Two months overdue, the Florida Legislature is clumsily crafting a new state budget.
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In another overtime session, a handful of lawmakers huddle behind closed doors in the Capitol, while animosity hovers over Republican leaders.
No wonder it’s taking so long. House Speaker Daniel Perez of Miami refused to consider some of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ priorities in an earlier special session. Perez now complains that DeSantis won’t return his calls. Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton have been at odds for more than a year.
And forget about the opposition party. Republicans are so arrogant about flexing their power that the Democrats were not even allowed to ask questions about the budget in a brief floor session Tuesday.
The speaker’s suspect reasoning was that the budget before the House when the session opened was the same one the House debated and passed in March, House Bill 5001.
A House-Senate stalemate followed, leading to the current overtime session, which is expected to end by May 29.
Democrats argue that economic conditions are much different now. The U.S. is at war with Iran. Gasoline prices have skyrocketed. Florida’s unemployment rate has increased. The state plans to close a costly Everglades immigrant detention center, Alligator Alcatraz, which costs a million dollars a day to operate.
Beyond that, there are new issues that have popped up, seemingly out of nowhere. Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, flagged a Senate proposal to allocate $500,000 to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for a “wastewater narcotics and explosives testing” program with the aim of catching drug traffickers — at least, that’s what the budget note claims. But with no details or backing legislation, it’s hard to know for sure how the money would be used. (space) She’s worried that this is actually a buy in to another controversial national trend: Testing sewage in a search for evidence of abortion-inducing medication.
Meanwhile, good-government advocates across the board are alarmed at plans to filch up to $300 million from dozens of trust funds, money that was raised (through taxation, program fees or other revenues) for specific purposes like health-care grants, environmental protection and regulation of banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions. Where will it be spent instead? It’s tough to know.
None of it matters to Republicans. They decreed that Democrats can ask questions and debate how Florida spends $115 billion, but only after the final budget, known as a conference report, is published as HB 5001E. The problem is, all key decisions will have been made by then — largely in secret. Under the Florida Constitution, the final budget must be public for 72 hours before a vote, and it can’t be changed. without restarting the clock.
A degradation of democracy
House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa describes a “degradation” of the Legislature’s work. She rightly fears that the next round of leaders who take over in November will show the same contempt for the people they represent.
In the 120-member House, the strong-willed Perez, in effect, muted the microphones of Democrats, even though the outcome of every vote is preordained, because the GOP has a supermajority. House Republicans outnumber Democrats 85 to 34, with one seat vacant in Miami-Dade.
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Building a budget in the nation’s third-largest state requires thousands of decisions, from billions for school districts to local crime-reduction efforts.
Many big-money questions demand resolution. Will lower-income HIV and AIDS patients get the drugs they desperately need? Will teachers or state troopers get raises? Will the state clear its shamefully long waiting list for Floridians with disabilities?
Unsettled budget issues are “bumped,” first to the two budget committee chairmen and then to the speaker and Senate president. As the stakes get higher, the circle of decisionmakers gets smaller and smaller.
Sham budget proceedings
State budget talks have always been cloaked in secrecy, but this session is a sham when it comes to openness.
One of several conference committees of senators and representatives met Tuesday to trade budget offers, developed in private among key lawmakers and staff members. If needed, an influential lobbyist is a quick call or text message away.
One budget spreadsheet was 70 pages of fine print, mostly for environmental and agricultural programs. Few lawmakers probably read it, and none of it was discussed publicly. The public meeting lasted for 1 minute and 46 seconds.
In another panel, the fine print in one offer listed a $4 million award to the families of the Groveland Four, young Black men from a small Central Florida town who were falsely accused of raping a white woman in 1949 in one of the worst racial atrocities in Florida history. All four men died many years ago. One was killed by a lynch mob, and another was shot by a sheriff.
Less than a decade ago, the injustice of this case was evident to almsot everyone. One of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ first acts was to pardon the four. But the familie were never granted compensation for the loss of these young men. Sen. Lavon Bracy Davis, D-Orlando, was able to get a $4 million appropriation in the Senate budget — but not the House. Not yet. As of Friday. the issue is out of Bracy Davis’s hands.
When reporters pressed Sen. Ileana Garcia of Miami about the money, she smiled and said: “We don’t want to say too much ahead of time.”
This is no way to build a budget for 23 million Floridians. But this is how it’s done.
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board includes Executive Editor Roger Simmons, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant, Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney and editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman. Send letters to [email protected].
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