: DeSantis: ‘No reason’ for overlong session, vows to veto ‘at least’ $500M from budget
Reporting by Gray Rohrer, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
