Cities and counties are bracing as Florida lawmakers passed a revised version of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ property tax exemption overhaul June 2, which aims to deliver relief to homeowners even as local officials warn it could force difficult budget choices. Lawmakers already have tweaked the governor’s vision, sparing public school funding, protecting constitutional officers and axing a state trust fund meant to cushion local revenue losses.
Lawmakers approved sending a proposed constitutional amendment to the November statewide ballot. And if at least 60% of Florida voters say ‘yes,’ the sweeping tax overhaul would likely cement DeSantis’ legacy as a governor who fundamentally reshaped Florida’s fiscal landscape, delivering broad property tax relief while forcing a long-term realignment of how local governments pay for basic services.
The USA TODAY Network – Florida is providing live coverage throughout the day. The Senate convenes at 9 a.m.; the House at 10 a.m. Follow along for the latest updates.
Jim Rosica
Soon after passage, one Republican county commissioner was slamming the Legislature’s product on social media: “I’ve never heard so many Florida state lawmakers admit they have a flawed, poorly thought out, rushed bill but they’ll vote up to let the voters have a say on the same admittedly flawed language.”
Manatee County Commissioner George Kruse went on, “… It’s a constitutional amendment. There is no ‘glitch fix.’ The only fix is in the current ballot language. After that, it’s law and not easily fixable until it’s too late.”
He also referred to the governor’s recent remarks, somewhat tongue in cheek, that he vetoes budget items of those who oppose him: “At least (lawmakers) won’t have their appropriations vetoed with an up vote. Maybe.”
As of 2:45 p.m., DeSantis had not yet commented on his plan’s passage on his X accounts, nor had his office issued a statement.
Jim Rosica
After lawmakers adjourned, some spoke with the press. Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, was not among them, and hasn’t appeared before reporters since March.
Perez, speaking to reporters after the June 2 session, was asked, “60% is a high threshold for this on November ballot. If voters don’t approve it, do you feel like this would have been a wasted effort?”
The property tax relief (HJR 1F/SB 4-F) pushed by DeSantis and OK’d by lawmakers requires a state constitutional change. It will go before voters in November, where it needs three-fifths approval to be added to the constitution.
“There is no wasted effort,” Perez said. “… I think what we’re really doing here is we’re entrusting our voters. And if the voters decide in November by less than 60% that this is what they wanted or not to do, then we trust that that was the right decision.
“Our constituents many times wish that they could have more of a say in government just across the board. … No one wants taxes. The details of how to come to a final product has been a long road. But I’m proud of the opportunity that we are giving the voters by letting them decide ….
“And if it doesn’t (pass), I am still going to say that this was the right decision, that we produced a good product and that I would do it all over again. And if it does pass, I’m going to feel the exact same way.”
Jim Rosica
Their work concluded, both chambers adjourned “sine die,” a Latin term meaning “without day.”
House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, briefly thanked House members, saying they had lived “in interesting times.”
The Legislature is not expected to reconvene before this year’s elections. Perez was nominated earlier this week by President Donald Trump to be U.S. ambassador to Brazil.
Jim Rosica
A Democratic House member has used the tropes of Greek tragedy to reframe moral crimes as political acts, equating tax cuts framed as “relief” with destructive consequences.
State Rep. Daryl Campbell, D-Fort Lauderdale, posted his explanation of his vote against the DeSantis tax plan on the House website:
With darkened eyes we look upon this feast/A curse has crossed the threshold of the house/The cauldron boils in Adams Street/There sits Atreus, smiling/And with a king’s hand cuts apart/Fiscal prudence, home rule, and public services/Three noble children of the civic hearth/Limb from limb he rends them/Salts the wounds with promises/Decks the platter with a shining calculator/Gives the blood a false name: relief/O voters, innocent Thyestes/Do not lie upon this fatal couch/Do not stretch hands toward that forbidden board/The flesh before you is your city/Fire protection in marrow/Libraries, mosquito control, roads/Hidden bones and sinews/By which the people stand/If you eat, the past/Will rise within your body, screaming/Tantalus laughs underground/Kansas sends her hounds from the ruined dark/Schools shuttered/Hospitals broken/Roads split like mouths/All baying from Brownback’s banquet/Heed this before the cup touches your lips/Once swallowed, such horror/Is not vomited back/J’Refuse!/No throne, swollen with power/Outlives the justice it has murdered/And you who urge the knife ahead/Remember well the House of Atreus/Rightful order comes again/The wicked house falls.
Campbell appeared to be using a dramatic speech modeled on Greek tragedy to protest the tax plan, comparing it to a destructive and deceptive act that harms the public while being presented as beneficial.
Stephany Matat
The Senate approved the property tax measure in a 30-9 vote, with votes along party lines except for Democratic Sens. Barbara Sharief and Darryl Rouson, who voted in favor of the measure with Republicans.
Rouson, a term-limited member from St. Petersburg, also voted in favor of it at the June 1 Appropriations Committee.
In his closing statement, Republican Sen. Bryan Avila from Miami Springs, who led the charge in the Senate, urged lawmakers to approve the governor’s plan.
Avila said that although the opposition says this looks like an attack on local governments, leadership sometimes requires tough decisions. Municipalities are going to have to have conversations about their spending priorities.
“We (too) can certainly have a conversation all day about what this may look like,” Avila said. “I think our voters, if we give them that opportunity, will tell us what that is in November.”
Jim Rosica
As expected, the GOP-controlled Florida House passed the property tax overhaul pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The June 2 vote on HJR 1F, the main measure, was 75-26.
Two Panhandle Republicans voted against it: Patt Maney of Shalimar and Nathan Boyles of Baker.
One Democrat voted for it: Dotie Joseph of North Miami, though she later changed to a ‘nay’ vote without explanation.
“The time for reform is now,” Overdorf told the chamber. “We cannot push this down the road.”
As of 12:30, the Senate was still debating its versions, which are substantively the same.
Stephany Matat
Florida senators during debate mostly expressed concerns with the measure, but said they’d support it to leave it up to Florida voters.
Lawmakers’ positions on the bill was along party lines. Democrats said there needed to be more thoughtful deliberation rather than a two-day special session, and that critical services are at risk. Some Republicans have expressed reservations, but intend to support it.
Take Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, who said the day before she was not sure whether she’d vote on the bill.
But during debate on June 2, she said lawmakers have a significant responsibility to ensure that local communities can recover. Cities and counties will responsibly make tough fiscal choices they’ll need to, she added.
“It’s up to the citizens of Florida to evaluate what their community is doing, and evaluate and make sure that they have the confidence that this is not going to have a negative impact on the services that they demand,” Harrell said.
But Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, said she understands there are lots of reasons to desire property tax relief. At the same time, it has to be “the right product.”
She also criticized the governor, saying the reason his proposal is being rushed through is to boost his political profile before he leaves office in January: “We could have been studying this all year, had our own commission, and we didn’t do it,” Polsky said.
Jim Rosica
House Republicans were deferring debate, leaving Democrats to hammer home a now familiar theme: The DeSantis proposal is a “regressive tax shift” that drains funding from core local services while giving most benefits to homeowners over renters and others.
Rep. Eskamani also repeated a talking point from Florida TaxWatch, that property tax savings are better handled by the state’s Taxation and Budget Reform Commission. It’s a constitutionally-created panel that convenes every 20 years to examine Florida’s budget process, revenue needs and tax structure, and can directly propose related constitutional amendments to voters.
As House Deputy Democratic Whip Felicia Robinson of Miami Gardens put it, the governor “told you you’re going to save money but you’re going to wind up losing.”
Put another way, “all those services” that cities and counties currently provide, including public safety, “are going to be at another cost,” she added.
Rep. Jose Alvarez, D-Kissimmee, said the plan will create “geographic winners and losers” as “cities and counties become more dependent on Tallahassee” to foot the bill.
In fact, he and others, including Democratic Rep. Allison Tant of Tallahassee, even suggested that some municipalities could be in a worst-case scenario of running out of money to operate and have to unincorporate.
Jim Rosica
The House’s GOP supermajority further killed Democrats’ amendments to carve out water management districts and services and programs for veterans and senior citizens.
Another offered by Anna Eskamani, a term-limited Orlando Democrat running for Orlando mayor, would have required the Legislature to “provide local governments with any funds necessary to fund public safety services.”
Such services are “including, but not limited to, law enforcement, fire safety, emergency medical services, and corrections, if … a local government is unable to fully fund such public safety services.”
Jim Rosica
A Democratic-sponsored floor amendment to spare children’s services councils and trusts didn’t get enough votes to be added. It was voted down 74-25.
Rep. Robin Bartleman, D-Weston, wanted those panels to still be able to get property tax money unencumbered by the governor’s overhaul.
The independent county taxing districts use local property taxes to fund prevention and early-intervention programs for local children and families, according to the Florida Alliance of Children’s Councils & Trusts (FACCT).
As previously reported, Cindy Arenberg Seltzer, the president and CEO of Children’s Services Council of Broward County, said removing that funding would devastate the safety net for children and families and potentially wipe out local groups that rely on the councils and trusts to provide vital services.
“The impact on some of these nonprofits would not be ‘Oh, my God, we lost some dollars and this program goes away.’ It could actually put a lot of these nonprofit organizations out of business,” she told the USA TODAY Network in a previous interview.
On June 2, Bartleman – a former Broward County School Board member – said the work of the CSCs was “too important to toss it out there and say, ‘figure it out.’ … You’re disrupting the whole safety net for the state of Florida.”
Jim Rosica
House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, gaveled in his chamber and Democrats quickly began interrogating the DeSantis plan sponsor there, Republican Toby Overdorf of Palm City.
