TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — After months of negotiations — the Florida House and Senate say they have come to an agreement on the state's budget.

The proposed budget agreement comes in at $115.1 billion, slightly lower than Gov. Ron DeSantis' proposed $115.6 billion proposal. That proposal was lower than last year's state budget of $118.6 billion. 

What typically takes around two months to negotiate —has extended to over three months, with a vote expected Monday night.

What You Need To Know

  • Florida lawmakers currently have an agreement on a $115 billion state budget after over three months of negotiations

  • The agreement comes just in time to prevent a potential government shutdown before the fiscal year beginning July 1

  • The budget still requires a final vote and will then be forwarded to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has the power to veto specific items

If the budget passes Monday, it will then head to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The proposed budget reduces spending while also putting a record amount of money into reserves.

In other words, it’s apparent that lawmakers are at least somewhat leary of this economy and potential cuts to government funding.

Now, what’s perhaps more interesting is what is not included in the budget, which is some sort of direct consumer relief.

Throughout the entirety of session, lawmakers couldn’t quite agree on direct consumer relief.

“The benefit was we were able to have highs and lows. We were able to have civil discourse. We were able to have a difference of opinion. We were able to reach a conclusion that maybe either the senate or the governor didn’t agree with. That was our goal. Our goal was to be a co-equal branch of government, of government to have an opinion and opinion that matters, an opinion that’s valued. I do believe now more than ever that the house opinion matters,” Florida Speaker of the House Danny Perez said.

Lawmakers in the House wanted to reduce sales tax, but leaders in the Senate wanted to limit that sales tax reduction to clothes.

Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wanted to eliminate property tax.

However, none of those ideas made it into the budget. Instead, Floridians got a $1.3 billion tax cut, but nearly $900 million of that comes from a planned reduction on business rent. 

“Floridians do not want a government that is infiltrated by groupthink. There were just because one person says something all of a sudden everyone must agree. Government works best when we have competing ideas,” Florida Senate President Ben Albritton said.

The current plan calls for a reduction of sales taxes, including a back-to-school tax holiday, and a reduction in sales taxes on key hurricane-related purchases like generators and other items. 

Lawmakers acknowledged they cut it closer than usual this year, as a decision is supposed to be made before the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. 

If a deal wasn't done before then, the state could have faced a state government shutdown.

“We knew that we had to come here to get where we are today because come July 1st, nobody wanted a government shutdown, nobody wanted employees to be without a paycheck,” Republican State Sen. Ed Hooper of Palm Harbor said.

Items in the budget could still change once it reaches DeSantis' desk, as he has line-item veto power.

It allows him to remove a number of items from the budget. 

For example, in last year's fiscal budget, DeSantis removed almost a billion dollars using that line-item veto.