Legislative
Just in time to avoid extending the 60-day legislative session beyond its scheduled completion Friday, legislators reached a final deal on a nearly $70 billion state budget. The budget was sent to lawmakers electronically by 10:16 p.m. meaning that a final vote will not come until Friday night in order to comply with the state's 72-hour cooling off period.
Although nothing is final, due to statewide support from all over the state as well as some champions in the legislature, the UF/IFAS budget was spared being cut in the proposed budget bill.
House Speaker Dean Cannon summed up this year’s budget process saying, "This is the toughest budget in modern history." He called the negotiations that led to the agreement "the toughest sledding I've seen in my years here."
Lawmakers entered the 2011 session dealing with a nearly $4 billion budget shortfall. In order to fill that gap, they cut hospital reimbursement rates by 12 percent, authorized an 8 percent tuition hike for college students, cut student financial aid and mandated that public employees begin paying 3 percent of their salary for their pension costs. State employees will not have to pay anymore for health insurance in the coming year, but the new budget that kicks in on July 1 will result in the elimination of nearly 5,000 jobs across state government.