The House has caved and is willing to fund a trimmed down version of the Florida State Guard.
The House and Senate have gone back-and-forth on funding the force Gov. Ron DeSantis resurrected in 2022.
The House was against any funding up until the latest budget bump offer out Friday as the top budget negotiators are working last minute to strike a deal.
Questions have persisted about whether the Florida State Guard is wasting taxpayer money, according to a recent Orlando Sentinel investigation.
But that did not stop the House and Senate from agreeing to fund 32 positions to support operations for $3.8 million, plus another $3.6 million for the Florida State Guard’s operating expenses and $601,378 for an increased Florida State Guard workload.
It appears to be a compromise after the Senate sought $15.3 million for Florida State Guard’s air mission expenses, $3.2 million for crisis response and special missions and $1.7 million for maritime expenses in addition to and $1.6 million for State Guard operating expenses. The Senate also previously wanted to fund 32 full-time positions at $4.6 million as well as $901,000 on a line item to increase workload for the Florida State Guard and $494,000 for information technology while the House pushed back and didn’t want to give anything.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Ed Hooper hinted the two sides would find common ground when he was asked about the issue last week.
“I think it won’t be $33.9 (million) and it won’t be zero,” Hooper said.
Meanwhile the House lowered its previous $40 million offer to $10 million for maintaining Camp Blanding Joint Training Center’s Level 2 status, according to the House’s first bump offer while the Senate now nixes all funding.
Leaders say they can still finish before the end of May, but it could be close. A budget memo from House Speaker Daniel Perez has House Budget Chair Lawrence McClure and Hooper meeting at 8 a.m. Tuesday to hold talks “until completion.”
If the budget hits desks that day, it starts the constitutionally required 72-hour cooling-off period, teeing up a House floor vote Friday, May 29, with the Senate to follow before Sine Die — with a month to spare before the July 1 start of the fiscal year.
This is the second straight year of a drawn-out budget; last year’s wasn’t passed until June 16.
