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Will Florida’s government shut down? Here's what's behind the state budget battle

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Published  May 12, 2025 5:13pm EDT
Florida
FOX 13 News
Legislative session resumes to settle state budget

Legislative session resumes to settle state budget

FOX 13's Evan Axelbank shares that negotiations over the state budget have blown up, forcing lawmakers to come to an agreement on a sales tax cut before a possible state government shut down at the end of June.

The Brief

    • An argument over a sales tax break or a property tax break has lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis at odds.
    • The governor has called a sales tax cut, a tax cut for Canadians and tourists and is insisting on property tax cuts instead, given that would impact only Floridians.
    • If there isn't a budget by July 1, the state government will shut down.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Negotiations over the state budget have blown up, forcing lawmakers to return to Tallahassee and hammer out disagreements over a sales tax cut.

Could the state government shut down at the end of June?

"Conversations between the House and the Senate are at this point hitting a high point of contention," said State Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando.).

The backstory:

The house speaker's memo to his members, which was immediately given to the press, says Senate President Ben Albritton (R-Wauchula) is breaking his commitment to support the speaker's tax proposal. 

READ: Gov. DeSantis: Florida state troopers can now conduct immigration operations independent of federal government

At first, the speaker wanted a sales tax cut of 0.75% which would have lowered the state cut of sales tax from 6 to 5.25%.

"'We are trying a novel concept of giving the people of Florida their own money back to them," said House Speaker Daniel Perez (R-Miami).

But now, it appears even a quarter-of-a-point reduction is no longer on the table, not after the governor said this in Tampa last week.

"Any Florida last-tax package is going to be dead on arrival," Gov. Ron DeSantis said.

Dig deeper:

The governor has called a sales tax cut, a tax cut for Canadians and tourists. 

RELATED: DeSantis threatens veto of sales tax cut, insisting Floridians need property taxes cut

He's insisting on property tax cuts instead, given that would impact only Floridians. 

But that leaves negotiators about $4 billion apart, with house members saying they're headed back to Tallahassee to officially extend the session, but the starting point for negotiations isn't clear.

"Many of us, Republicans and Democrats, are in the dark," said Eskamani. "We don't exactly know what's going to happen."

The chair of the Florida GOP offered to broker a summit between the two sides plus the governor. 

The governor, who has blasted house leaders on a number of topics this session, was asked on Monday during a stop in Tampa about whether he would attend such a summit. 

"With all due respect, though, that's not the role of the Republican Party of Florida," said the governor. "No, we're not going to do a dog and pony show. That's not the way this works. The way it works is people should do their jobs."

The urgency will start to pile up the longer there is no agreement.

Why you should care:

If there isn't a budget by July 1, the state government will shut down.

That would jeopardize paychecks for state employees as well as state contracts.

The Source: This story was written with information gathered by FOX 13's Evan Axelbank. 

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