No spending proposals this week

The Senate will not issue its budget Thursday, as some expected, according to Senate budget chief Ed Hooper.

“We will not be presenting our budget today,” Hooper wrote in a memo to his chamber shortly after lunchtime Thursday. “Our goal remains to roll out our budget in concert with our House partners.”

Hooper said that due to public notice requirements in Senate rules, “the next opportunity to roll out our budget is next week.”

The memo comes after sources told Florida Politics not to treat Thursday as a Friday, and to keep reporters “attentive” on a possible rollout.

Hooper said Senate leadership “will certainly keep you updated as we move forward.”

“We look forward to working with our House partners and to getting the budget process underway as soon as possible.”

Hooper praised the “great partners in the House,” adding that he has “every expectation we will work well together moving forward.”

This is the second time Hooper has announced a delay to the expected budget rollout. On Feb. 4, he announced that the Senate was updating its schedule to release its budget Feb. 12. In that announcement, like this one, Hooper cited tradition, noting that “the chambers introduce budgets the same week.”

The initial delay was related to House and Senate efforts to align more closely in the total amount of resources available.

House budget chief Lawrence McClure at that time disputed Hooper’s claim, instead saying in a post on X that “the Florida Senate has demonstrated little interest in respecting legislative traditions” and that “any timing issues they are having in pulling together their Senate budget have absolutely nothing to do with the Florida House.”

McClure did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the House budget process Thursday following Hooper’s announcement.

Earlier this month, prior to the first Senate delay announcement, Hooper and Senate President Ben Albritton held a media availability discussing various budget challenges, from Medicaid spending to property tax relief.

Then, Albritton said the upper chamber was looking at tax and debt reduction discussed in the 2025 Legislative Session, and considering that “relative to the (budget) we’re building now.” He also lamented nearly $1 billion in new Medicaid spending as a looming budget challenge.