Everglades, citrus, – Florida Senate and House budget chiefs say negotiations are moving, but dozens of line items—including the Everglades water projects and major citrus and resilience funding—remain stuck in disagreement as talks head toward an end-of-next-week target.
When Sen. Ed Hooper and Rep. Lawrence McClure sat down with their counterparts for the first week of Florida’s budget Special Session, they left the meeting room with momentum—but not a finished bill.
On Friday afternoon. after a “productive — but incomplete” stretch of talks. the chambers still differed on dozens of agriculture. environment and general government spending lines.. Hooper and McClure. the budget chiefs in their respective chambers. were set to head home over the weekend to keep working through the gaps before the session’s next push.
Senate President Ben Albritton said negotiations are “proceeding very well,” and predicted lawmakers will finish talks by the end of next week, with floor votes expected after Memorial Day—earlier than the May 29 finish date previously expected.
The biggest sticking point is the price tag for Everglades restoration’s water storage plan.. The Senate is holding at $424.7 million for the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir component of the Central Everglades Planning Project. while the House is at $249.3 million.. Even with that roughly $175 million divide. the House’s position is described as an improvement from its early Thursday offer of “nothing.”
Citrus funding has also split the chambers sharply. The Senate is pushing $179.5 million for citrus research aimed at combating citrus greening and declining production, while the House is seeking $9 million.
So too is the shape of statewide resilience funding. The House wants $160 million for flooding and sea-level-rise mitigation projects; the Senate is offering $50 million.
Other Everglades-linked projects remain in limbo. The Lower Kissimmee Basin Stormwater Treatment Area is separated by $38.6 million, with the Senate at $138.6 million and the House at $100 million.
The House is also seeking more money than the Senate for alternative water supply development projects meant to reduce pressure on traditional groundwater sources—$100 million versus $50 million.
Conservation and land acquisition show the chambers pulling in opposite directions.. The House is putting $75 million on the table for conservation easements to protect agricultural and environmentally sensitive lands. while the Senate is offering nothing.. The Senate. in turn. is backing $75 million for statewide acquisition of environmentally sensitive lands through Florida Forever. triple the House’s $25 million.
River and public land proposals add more friction. The Senate is backing $65.5 million for Ocklawaha River restoration tied to the Ocklawaha River system, which was long obstructed by the Kirkpatrick Dam built for the ill-fated Cross Florida Barge Canal, but the House has yet to match it.
For statewide land and resource management, the House is offering $60 million while the Senate has $10 million.. In a related split. the House is also at double the Senate’s offer for land-management activities under the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services—$20 million compared with $10 million.
Budget gaps extend beyond Everglades restoration to environmental cleanup and coastal priorities.. House members are offering $60 million for petroleum contamination cleanup and tank restoration projects statewide, compared with the Senate’s $40 million.. For Indian River Lagoon restoration and pollution-control work, the House is at $25 million while the Senate is at $10 million.
In the coastal arena, oyster restoration is another major mismatch, with the House at $19.7 million tied to Apalachicola and related coastal ecosystems versus the Senate’s $2.1 million.
The House and Senate are also treating digital upgrades and facility needs differently.. The House is offering $2.5 million for a unified digital services and workflow automation platform for Florida Wildlife Commission operations. a line item the Senate has not yet filled.. Facility code and life safety upgrades are also higher on the House side—$8.3 million to the Senate’s $4.8 million.
Outside of environmental spending, the negotiations feature agriculture and general support programs with their own divides. The Senate is at $35 million for Farmers Feeding Florida, the statewide food bank and agricultural surplus distribution program, while the House is $10 million lower.
Agricultural pollution-reduction and technology are likewise uneven.. The House wants $35 million for innovative water-quality and environmental technology projects, more than triple the Senate’s $10 million offer.. For agricultural nonpoint source best management practices. the House is pushing for more than 10 times the Senate’s offering—$5.9 million versus $500. 000.
As lawmakers continue searching for common ground. the dispute list includes dozens of smaller items as well. from derelict vessel removal—where the House is offering nearly $20 million more than the Senate ($27.3 million to $7.3 million)—to county-level wastewater grants. where the Senate is offering $10.7 million and the House is at $8 million.
Albritton’s prediction places the remaining work on a tight timetable. He said the chambers are aiming to finish negotiations by the end of next week, with floor votes expected after Memorial Day, advancing the schedule ahead of the previously expected May 29 finish date.
Florida budget Senate budget House budget Everglades restoration citrus research flooding and sea-level rise environmental funding Memorial Day floor votes