Fla. legislative leaders call for special session
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – Florida lawmakers will meet in special session next month to deal with a $2.3 billion budget deficit, but the Republican-controlled Legislature’s leaders say they’ll focus on spending cuts and trust fund transfers.
Democrats have been pushing to also expand revenue, such as increasing what’s now one of the nation’s lowest cigarette taxes. But GOP legislative leaders and Gov. Charlie Crist, also a Republican, have shown little or no interest in those alternatives.
House Speaker Ray Sansom, R-Destin, and Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, announced Monday they plan to call a Jan. 5-16 special session. They said they’ll issue a formal call before the starting date. It will be held two months before the Legislature begins its annual 60-day regular session.
“The budget challenges before us are serious; we are prepared to meet those challenges,” Sansom and Atwater said in a joint statement. “We intend to provide essential services to the citizens in a fiscally prudent way.”
The two leaders said they decided a special session was in the state’s “best financial interests” after consulting with officials in the governor’s office. The state could harm its credit rating if lawmakers don’t act quickly.
Crist, who also has the power to call a special session, has been honeymooning since his wedding Friday.
The budget for the current fiscal year, which began July 1, is in the red because sales and other tax revenues have fallen short due to the sagging state, national and global economies.
Crist anticipated the shortfalls and asked state agencies to hold back 4 percent of their spending before the budget even went into effect. Lawmakers could make those cuts permanent or revise them, but that wouldn’t be enough to fully offset the gap in general revenue – mainly sales tax – that supports nearly a third of the budget including operating costs such as salaries for state employees and teachers.
The bulk of what began as a $66.3 billion budget is made up of trust funds.