Senate Approves Budget Unanimously As House Readies For Debate

April 11, 2013

The Senate unanimously approved a $74.3 billion spending plan for the coming fiscal year on Wednesday even as House Democrats signaled that their chamber could face a more divisive debate set to begin Thursday.

Senate leaders hoped the rare, 40-0 vote in favor of the upper chamber’s plan (SB 1500) would strengthen their hand in negotiations with the House over the final contours of the budget for the year that begins July 1.

“I do think that Chair Negron and his sub-chairs have strong hands in going into conference with the House of Representatives,” said Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville. “They know that the entire Senate is behind them.”

The chamber also approved a number of conforming bills dealing with everything from education to health insurance for state employees, often by lopsided margins.

The basic outlines of the Senate proposal remained essentially the same, including the centerpiece: a $1.2 billion increase in spending for public education, including a 5.8 percent boost in per-student funding. That includes $480 million for teacher pay raises, though the upper chamber would require any increases in salary to be based on performance.

It would change health-care reimbursements for hospitals, give state employees a raise and save $2.9 billion in reserves as a recovering state economy still faces potential speed bumps.

Senators also approved a number of amendments taking care of local issues or other concerns for individual members.

One friction point emerged over pay increases for corrections officers, who were omitted from a list of law enforcement employees who would get a tiered pay increase. Supporters of the amendment urged the Senate to come up with the $30 million, but relented after Senate Appropriations Chairman Joe Negron, R-Stuart, and other leaders pledged to work on the issue in conference.

“Let’s find the money,” pleaded Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness.

The House is set to begin debate on its version of the budget (HB 5001) on Thursday, but that spending plan appears to face a rockier road. House Democrats said Wednesday that they would oppose the budget because it doesn’t include a plan for drawing down billions of dollars in Medicaid funding to expand health care for low-income Floridians.

House Minority Leader Perry Thurston, D-Plantation, brushed away Republican arguments that votes on the budget shouldn’t be cast over differences in policy.

“The budget is a reflection of our policy. … All budgets are a function of your priorities. This is a priority for us,” Thurston said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, told The Tampa Bay Times-Miami Herald Tallahassee bureau that the House would detail an alternative to Medicaid expansion on Thursday. Corcoran, who chairs the House committee looking into the federal health care law wouldn’t elaborate, though.

Once the House does approve a budget, Negron said he hoped that negotiations would go relatively quickly. In recent years, legislative leaders have struggled to come to quick agreements on the framework for negotiations as they struggled with dwindling tax revenues.

This year, the state’s financial outlook is relatively strong, and lawmakers have extra money to spend.

“When I look at the two budgets side by side, these are issues that can easily be resolved with good faith discussion between the House and the Senate,” Negron said.

By The News Service of Florida

Comments

One Response to “Senate Approves Budget Unanimously As House Readies For Debate”

  1. David Huie Green on April 11th, 2013 8:54 am

    At first I didn’t understand it was the Florida Senate until I noticed a unanimous vote was 40 people, rather than 100. I was definitely thinking unanimity isn’t often seen with respect to the United States Senate.

    David for agreeable people

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