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May 20, 2025 | Legislative Reporter “May and June is a lovely time to be in Tallahassee, and we all look forward to being here.” That was the quote from Senate Appropriations Chairman Ed Hooper after announcing the need for more time to pass the state budget. The legislature concluded its policy work on Friday, May 2, finishing with a total of 255 enrolled bills, 33 of which have already been signed by the Governor and 56 bills are pending his approval or veto. However, legislators must come back to complete their only constitutional duty… to pass a state budget before July 1. As it has for the last few weeks, a compromise on tax reduction policy eluded legislative negotiators, thus making a budget agreement impossible to complete in the 60-day legislative session. Late in the evening on May 2, the House and Senate passed HCR 1631, a concurrent resolution extending the 2025 Regular Session of the Florida Legislature until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, June 6, 2025. While budget conference committees were expected to be announced for the week of May 12, legislators have yet to return to Tallahassee with a plan or schedule to begin negotiating the details of a budget compromise. House Speaker Danny Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton originally announced with the resolution to extend session an agreement to approve an overall budget lower than the $115.6 billion proposed by the governor and a tax relief package that totals $2.8 billion, with $1.6 billion being a recurring sales tax cut. After the announcement, Governor DeSantis said he would veto any legislation or tax package that includes a broad cut to the state sales tax. The governor believes the revenue lost by providing such a tax break would likely not leave enough room to provide a cut to property taxes benefiting Florida residents. This announcement disrupted the agreed-upon budget framework and delayed overall allocation agreements between the House and Senate which are needed to start budget conferencing. The House held a floor session on May 13 to pass a resolution extending the session to June 30; however, the Senate does not agree to another extension and intends to pass a budget by June 6. House Memo / Senate Memo. As of May 20, progress seems to be emerging. The House and Senate have announced a potential return to Tallahassee after the Memorial Day weekend holiday, and in their latest offer to the Senate, the House did not include a recurring sales tax reduction but instead focused on a business rent tax reduction. Hopefully progress will continue. When budget negotiations do resume, the session extension is limited to only the following budget-related bills: SB 110 – Rural Communities HB 5013 – State-funded Property Reinsurance SB 2500 – Appropriations HB 5015 – State Group Insurance SB 2502 – 2025-26 General Appropriations Act HB 5203 – Capitol Center SB 2504 – State Employees HB 5501 – Documentary Stamp Tax Distributions SB 2506 – Natural Resources SB 7022 – Retirement SB 2508 – Judges SB 7030 – Educational Scholarship Programs SB 2510 – Pre-K through Grade 12 Education HB 7031 – Sales Tax Rate Reductions SB 2514 – Health and Human Services HB 7033 – Taxation May 20, 2025 | Legislative Reporter
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