HHS budget issues remain unresolved in the Florida Legislature

Share
stethoscope on money
By merznatalia via iStock for WMNF News.

©2024 The News Service of Florida

With House Health Care Appropriations Chair Sam Garrison saying lawmakers were “kind of at a bump in the road,” a conference committee could not reach agreement Wednesday on a series of key health- and human-services issues.

The impasse means that the unresolved issues will go to Senate Appropriations Chair Doug Broxson, R-Gulf Breeze, and House Appropriations Chair Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, for further negotiations.

Lawmakers are trying to finish a budget so they will be able to end the legislative session as scheduled March 8.

Garrison, R-Fleming Island, said the conference committee of House and Senate members broke off, at least in part, because the Senate did not make an offer about funding for lawmaker-proposed projects.

“We will have a budget,” Garrison said. “It will be done on time. It’s just not going to be done at this (conference committee) stage, unfortunately.”

In addition to funding for projects, Garrison said unresolved issues include such things as budget fine print known as “proviso language” and “implementing” and “conforming” bills needed to carry out the budget.

Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Chairwoman Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, said the conference committee had reached an agreement on many issues, including providing $80 million for a cancer innovation fund.

The budget needs to be finished by Tuesday for the session to end on time.

That is because of a 72-hour “cooling off” period before lawmakers can vote on the spending plan.

The 2024-2025 budget will take effect July 1.

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

student meal
Next school year Hillsborough public schools are offering free meals

Hillsborough Public Schools are offering students free meals for the...

Correspondence Through Poetry. A Mind-Numbing Week.

Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems by Herbert Gold...

The sound of change: Music’s influence on anti-war and human rights movements

Throughout history, music has served as a powerful catalyst for...

a man in a tye dye shirt talking on a radio microphone
Recreational pot for Florida is on the ballot this fall—let’s talk about it

In four months, Florida voters have the opportunity to vote...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

It's The Music Thursday
Player position: