Florida lawmakers to vote Friday on budget

Florida lawmakers are scheduled to vote Friday afternoon on a record $101.5 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year and end the regular legislative session on time.

According to the News Service of Florida, House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, announced that the budget went to lawmakers at 12:06 p.m. Tuesday, starting a legally required 72-hour “cooling off” period before the spending plan can be approved.

House and Senate leaders finished negotiating the budget Monday night, after reaching agreement on spending about $6.7 billion in federal COVID-19 stimulus money. The state expects to receive about $10 billion through the American Rescue Plan Act, with unspent money going into state reserves.

“I do believe we will continue to see some fluctuation and some uncertainty as our economy recovers,” Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, said in a prepared statement Tuesday. “With this reality in mind, our budget utilizes available federal funding to make some significant nonrecurring investments in key infrastructure priorities that will create jobs and further bolster Florida’s recovering economy.“

The 60-day Florida legislative session is scheduled to end April 30.

Tags: News Service of Florida