TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – State lawmakers completed their first week of a special session on the fiscal year 2026-2027 spending plan. Staff and the two budget chiefs will pick up unresolved issues through the weekend.
The rest of the state’s lawmakers were told they could go home for the next week or so as a final fiscal package should be ready for a vote after the Memorial Day holiday on May 25.
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“Our budget conference is proceeding very well,” Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, wrote members of the Senate on Friday.
Updates on the currently unresolved issues will resume Monday morning, Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, advised in separate memos.
Senate Agriculture, Environment, and General Government Appropriations Committee Chairman Jason Brodeur summed up the negotiations when asked about funding differences for the Everglades.
“If you watch the ping-pong back-and-forth, at some point we’re going to get pretty close to where we’re going to land,” the Sanford Republican replied.
Meanwhile, Florida’s new congressional district lines, drawn to help the GOP maintain its hold on the U.S. House in the midterm elections, underwent their first legal test on Friday.