2021 Legislative Report #11 DATE: April 9, 2021

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THIS WEEK IN REVIEW:

Six weeks are now over and the 2021 Legislative Session is moving full forward into bills being debated on the Chamber floors. The House and Senate have discussed their versions of the 2021-22 budget and will enter into budget conference soon.

The Senate passed its initial version of the budget this week, putting forth $95 billion in spending with $5 billion in state reserves. Missing from the Senate version is approximately $10 billion in one-time federal funds anticipated to come to assist with pandemic relief. One of the largest cuts from last year’s budget is hospitals, with a reduction of $251.2 million for outpatient and inpatient Medicaid rates. There was an increase in $50 million towards the Child Welfare System as well as $500 million towards raising teacher salaries. The state budget office has revised their anticipated state revenues showing an increase of $2 billion over previous estimates.

The Florida House passed a $97 billion budget. Like the Senate version, the House also introduces cuts to hospital funding. In addition, it contains a 50% cut to the affordable housing trust fund that was a point of contentious debate on the House floor. Unlike the Senate, the House has also included some federal funds in its budget, using it for one-time projects since it is non-recurring funds. The last three upcoming weeks the chambers will be in budget conference to come to an agreement on the differences in the bills.

Senate Bill 50 passed both the Senate and House and is headed to the Governor to sign. This bill mandates the collection of online sales tax money for out-of-state businesses that sell in Florida. This tax collection is estimated to create $1 billion in revenues for the state. The monies from collecting this tax will be used to replenish the Florida Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, which once funded, will be used for cutting commercial rent tax.

The seventh week of Session will begin Monday, April 12, 2021 and the 2021 Legislative Session will end on April 30, 2021