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

First Shot

House Speaker Daniel Perez wants Florida to become the only state in the nation to permanently reduce its sales tax, proposing a 0.75% cut on Wednesday to bring the state sales tax from its current 6% to 5.25%. 

“This will not be a temporary measure, a stunt or a tax holiday. This will be a permanent, recurring tax reduction,” Perez said.

Perez said it would be the most significant tax cut in state history, projecting that Floridians would save $5 billion annually. 

“We have forgotten a fundamental truth — this money isn’t ours. Tax dollars don’t belong to the government, they belong to the people,” Perez said. 

He noted that while the Legislature in recent history has “justifiably called out local governments for misspending and mismanagement,” lawmakers “have been reluctant to turn our gaze on ourselves and hold state government to those same standards.” 

Pointedly, he said the state has a spending problem.

“More importantly, we have a recurring spending problem,” Perez added, noting that while member projects — often referred to as budget turkeys — “gain the most attention” because of vetoes, they don’t impact the state’s overall budget growth. He called such projects “irrelevant and incidental” to the state’s overall budget process in the long term. 

Perez applauded the work of the Subcommittee Chairs to “find real savings” and said the results will be published Friday in the proposed House General Appropriations Act, which he said will likewise be historic.

“Our budget will not only be lower than the Governor’s proposed budget, it will also be lower than the budget passed by the Legislature last term. For the first time since the Great Recession, we will roll out a budget that actually spends less money than we did in the prior fiscal year,” Perez said. 

Read more on Florida Politics.

Evening Reads

—“Here’s what Mike Waltz won’t tell you” via Chris Cillizza of So What?

—”Here are the attack plans that Donald Trump’s advisers shared on Signal” via Jeffrey Goldberg and Shane Harris of The Atlantic

—”The Atlantic editor who broke ‘Signalgate’ did nothing wrong. He could be prosecuted anyway.” via Mark Rasch of SLATE

—”How the Signal transcript undermines key Trump administration claims” via Aaron Blake of The Washington Post

—”Hegseth’s leak would have warned the enemy. The White House is using semantics to obscure that.” via David E. Sanger of The New York Times

—”Corporate America’s euphoria over Trump’s ‘Golden Age’ is giving way to distress” via Nick Timiraos, Alex Leary and Chip Cutter of The Wall Street Journal

—”‘Is Waltz Jonah from Veep?’: Team Trump fumes over its most idiotic scandal yet.” via Asawin Suebsaeng, Ryan Bort and Nikki McCann Ramirez of Rolling Stone

—”Florida bill opens door to firing squads, lethal gas for executions” via Romy Ellenbogen of the Tampa Bay Times

—”Sheriff’s office: ICE has deportation orders for 10,000 people in Orange County” via Stephen Hudak of the Orlando Sentinel

—”Say hello to FSU Health” via Christine Sexton of the Florida Phoenix

—”TMH calls for community action as Mayor, City Manager address ‘secret meetings’ backlash” via William L. Hatfield and Elena Barrera of the Tallahassee Democrat

Quote of the Day

“We have forgotten a fundamental truth – this money isn’t ours. Tax dollars don’t belong to the government, they belong to the people.”

— House Speaker Daniel Perez, proposing a permanent cut to the state sales tax.

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.

House Speaker Daniel Perez gets a Tax Relief for proposing a first-ever reduction to the state sales tax.

You can’t run a bar without orange juice, and Senate President Ben Albritton is doing his part to keep Florida groves running, so he gets his pick of the best orange juice-based cocktails.

Pour a Smoke on the Water for Sen. Tracie Davis, whose legislation to protect medical professionals from surgical smoke moved through another Committee.

Breakthrough Insights

Tune In

Djokovic, Pagula featured tonight at Miami Open

Novak Djokovic and Jessica Pagula highlight tonight’s schedule at the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium (7 p.m. ET, Tennis Channel).

Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam singles champion, continues to play at a high level at 37. He is ranked fifth in the ATP Rankings and came into the tournament as the number four seed on the men’s side. In his career, he has won 99 titles and has earned a record $186 million in prize money in singles and doubles combined.

Djokovic is scheduled to face 25th-ranked Sebastian Korda this evening. The son of 1998 Australian Open Petr Korda has faced Djokovic only once before. Djokovic beat Korda in three sets in Adelaide, Australia, in 2023. 

Pegula, the fourth seed in the women’s singles draw, faces 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu in a quarterfinal match. Pegula, who lost in the finals of the U.S. Open last year, briefly rose to become the top-ranked women’s tennis player in the world in 2023. She is currently ranked fourth in the WTA Rankings.

The tournament is the last hard-court event in the United States until July, when the tours return to Washington D.C.

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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.

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Florida’s food banks could be set to feast on additional funding courtesy of the Senate’s proposed budget.

Senate appropriators are offering $38 million to set up a grant program for charities that produce fresh food products in Florida. Another $12 million would fund grants to expand the state’s food banks.

“Florida’s farmers, growers, and ranchers produce hundreds of different commodities every year. Fresh from Florida is more than just a slogan – it’s a way of life for those who feed our state and nation,” said Senate President Ben Albritton, a Wauchula Republican, in a release highlighting the allocation. “No matter how prosperous our state is, unexpected and unplanned things happen that can cause food insecurity for families.

