TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The House is not interested in joining the Senate in overriding Gov. Rick Scott's veto of $75 million in higher-education projects or an override related to the $20 billion public-schools budget, House Speaker Richard Corcoran said Thursday.
“We would be the first Republican Legislature that overrode a Republican governor on pork-barrel spending. Find me that example. I don't think it exists,” said Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes.
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On Wednesday night, the GOP-led Senate voted overwhelmingly to override Scott's veto of 19 state university, state college and private college projects in the $82 billion budget, which the governor signed into law last week.
It marked the first override votes since Scott became governor in 2011.
The Senate even appeared to throw in a sweetener for Corcoran, voting to override Scott's veto of $4 million for a Florida Hospital wellness center at St. Leo University, a Pasco County school that is Corcoran's alma mater. But Corcoran reiterated Thursday that he is not interested.
“If you believe in less government and less spending, then you don't override on more spending and more pork,” Corcoran said.
The Senate and House also appear to be headed toward a collision in the three-day special session over the Senate's decision to override Scott's veto of the $20 billion public-education budget.
Corcoran said the House will not go along with the Senate plan to override the K-12 veto and then pass a bill increasing funding for the 67 school districts enough to provide an additional $100 per student.
If lawmakers can't agree on a K-12 budget by July 1, the new school year will start without state funding.
But Corcoran insisted the special session, which is scheduled to end Friday, is not on the verge of collapse, saying negotiations are ongoing.
“I don't sense anybody taking their ball and going home,” Corcoran said. “Everyone is here to get things done that matter to the people of the state that are of the utmost importance. We're talking about school children and jobs.”