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Rep. Carlos Trujillo

Appropriations chiefs declare budget talks ‘closed’ — but with an asterisk

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House and Senate budget negotiators traded final offers Thursday and pronounced their work done, bar some last-minute tidying up. “The budget is closed,” Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Lavala said. “We’ve got a couple of question marks, but this is not an opportunity to entertain any new issues. We’re going to resolve one or two issues, and then we’re going to come back together and get those solved,” he said. “The cupboard is bare.” Left to do is reconcile conforming bills…

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Final $83 billion budget bill awaits only fine tuning, conferees report

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The House and Senate were tantalizingly close Wednesday to completing negotiations on an $83 billion state budget. It appeared only a question of firming up some details and completing the paperwork. “There’s a tremendous amount of work that goes into preparing the document and getting it distributed and printed and whatever. But the major points are decided,” Senate budget chief Jack Latvala said following a noon meeting with his House counterpart, Carlos Trujillo. What’s left? “Mostly the HHS budget, and…

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Big budget questions headed to House and Senate presiding officers

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House and Senate negotiators agreed on $40 million in water projects and a $23 million higher education budget Sunday, but major decisions on charter schools, Lake Okeechobee restoration, and more remained unsettled. Carlos Trujillo and Jack Latvala, respectively the House and Senate budget chairmen, made progress during what Latvala said would be their last meeting — although Trujillo said they’d meet once more, possibly on Monday morning. “We are going to have another conference committee only for the conforming bills,”…

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Rick Scott’s demand for budget priorities leaves Carlos Trujillo unfazed

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House Appropriations Chairman Carlos Trujillo did not appear especially intimidated by Gov. Rick Scott’s tough talk on the state budget Thursday evening. That $200 million Scott seeks to repair the Herbert Hoover Dike, for example? Not likely. “That showed up about a week ago, and we’d already gone a far way down the road as far as crafting our budget,” Trujillo told reporters. “It’s something I wish had been included in the original budget, and its something I wish we…

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Rick Scott enlists state bonds chief in fight for Visit Florida funding

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Gov. Rick Scott has distributed a letter by Ben Watkins, director of the Division of Bond Finance, to the House and Senate budget chairmen, warning that cutting Visit Florida could damage the state’s credit rating. The letter, dated Tuesday, addressed to Jack Latvala in the Senate and Carlos Trujillo in the House, warns that cutting back on tourism promotion has harmed the economies of states that have attempted it, including Colorado and Pennsylvania. “Even a 2 percent reduction in visitors…

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Richard Corcoran: House and Senate ‘very, very, very’ close to budget deal

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The House and Senate were on the brink Tuesday evening of agreeing to a framework for negotiating s budget deal, House Speaker Richard Corcoran told the House. “We are very, very, very close to having allocations agreed to with the Senate,” Corcoran announced from the speaker’s podium, drawing cheers from the members. “And I mean close in the hand grenades sense, not the horseshoe sense,” he said. “To the extent that happens imminently, we’ll appoint conferees and make announcements, and…

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House ‘standard operating budget’ clears Appropriations Committee

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The House Appropriations Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to approve an $82.1 billion “standard operating budget,” in a move Democrats complained brought Washington-style dysfunction to Tallahassee. “I can tell you, we have spent every last, legitimate effort trying to compromise before we came to this point. It wasn’t for lack of effort. It wasn’t that we just grabbed our ball and went home,” Chairman Carlos Trujillo said. But the Florida Constitution gives the Legislature 60 days to write a budget, and…

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