Florida House and Senate pass state budget, additional vote expected

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida House and Senate each passed their own version of the 2024-25 state budget.

The House also passed a bill for increased compensation for the governor and other state executives on Thursday.

The General Appropriations Act, HB 5001, championed by Rep. Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, allocates state funds for various annual expenses.

The budget applies to the 2024-25 fiscal year, starting on July 1 and ending on June 30, 2025. The bill passed 112-2, with Reps. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, and Bruce Antone, D-Orlando, voting against it.

The Senate took up the House bill and substituted it with their own version of the budget, SB 2500. The chamber then adopted an amendment deleting the entirety of the House version and inserting their own text from the Senate. The amended House bill passed the chamber, 38-0.

The legislation appropriates nearly $116 billion, dispersed throughout each department and branch of state government.

Leek emphasized that the House budget included a 3% cut from the state’s total spending in the year before.

“Members, last year, the state’s long range financial outlook showed we need to begin tightening our belts to bring our spending growth back in line with our revenue growth and return to more standard levels of spending,” he said.

Leek touched on some of the major aspects of the budget, including a 3% pay raise for all state employees, $600 million to continue buying down the state’s outstanding debt and over $12 billion in additional reserves.

Sen. Doug Broxson, R-Pensacola, specifically highlighted in the Senate version of the budget that the legislation would allocate almost $1 billion for educational improvements across the state in public K-12 schools, as well as colleges and universities.

Other allocation includes over $673 million for water quality improvements and $100 million to update correctional facilities across the state.

Lawmakers who helped champion budget-related legislation spoke in favor of the bill on the House floor. Other members of the body disapproved of certain aspects of it.

Rep. Lindsay Cross, D-St. Petersburg, said that one place where she wants to see future improvements in was maintaining and aiding rural agriculture.

“Currently, we’re seeing a 66% decrease in that funding from last year, and we’re quite far off from where the Senate is, so I’d love to see us get back to at least a $100 million range,” Cross said.

“This really helps with our food security and address critical issues in our state,” she said.

Antone explained that the budget doesn’t appear to address the concerns that the legislative black caucus had hoped for, including African American history museums.

He did say that he hopes to vote for a revised budget later on that provides for more of his goals, complimenting how the Senate seemed to be considering a much better version of the legislation that he would be in favor of.

As part of the budget package, the House also focused on increasing the salaries of state executives, including the governor, beginning in fiscal year 2027-2028.

HB 5007 was sponsored by Leek, who argued that because of the fact that a number of state employees earn a higher salary than the governor, it was time to make an increase.

According to Leek’s bill, the governor could earn equal to or greater than the current salary of Florida’s Supreme Court justices. The justices currently make $251,414, according to the state payroll system.

Additionally, the lieutenant governor, chief financial officer, attorney general and agriculture commissioner would be required to make at least 95% of what the governor makes.

Leek also explained that the bill would end the regularly scheduled salary increase that the legislature adopted during a previous year.

District court of appeals judges would make at least 90% of what supreme court justices make, while circuit court judges and county court judges would make at least 80% and 75%, respectively.

Currently, Gov. Ron DeSantis earns $141,400.20 per year in compensation. The cabinet members each make $139,987.90.

Nixon introduced four amendments to the legislation when the House first considered the bill on Wednesday. Each amendment failed, including a delete-all that sought to completely scrap the legislation and keep salaries the way they are.

During debate, Nixon argued against the bill, highlighting that the governor and cabinet do not need the raises.

“If we claim that we are fiscally responsible, if we claim that we care about Floridians who are suffering from rising property insurance rates, who are suffering from high rental rates, who are suffering from just massive inflationary costs, we really need to vote down on this bill,” she said.