Ben Albritton names budget conferees, setting the stage for reconciling gap between Senate, House

Senate President Ben Albritton has named conferees for the budget conference following the passage of the Senate’s $115 billion spending plan, paving the way for work to begin on reconciling the $1.4 billion gap between the House and Senate.

The conferees align with appropriations Committee assignments, with Chairs of the various Committees being installed to also lead the corresponding Conference Committees. At-large members are also aligned between the appropriations Subcommittees for which they serve and the budget Conference Committees that correlate to them.

As the upper chamber’s Appropriations Committee Chair in charge of overall budget negotiations, Senate Budget Chief Ed Hooper will continue leading negotiations through the Appropriations Conference Committee, alongside Sens. Lori Berman, Jim Boyd, Jason Brodeur, Joe Gruters, Kathleen Passidomo and Darryl Rouson.

Brodeur will lead the Appropriations Conference Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government and the Appropriations Conference Committee. Working with him on budget items relating to that Committee will be Sens. Kristen Arrington, Berman, Nick DiCeglie, Erin Grall, Ralph Massullo, Stan McClain, Jason Pizzo, Ana Maria Rodriguez, Barbara Sharief and Keith Truenow.

On Criminal and Civil Justice-related budget negotiations, Sen. Ileana Garcia will take the help, alongside Sens. Jonathan Martin, Rosalind Osgood, Tina Scott Polsky, Corey Simon, Carlos Guillermo Smith, Tom Wright and Clay Yarborough.

Sen. Jay Trumbull will head the Appropriations Conference Committee on Health and Human Services, alongside Sens. Brodeur, Colleen Burton, Tracie Davis, Garcia, Gayle Harrell, Rodriguez, Rouson and Sharief.

Leading higher education budget conferencing is Harrell. The Committee will be filled by Sens. LaVon Bracy Davis, Jennifer Bradley, Danny Burgess, Alexis Calatayud, Davis and Tom Leek.

On Pre-K-12 Education, Burgess will serve as Chair of the Conference Committee, working with Sens. Bradley, Calatayud, Don Gaetz, Shevrin Jones, Massullo, Osgood, Pizzo, Simon and Yarborough.

DiCeglie will chair the Appropriations Conference Committee on Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development on the largest of the Conference Committees, which includes Sens. Arrington, Bryan Ávila, Mack Bernard, Bracy Davis, Grall, Leek, Martin, Debbie Mayfield, McClain, Polsky, Smith, Truenow and Wright.

With the Senate and House budgets now passed — the House passed its budget Thursday — and conferees now officially assigned in the Senate, the chambers could be well-positioned to complete work this Legislative Session on time, a welcome prospect after the 2025 Session went into marathon overtime.

There will still be alignment to hash out between the two chambers’ budgets, with the Senate’s $115 billion plan coming in quite a bit above the House’s more austere $113.6 billion budget.