Last Call for 4.8.26 – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida

Last Call – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.

First Shot

Anyone at the Capitol hoping for a budget Session next week will have to wait, as House Speaker Daniel Perez has put those plans on pause.

In a memo sent to House members on Wednesday, Perez said rumors about lawmakers coming back to Tallahassee next week to finish the 2026-27 state budget are not true.

“We continue to work with our partners in the Florida Senate to build an allocation framework for the 2026-2027 State Budget,” Perez wrote. “There has been some external speculation suggesting that we will be convening next week (April 13-17) to begin work on the budget. This is not accurate.” 

For now, House leaders say they’ll share an update as soon as there’s news.

Senate President Ben Albritton sent a similar message, also dismissing rumors about a mid-April meeting to finish the budget, which is the one thing the Legislature must pass each year.

Lawmakers wrapped up the 2026 Regular Session on March 13 without passing a budget, so the spending plan is still undecided nearly a month later.

The next confirmed date on the legislative calendar is a Special Session called by Gov. Ron DeSantis for the week of April 20, focused on congressional redistricting.

Perez said the House will provide more details about the redistricting Session next week.

Evening Reads

—“Nuclear brinkmanship usually works. It’s also incredibly dangerous.” via Nate Silver of the Silver Bulletin

—“Donald Trump’s Iran brinkmanship reaches truce, escalates backlash at home” via Isaac Arnsdorf of The Washington Post

—“A closer look at Iran’s 10 demands—and which the U.S. might accept” via Benoit Faucon of The Wall Street Journal

—“The soft TACO theory of Trump” via Andrew Prokop of Vox

—“The next Attorney General will probably be an election denier” via David Gilbert of WIRED

—“It will take months to get oil and gas flowing out of the Persian Gulf” via Rebecca F. Elliott and Ivan Penn of The New York Times

—“Intact but not in use: Florida’s AIDS drug formulary advisory panel” via Christine Sexton of the Florida Phoenix

—“‘Instagram king’ Dan Bilzerian jumps into race against Randy Fine, controversy follows” via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics

—“James Uthmeier: Cold Case Task Force will look into past crimes, including missing persons” via Drew Dixon of Florida Politics

—“FSU College of Law jumps to all-time high in U.S. News & World Report rankings” via Gabrielle Russon of Florida Politics

Quote of the Day

“There’s no way that you can eliminate property taxes if you can’t touch 82% of what needs to be eliminated.”

— Rep. Ryan Chamberlin, on the challenge of property tax abolishment.

Put it on the Tab

Look to your left, then look to your right. If you see one of these people at your happy hour haunt, flag down the bartender and put one of these on your tab. Recipes included, just in case the Cocktail Codex fell into the well.

FSU law school is celebrating its best showing ever in the U.S. News & World Report rankings with a Subpoena Colada.

Attorney General Uthmeier is hoping his new unit can bring The Missing Evidence to the state’s backlog of unsolved crimes.

The team behind Country Thunder is churning out Cruzan Confusion by selling tickets to an event that may or may not be happening.

Breakthrough Insights

Tune In

Magic chasing playoff spot

With three games left in the regular season, the Orlando Magic try to climb into the playoff field as they host the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight (7 p.m. ET, FanDuel Sports Network-Florida).

Orlando (43-36) has clinched a postseason spot, but what remains to be determined is whether it will be in the main playoff field or if the Magic will have to earn their way in via the play-in tournament.

The top six seeds in each conference earn spots in the playoff field, with seeds seven through 10 sent to the play-in field.

The Magic enters tonight tied with the Philadelphia 76ers for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference, a game behind sixth-place Toronto and two games behind fifth-place Atlanta. Orlando has won three straight games, beating the Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans on the road before topping the Detroit Pistons at home on Monday behind 31 points from Paolo Banchero.

The Timberwolves (47-32) are locked into the sixth spot in the Western Conference standings, so the game will have less meaning for Minnesota, which has lost four of the last six games. They beat the Indiana Pacers yesterday to secure a playoff spot despite the absence of leading scorer Anthony Edwards. Edwards was ruled out of the game with a knee injury.

Tonight’s game is the second meeting between the two teams. Orlando beat the Timberwolves in Minnesota on March 7 behind 30 points from guard Desmond Bane.

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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson, with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.