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Florida Legislature Ends Session Without Budget as Chamber Touts Incremental Business Wins

Lawmakers plan a mid-April return to close a roughly $1.4 billion gap between House and Senate spending plans.

Overview

  • After considering nearly 2,000 proposals, lawmakers agreed to about 235 measures and adjourned Sine Die without even entering formal budget negotiations.
  • The Florida Chamber highlighted gains it says strengthen the business climate, citing public‑sector collective bargaining changes, impact fee clarifications, a uniform building permit application, expanded nursing education grants, Live Local workforce housing provisions, and a data‑center competitiveness framework.
  • Technology policy advanced unevenly as utility consumer protections for data centers passed with business‑friendly carve‑outs, while the House declined to take up a Senate‑approved “AI Bill of Rights.”
  • Education and public safety saw mixed results with a Senate‑passed fix for voucher program issues left idle in the House and the campus “guardian” program expanded as the push to let people under 21 buy long guns again failed.
  • Several high‑profile priorities remain unresolved, including divergent property‑tax plans, a Senate‑approved rollback of last year’s growth‑management law that stalled in the House, and a House‑passed medical‑malpractice change that received no Senate hearing.