The Florida Legislature is heading into week six of the 2016 legislative session with less than 30 days to go. The House and Senate Appropriations committees have both passed their proposed budget bills, SB 2500 and HB 5001. These bills will go directly to the floor for a full vote in their respective chambers before entering conference committees to negotiate the many differences between the two budgets. This process will take place over the next several weeks, and could be one of the last things the Legislature resolves before adjournment, scheduled for March 11, 2016. In general, the House budget totals $79.98 billion and includes approximately $1 billion in tax cuts and tax reductions covering some 40 separate items.
The Senate budget totals $80.97 billion, $1 billion more than the House would spend. The Senate has not released a complete tax package yet, but its budget provides much less in tax cuts than the House budget. CompTIA has been tracking a large number of individual tax bills covering areas of interest to members. Several of these individual bills are moving through committee hearings, and several will likely be included in the general taxation and appropriations bills.
For more information, contact Sarah Matz at smatz@comptia.org.
