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Andy Gardiner and Steve Crisafulli issue joint statement: budget conference extended

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The presiding officers of the Legislature’s two chambers — Senate President Andy Gardiner and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli — made a show of unity after a somewhat turbulent beginning to 2015 Special Session A, issuing a joint statement early Tuesday afternoon announcing they will allow budget conference sub-chairs to continue to work out their differences rather than have leadership take control of the process. “Over the last three days, our budget conference committees have worked together to finalize key portions of our state budget,” wrote…

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State task force considers competitive procurement process for law enforcement radios

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On Tuesday, the Department of Management Services’ Joint Task Force on State Agency Law Enforcement Communications once again discussed a business case from January which recommends a competitive bidding process to achieve the adoption of a suite of “P25” radio standards. As the state looks to upgrade its outmoded, analog law enforcement radio system the JTF panel reiterated going forward with the its current position, which is to have an open bidding process. Current vendor Harris Corporation based in Brevard County has…

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Tom Lee says House is ‘doing the bidding’ of Rick Scott on Enterprise Florida funding

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Senate budget Chief Tom Lee said on Monday the House is “doing the bidding” of Gov. Rick Scott in pushing to increase funds to Enterprise Florida. The remarks followed state Sen. Jack Latvala‘s abrupt move to adjourn the Tourism and Economic Development budget conferee meeting early Monday morning  just minutes into the meeting and as the House started to discuss a budget offer that would have increased funding at the agency charged with economic development. Lee said the offer was at…

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Budget deal increases health care funding by $450 million, mostly recurring, general revenue dollars

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The House on Friday rejected a Senate-driven health care expansion plan, passed a $300 million tax reduction package and capped the day by releasing the allocations that tell the story behind the budget deal that was agreed to by the Legislature this week. Working through staff, legislative leaders reached a deal on how to divide nearly $28.9 billion between health care, education, transportation and the environment, the majority of which is recurring. The agreement puts $8.7 billion in health care…

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Finally… chambers set for Saturday conference on budget starting at 9 am

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The Florida Senate was in for less than five minutes on Friday before adjourning. Senate President Andy Gardiner announced that the House and Senate had agreed to budget allocations and that the two chambers would beging hammering out the differences in the proposed spending plans for the 2015-16 fiscal year beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday. Those were the only details that Gardiner, or his usually chatty budget chair state Sen. Tom Lee, divulged early Friday. In other words, they didn’t…

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Senate’s FHIX 2.0 proposal advances in the House — for now

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After an hours-long procession of skeptical questions from House Republicans, state Rep. Mia Jones led the Senate’s so-called “FHIX 2.0” bill — SB 2A, a bill to expand health coverage to Florida’s more than 800,000 uninsured via private plans largely funded by the federal government — to a procedural milestone, as the bill was rolled over for a 3rd reading, in legis-speak. “Today’s debate made it clear that there are still a lot of questions among members — some legitimate, some…

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Senate ready to roll on budget over the weekend

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With the drama over health care playing out according to the expected script, the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature is finally ready to pivot to passing a new state budget. The Senate on Wednesday passed its healthcare coverage bill and sent it over to the House where it is anticipated that chamber will vote down the legislation. Despite the bitter debate over the healthcare bill, the two chambers must begin work on the must-pass bill of the year: the General Appropriations Act.…

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