Gov. Rick Scott finally gets the $82.4 billion budget, which means he now has 15 days to decide what to do about it.

Scott’s decision could prompt special legislative session

TALLAHASSEE – The $82.4 billion state budget that Gov. Rick Scott has called “shortsighted” and bad for job creation was sent to his desk by the Legislature on Wednesday.

Scott now has until June 15 to act on the bill. He has said he will “look at his options,” including vetoing the entire budget.

Other bills related to the budget, such as a wide-ranging measure with $419 million for charter schools and teacher bonuses that has brought veto calls from education officials, haven’t yet been sent to Scott’s desk.

Lawmakers passed the budget and finished their session May 8, but bills aren’t automatically sent to Scott after they pass, and there is no deadline for the Legislature to transmit bills to him.

Scott has repeatedly bashed his fellow Republicans in the Legislature for slashing tourism marketing by two-thirds and eliminating business incentives, two of his top priorities heading into the session this year.

If he vetoes the budget, lawmakers would have to return for a special session and either override him with a twothirds vote or rewrite the entire spending plan before July 1, the start of the next fiscal year.

Without a budget in place, at least some parts of state government could be forced to shut down. To avoid that, lawmakers would have to return for a special session within the last two weeks of June.

Some Democrats, outnumbered in both chambers and out of power in the Capitol, are hoping Scott vetoes either a portion or all of the budget so they can put more money into K-12 schools, which received a $25 per student increase, one of the smallest since the economy rebounded from the Great Recession.

“I’ve got my popcorn out, waiting to see what happens. It’s kind of Republican-on-Republican crime right now,” said Senate Democratic Leader Oscar Braynon of Miami Gardens.

But Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, thinks there

is enough for Scott in the budget to prevent a veto. Scott backed Negron’s plan to make Bright Futures Scholarships pay for summer credit hours, he noted. Lawmakers put more money for law enforcement for counterterrorism in the budget, another Scott priority.

“I think the governor will find a lot in the budget that he’ll strongly support,” Negron said.

The budget includes $25 million for Visit Florida, a $51 million cut from the current year for the state’s tourism promotion group. Scott asked for $100 million. Enterprise Florida, the main economic development agency, gets $16 million, with no money for business incentives to entice companies to create jobs in the state. Scott had asked for $85 million in incentives.

“I’m going to continue to fight for making sure that we do everything we can to fully fund Visit Florida, fully fund Enterprise Florida, because if we don’t it’s more difficult to believe we’re going to see the job growth rate that we’ve seen,” Scott told reporters in Tallahassee last week.

The cuts to the economic development groups were driven by House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, who has thwarted much of Scott’s agenda this year.

Any special session to deal with the budget will likely include medical marijuana.

House and Senate leaders failed to reach agreement on rules to regulate the industry for doctors, patients and vendors during the regular session, even though 71 percent of voters approved a ballot measure in November legalizing it for patients with debilitating conditions.

“I support a special session to address medical cannabis, and I predict that we will have one,” Sen. Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who took over negotiations with the House on the marijuana measure in the waning days of the session, told The News Service of Florida on.Tuesday.

Lawmakers have been under intense pressure to have a special session to deal with the issue. If they don’t, Department of Health officials will be responsible for implementing the amendment, something critics say would be bad for patients and the industry.