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2016-17 state budget - page 4

Ag & Natural Resources budget panel wraps up talks

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The Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations/General Government Appropriations conference committee held their final meeting of the 2016 Session on Monday, but the late-evening meeting did not bring final closure on several unresolved line items. The House and Senate proposals remained just $6 million apart in terms of bottom-line figures – out of a mammoth $2.7 billion proposed budget silo –  but the ways the chambers wanted to spend the money were more widely divergent still. Conference Vice Chair Sen. Alan Hays began the…

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Justice budgets growing closer together, but $10 million in differences remain

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The conference committee on the state justice budget appeared to be going smoothly Saturday afternoon, with the House accepting the Senate position on more than two dozen line items, but making divergent offers on many others. In all the differences totaled nearly $10 million, about $5 million of that in recurring general revenue dollars and some $5 million in non-recurring funds The House and Senate offers remained separated by more than $2 million for on a trial court technology comprehensive plan…

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House, Senate gov’t ops budget proposals still nearly $11 million apart

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The Senate presented its first offer on funding for the government operations segment of the budget Saturday morning. Budget writers sounded conciliatory during the meeting, but the two chambers’ proposals remained $10.9 million apart. The biggest difference between the Senate and House offers, according to Legislative IQ powered by LobbyTools, is that the Senate would grant county clerks of court $10 million in additional trust fund authority. The extra $10 million flowing into the trust fund would depend on a…

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Senate budget: Don Gaetz questioned over mentoring funding

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As the Florida Senate began considering its proposed $80.9 billion budget, state Sen. Don Gaetz on Wednesday defended his recommendation for a $30 million competitive grants program for after-school mentoring instead of direct funding. Gaetz, who chairs the Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee, said he wanted to save nonprofits on “expensive lobbying and the anguish of the Legislative Session.” “We shouldn’t have to put those people through that,” the Niceville Republican said, referring to being left out of the budget. His subcommittee “felt that (by) taking it…

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Senate budget eliminates direct funding for youth mentoring

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State Sen. Joe Negron, a former budget panel chief, told his colleagues last month in an acceptance speech for his upcoming Senate presidency that the state must do more for its troubled children and teens. “We should not and we will not tolerate serious wrongdoing by young people but, at the same time, let’s not criminalize adolescence,” he said, according to the Senate Journal’s version. Most experts agree that after-school mentoring programs, such as those offered by Big Brothers Big Sisters, are effective at…

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Rick Scott’s budget: Tax cuts, more for schools

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Florida Gov. Rick Scott, setting up a likely messy budget fight with the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature, on Monday released a nearly $79.3 billion spending plan that is heavy on tax cuts and help for businesses. Scott, in an event that was similar to campaign rallies he held during his successful re-election campaign, chose a sign manufacturing company in Jacksonville to outline his budget recommendations that includes a call for $1 billion in tax cuts. The GOP governor, using points he…

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