Florida Legislature Passes Record $79B Budget and Gets Sued

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BRADENTON, Fla. - Three days after the Florida Legislature passed a $78.7 billion budget to wrap a special session early, environmentalists filed a lawsuit alleging that lawmakers misappropriated more than $300 million of state funds.

Legislators approved the record spending June 19, a day before the session was scheduled to end to avoid a government shutdown for the 2016 fiscal year beginning July 1.

The final step in the budget process is now up to Gov. Rick Scott, who last year signed what was then a record $77 billion budget for 2015 after vetoing $69 million - the smallest amount since becoming governor.

On June 22, Earthjustice filed a 10-page lawsuit in Leon County Circuit Court on behalf of four plaintiffs who are challenging the budget appropriations related to constitutional Amendment 1, which was approved by 75% of those voting in last November's election.

The amendment allocates 33% of documentary stamp taxes collected on real estate transfers to the acquisition and improvement of conservation and recreation lands. The tax is expected to generate $740 million for that purpose in fiscal 2016.

Environmentalists, however, said lawmakers "defied the constitutional mandate" and misspent more than $300 million of Amendment 1 funds on unauthorized expenses while at the same time approving $429 million in tax cuts.

"The constitutional amendment is clear," said Earthjustice attorney David Guest. "A third of the tax on real estate deals is to be used to prevent every last inch of Florida land from getting chewed up by development. But most lawmakers are simply not listening. That's why we have to go to court."

Guest filed the suit against the Legislature on behalf of the Florida Wildlife Federation Inc., and its president Manley Fuller, the St. Johns Riverkeeper Inc., and the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida Inc.

The 2016 budget is based on a number of concessions owing to the GOP-led Legislature's refusal to expand Medicaid, as well as a $429 million broad-based tax cut bill that Scott signed into law on June 16.

The budget also includes $300 million for individual projects sought by lawmakers that are sometimes referred to as "turkeys."

Some $400 million in general revenue is used in the spending plan to support charity care for low-income patients at Florida hospitals because of reduced federal funding for the low-income pool program, which is being phased out.

A special session was required because lawmakers could not agree on a Senate plan to expand Medicaid during the regular annual meeting, stalling approval of the budget.

While the Medicaid disagreement spilled over into the overtime session, the House ultimately won and expansion was rejected. The alternate plan required extra general revenue to bolster the charity-care program and actually reduced available funds for tax cuts.

Scott has not indicated whether he will sign the 2016 budget bill without vetoes, but he is expected to act on it before the end of the fiscal year.

On June 22, Scott took a whirlwind trip that he called the "tax cut victory tour" to seven Florida cities touting the tax cuts, the largest of which is a permanent 1.73% reduction in the Communications Services Tax on items such as phone and television services.

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