In a stunning development, Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez has announced that the previously negotiated budget framework between the Florida House and Senate has collapsed. According to Perez, the breakdown occurred after the Senate President retracted a commitment to bring the House’s “historic tax proposal” to the Senate floor—a commitment that had reportedly been publicly announced from the Senate rostrum. Read Extended Session Update
“I apologize for the lateness of this update, but circumstances have changed significantly from when we were together last Friday,” Perez stated in his announcement to House members.
“The Senate President informed me this week that he is breaking his commitment to the House that he publicly announced from the Senate rostrum.”
The Speaker expressed clear disappointment with this unexpected turn of events. “I was disappointed when the Senate President informed me of his decision to no longer bring the House’s historic tax proposal to the Senate floor. As I’m sure you can appreciate, this blew up the framework for the budget deal we had negotiated.”
BACKGROUND: Gov. Ron DeSantis has offered homeowners one-time, $1,000 property-tax rebates this year and adding a constitutional amendment to cut property taxes on the 2026 ballot. The Florida House has proposed reducing the sales tax rate from 6% to 5.25%.
- The Senate has proposed providing a sales-tax exemption on purchases of clothes and shoes valued at $75 or less, rather than an overall cut in the sales-tax rate. A Senate tax package included sales-tax “holidays” and trimming the commercial-lease tax.
New Timeline
Despite this setback, the Florida House will still convene on Tuesday, May 13, to pass a concurrent resolution extending the legislative timeline through the end of June. Additionally, a meeting of the Select Committee on Property Taxes will proceed as scheduled.
- Perez acknowledged the disruption this creates for House members and their families but promised to provide alternative dates as soon as possible. “I’m keenly aware that the uncertainty around the schedule causes problems for you and your families, but we will continue to work with the Senate to lock down dates as soon as practical.”
The Speaker concluded his message with a recommitment to the House’s fiscal priorities: “While the circumstances leading to this conference are less than ideal or even expected, as Members of the Florida House, our responsibilities do not change. We will deliver a fiscally conservative budget that cuts government waste and puts Florida on the best possible trajectory for long-term success.”
This development marks a significant setback in Florida’s budget negotiation process, with the extended timeline indicating that substantial work remains to reach a new agreement between the chambers. The nature of the tax proposal at the center of the dispute was not detailed in the Speaker’s statement, but it appears to represent a major point of contention between House and Senate leadership.