The Florida House and Senate on Friday released proposed budgets for the 2024-2025 fiscal year that top $115 billion — but would be less than the current year’s spending plan.
The Senate proposal (SB 2500) totaled $115.9 billion, while the House proposal (PCB APC 24-01) came in just under $115.55 billion.
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The budget for the current fiscal year, which started July 1, totaled $119.1 billion. House and Senate leaders have said the 2024-2025 budget will reflect the end of federal money that poured into the state because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As the timeline to spend pandemic funds is coming to end, we are making smart, fiscally responsible adjustments and right-sizing our balanced budget to a level sustainable for the long term,” Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said in a prepared statement Friday.
On Wednesday, House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, said a “pretty tight” budget was ahead as the state moves beyond “never-ending revenues and money coming down from the federal government” during the pandemic.
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The proposed budgets released Friday are initial plans and likely will undergo changes before they are passed by the House and Senate. After that, the two chambers will negotiate a final spending plan for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, which will start July 1.
The annual legislative session is scheduled to end March 8. Both of the proposals were larger than a $114.4 billion plan that Gov. Ron DeSantis released in December.
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