TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Spending levels on key items like Everglades restoration and state parks remains up for debate as lawmakers are set to return to Tallahassee in less than two weeks to tackle the state budget.
Legislative leaders announced last week that they’d reached a deal on overall spending, and agreed to allocate $1.38 billion in general revenue for agriculture, natural resources and the environment. That was a significant jump in spending from the House’s original budget, which only allocated $771.2 million in general revenue for those categories.
Now, lawmakers will have to agree on how they’ll fill the multimillion-dollar spending hole.
“In terms of where that gap will get closed, really it’s going to be up to the House to see what else they want … because we were the ones that were higher than they were,” said GOP state Sen. Jason Brodeur, the state Senate chair of the appropriations conference committee that handles agriculture, natural resources and the environment.