“I don’t want any Floridian, especially children, to go to bed hungry every night, not knowing where their next meal will come from. That’s not something I’m willing to live with. Florida does a lot to help struggling folks back onto their feet and food is a part of that effort. We’re running to this fight to connect hungry families across our state with Florida farmers who produce fresh, wholesome food. This is a much-needed hand-up for families and farmers across our state. As I travel the state, attacking food insecurity unites Floridians like nothing else can. Food matters.”

The Senate’s proposed budget begins the process that will likely run until near the end of the 60-day Session. Alongside Wednesday’s announcement on food bank funding, the Senate is also offering $200 million to aid the state’s citrus industry.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) would administer the $38 million as part of a competitive grant program to promote food grown or produced in Florida.

To be eligible, recipients must submit monthly reports to FDACS detailing “the amount of food purchased by commodity type, purchase location, purchase date, delivery date, and distribution location,” per a Wednesday release summarizing the budget allocations.

Wednesday’s Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget proposal comes from the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government, which Senate President Pro Tempore Jason Brodeur chairs.

“Food insecurity is without a doubt a real problem that some families in our state face,” Brodeur said in a statement.

“This funding will help expand food bank and pantry infrastructure to make fresh, healthy food available to families in need. I can’t think of a more conservative, more compassionate way to help these struggling families. This funding will be a win for Florida families and a win for Florida agriculture.”

The $12 million pool of money would be part of a joint effort between FDACS and Feeding Florida to better serve areas in need, with an emphasis on rural communities.

“The funds may be used to equip new locations, expand distribution routes, purchase transportation equipment, or provide necessary training to onboard pantry staff,” Wednesday’s release said.

When asked, Robin Safley, the Executive Director of Feeding Florida, said, “We applaud the Commissioner Simpson, the Senate President, Senator Brodeur and House leadership for recognizing the importance of food security and the role it plays in keeping Floridians healthy —especially when that fresh food comes from our state’s own bountiful harvests.”

Feeding Florida is the association representing Florida’s nine largest foodbanks which work closely with the Florida agriculture community and local farmers to bring Florida-grown food from the fields and into to the hands of those in need. Additionally, the networks work closely with Hope Florida and the Florida Department of Commerce to help families get job training and other resources they need to thrive.

“Florida’s farmers have a deep connection to our state and its people, going back in many cases for generations. Rain or shine, they are responsible for putting food on grocery shelves across the state and are our first and best line of defense against food insecurity,” said Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.

“Expanding our food bank infrastructure will help connect more families across Florida with fresh, healthy, seasonal crops and produce grown right here in the Sunshine State.”

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House Speaker Daniel Perez wants Florida to become the only state in the nation to permanently reduce its sales tax, proposing on Wednesday a 0.75% cut to bring the state sales tax from its current 6% to 5.25%. 

“This will not be a temporary measure; a stunt or a tax holiday. This will be a permanent, recurring tax reduction,” Perez said during remarks to the House Chamber. 

The decrease is expected to save Floridians $5 billion per year, according to Perez. 

Perez said it would be the largest tax cut in state history. 

“We have forgotten a fundamental truth – this money isn’t ours. Tax dollars don’t belong to the government, they belong to the people,” Perez said. 

He made the point that while the Legislature in recent history has “justifiably called out local governments for misspending and mismanagement,” lawmakers “have been reluctant to turn our gaze on ourselves and hold state government to those same standards.” 

Pointedly, he said the state has a spending problem.

“More importantly, we have a recurring spending problem,” Perez added, noting that while member projects — often referred to as budget turkeys — “gain the most attention” because of vetoes, they don’t impact the state’s overall budget growth. He called such projects “irrelevant and incidental” to the state’s overall budget process in the long-term. 

“Our problem is not that we buy too many non-recurring projects, it is that we cannot resist spending every single dime of recurring revenue,” Perez said. “We pile more money on programs that can’t even manage to spend the money they already have. The beneficiaries of the state budget are the endless string of lobbyists and vendors who always have some shiny new thing for the state to buy that won’t actually improve the lives of Floridians.”

Perez applauded work by subcommittee chairs to “find real savings,” and said results of their work will be published Friday in the proposed House General Appropriations Act, which he said will likewise be historic.

“Our budget will not only be lower than the Governor’s proposed budget, it will also be lower than the budget passed by the Legislature last term. For the first time since the Great Recession, we will roll out a budget that actually spends less money than we did in the prior fiscal year,” Perez said. 

A Senate spokesperson said President Ben Albritton was made aware of the House plan prior to Perez’s announcement and that he “looks forward to reviewing the House proposal and budget in more detail later this week.”

“The Senate budget prioritizes broad-based tax relief, debt repayment, and reserves, while reducing per capita spending. The President has tremendous respect for the Speaker and looks forward to partnering with the House on a significant, broad-based tax relief package to make sure Florida families can keep more of the money they earn.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed a $116 billion budget and called for fiscal responsibility. Already, his budget, entitled “Focus on Fiscal Responsibility,” calls for an aggressive array of tax savings, though most are not recurring. He proposes the usual back-to-school tax holiday and tax holidays for disaster preparedness and “Freedom Month,” which provides tax breaks on summer outdoor activities and items, along with various events, museums and movie theater attendance. He also proposes a new “Second Amendment Summer” tax holiday on guns and ammo. Additionally, DeSantis wants to begin phasing out the state’s commercial rents sales tax, by dropping it to 1% in 2026 and then eliminating it altogether in 2027. 

“We often talk about how to improve affordability in Florida, and our strategies usually involve spending money on more government programs. But this year, we’ll try a novel concept – and make Florida more affordable by giving the people of Florida their own money back to them,” Perez concluded in his remarks. 

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