Florida budget

The Florida House and Senate will soon start ironing out their differences as they work toward a final budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to increase state spending on education, road projects and sales tax exemptions in the coming year.

Nearly 150 laws that Florida legislators passed this year are set to go into effect Friday.They range from a record $109.9 billion budget to a nod to strawberry shortcake.

A $112.1 billion budget that Florida lawmakers passed last week covers more than the state’s basics for education, health care, and law enforcement.

Florida lawmakers will vote Monday on a record $112.1 billion state budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, up 10.4 percent from a spending plan approved for the current year.

With a budget remaining unfinished Tuesday night, the annual legislative session is headed to overtime. Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, and House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, issued a memo shortly before 9 p.m. that said budget talks would continue Wednesday.

With legislative leaders trying to meet a Tuesday deadline for finishing a new state budget, Gov. Ron DeSantis will get more money than he requested for a reactivated Florida State Guard and to relocate undocumented immigrants out of the state.

The Council on Culture and Arts (COCA) in Tallahassee is encouraging lovers of theatre, museums and more to contact Florida lawmakers about arts funding. COCA issued an advocacy alert Tuesday that seems to be working.

Leon County Superintendent Rocky Hanna addressed Florida lawmakers Tuesday as they discussed education funding. He asked them to reconsider a plan to cut $200 million from a dozen school districts that defied the state’s rule against mask mandates.

Budget negotiations are ready to move forward in the Florida Legislature. The makeup of the various appropriations conference committees have been announced, along with overall funding amounts for different sections of the 2022-2023 fiscal year budget.