{"id":2120,"date":"2026-05-29T22:08:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T22:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=2120"},"modified":"2026-05-29T22:08:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T22:08:23","slug":"florida-lawmakers-pass-114-5-billion-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=2120","title":{"rendered":"Florida lawmakers pass $114.5 billion budget"},"content":{"rendered":"
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TALLAHASSEE \u2013 Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a $114.5 billion spending plan Friday, wrapping up a special session to complete the budget more than two months after they failed to do so during the regular session.<\/p>\n

Read more Nearly all musical acts pull out of Trump\u2019s Freedom 250 concert<\/a><\/p>\n

The Senate voted unanimously in favor of the budget and the House voted 99-6 for the plan, but the vast support for the measure belied the tense process to produce it.<\/p>\n

House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, insisted on cutting the current budget of more than $115 billion, while Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, preferred to keep funding essentially level.<\/p>\n

\u201cFloridians expect their government to spend responsibly and prioritize the issues that matter most to families across our state,\u201d Perez said in a released statement. \u201cFor the second year in a row, the Florida House has led the charge in passing a budget that reduces spending while continuing to invest in public safety, education, environmental protection, health care, and infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Albritton, a citrus farmer, was pleased with the $196 million in the budget to support the beleaguered citrus industry, which has endured freezes, a greening disease and encroaching development that has led to a massive shrinking in the number of boxes it produces each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida citrus is making a comeback, one tree at a time,\u201d Albritton said in a released statement. \u201cThis heritage industry is not only vital to our state\u2019s economy, but it is truly a part of our DNA. Mark my words, Florida citrus is not going down on my watch.\u00a0Citrus matters, and I am running to this fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The budget includes $30 billion for K-12 schools, with $201 million for teacher pay increases. That raise, though, will only go to teachers with 10 years of experience, with the increase capped at $3,000 per year.
\nRepublicans said they wanted to use the money to prevent veteran teachers from leaving the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a great approach to trying to retain veteran teachers,\u201d said Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee on PreK-12 Education.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Democrats, though, said the funding isn\u2019t enough, as many districts faced potential cuts this year due to declining enrollment and teachers struggle to keep up with inflation.<\/p>\n

There were funds included to mitigate the effect of enrollment declines for school districts, but Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, said that would still leave Orange County with a $13 million shortfall for its schools.<\/p>\n

Read more Judge says Kennedy Center board broke law putting Trump\u2019s name on building, blocks closure<\/a><\/p>\n

Smith voted for the budget, but also took issue with the zeroing out of preeminence funding for universities. The University of Central Florida recently qualified for the funding, which is designed to push schools to boost research.<\/p>\n

But now the school won\u2019t be able to receive the money. In the current budget, $40 million was set aside for preeminence funding, which went to the University of Florida, Florida State University, Florida International University and the University of South Florida.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe preeminence framework remains a part of Florida law,\u201d said Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island, Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Higher Education, in response to Smith. \u201cThis is something that I hope we will revisit next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other Democrats called for raises for all state workers, instead of the 4 percent raises are targeted only corrections officers, state law enforcement officials and firefighters included in the budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur state employees are having difficult times paying their bills, paying for childcare, paying their car note, paying for property insurance, car insurance, all those things,\u201d said Rep. Bruce Antone, D-Orlando. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing we can do about pay raises this year, but for those coming back next year, I hope that we will put this on our radar screen and make sure that it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, only six House Democrats voted against the budget, although the main theme from Democrats was that it doesn\u2019t do enough to help Floridians facing cost of living constraints.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what it\u2019s going to take for us to wake up one day and realize that we are really not doing the things for the people in the state of Florida that we should be doing, as opposed to doing what companies need,\u201d said Rep.\u00a0Dianne Hart-Lowman, D-Tampa, who voted against the budget.<\/p>\n

House budget chief Rep. Lawrence McClure, R-Dover, defended the spending plan as putting the state on a better fiscal path that will avoid the deficits in future years projected by state economists.<\/p>\n

Read more Florida MVP Amelia Mancino leads Orlando All-Area girls volleyball<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Florida legislature wrapped up a special session to complete the budget more than two months after it failed to do so during the regular session.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nFlorida lawmakers pass $114.5 billion budget - Orlando Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=2120\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Florida lawmakers pass $114.5 billion budget - Orlando Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Florida legislature wrapped up a special session to complete the budget more than two months after it failed to do so during the regular session.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=2120\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orlando Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-29T22:08:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=2120#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=2120\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/47d95744296542489ff5c4bd403450f8\"},\"headline\":\"Florida lawmakers pass $114.5 billion budget\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T22:08:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=2120\"},\"wordCount\":770,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=2120#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/ae6c6118d5bfbffae5981af0b3109de8.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=2120#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=2120\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=2120\",\"name\":\"Florida lawmakers pass $114.5 billion budget - 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