The biggest issue was how, now that lawmakers removed a state trust fund option to help counties pay for important services, will fiscally constrained counties backfill funds they don’t get from property tax revenue.
Democratic Rep. Allison Tant of Tallahassee, a former state Democratic Party chair, brought up Jefferson and Madison counties in her House district, which are relatively low in population and largely rural. The public school districts are the biggest employers, she said.
“What is the answer to funding public safety there?” she asked Overdorf. “The governor’s resolution is silent on how to fund … and on ways to fund government,” he answered.
Stephany Matat
Another proposed amendment by Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman also failed. It was intended to give a “real description” of what the proposal does.
Her amendment described how the ballot measure could limit local governments’ ability to use tax revenues by specifying only specific spending categories.
“Voters deserve to know what they’re voting on without bias or attempts to what might happen in the future,” Berman said.
Stephany Matat
Florida senators began their discussion of a comprehensive property tax measure in the second day of a special session called by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Lawmakers will deliberate the governor’s proposal, aimed to provide relief to Floridians – although opponents say funding for various public services could be in peril.
Sen. Bryan Avila, R-Miami Springs, said on the Senate floor that the measure’s substantial changes should ease many concerns, since tax funds would still fund public schools, for example.
“While we made changes yesterday, I still hold that this is the governor’s plan, to provide significant property tax relief for real property owners in the great state of Florida,” Avila said.
The chamber’s Republican majority shot down attempts by Democrats to amend it on the floor, including an effort by Orlando Democratic Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith to add an sunset provision. (That means it automatically expires on a specified date unless action is taken to renew it.)
Otherwise, the DeSantis plan is virtually certain to pass. The measure would then go to Florida voters, who will determine in November whether to adopt DeSantis’ property tax reduction plan – likely his last major act as a term-limited governor before he leaves office in January.
Democrats can be expected for hours today to question the sweeping measure, which could save Florida residents thousands of dollars on property taxes but also mean a potential $8.4 billion loss for local governments, according to a House bill analysis.
Jim Rosica
Florida TaxWatch, which bills itself “an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit government watchdog and taxpayer research institute,” says the DeSantis property tax plan is “unnecessary” and recommends letting another special state panel “tackle this important task.”
The Tallahassee-based group released a statement June 1, saying it “appreciates the conversation about lowering property tax.”
“However, we do not believe you can solve the problem by simply discussing the increase in property tax. We also need to discuss the rapid increase in local government budgets. If guardrails aren’t put in place to curb local government spending, any reduction in homestead property tax revenue will simply be passed on to non-homestead property owners or replaced with other taxes, fees, and assessments,” it said.
Moreover, “the hurried evaluation and adoption of this proposal, which became public less than a week ago, is unnecessary. The proposal has a lot of moving parts, and not all provisions are fleshed out … This is a very important issue that requires serious and thoughtful research, an opportunity for public input, and thorough debate.”
A better approach would be “to take our time and let the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission tackle this important task,” the statement said. That is a constitutionally-created panel that convenes every 20 years to examine Florida’s budget process, revenue needs and tax structure, and can directly propose related constitutional amendments to voters.
“Issues like how the counties pay for core government functions if we enact property tax reform, or even what functions of government are considered ‘core,’ need to be thoroughly discussed and considered as well.”
Jim Rosica
Lawmakers met in committee to tee up the DeSantis tax plan, making several changes, including:
The two chambers will next discuss the legislation on their respective floors, with an aim to pass one version on June 2 and send it to the governor. Then its next stop – barring lawsuits – will be the November general election ballot.
Read the Day 1 live blog here.
Jim Rosica
The governor has proposed a state constitutional amendment that would have to be approved by voters in November. In a nutshell, it would increase Florida’s $50,000 homestead exemption to $150,000 beginning Jan. 1, 2027, and then $250,000 by Jan. 1, 2028.
That exemption amounts to a property tax break by reducing the taxable value of a primary home, now by up to $50,000, lowering one’s annual property tax bill.
According to the governor’s office, upping it to $250,000 would wipe out the need to pay property taxes for 60% of Floridians who own a home and make it their main residence.
After talking about it for the better part of a year, DeSantis rolled out his plan in Tampa on May 27 in Tampa. The governor’s office also launched a website, saveourhomesfl.com. Lawmakers are now in Tallahassee to consider and vote on the proposal.
Before it can get on the ballot, it has to get at least 60% of the vote in state House and Senate. Then no less than 60% of voters statewide have to vote ‘yes’ for it to become part of the state’s constitution.
It’s also important to make this distinction: Property taxes are the economic engine of local governments in Florida. Sales tax collections drive state revenue, along with corporate income taxes, earnings on state investments and more. There is no personal income tax in Florida, and there can’t be one under the state constitution.
Portions of this post were published previously.
Recap: Florida House, Senate pass DeSantis property tax plan – Tallahassee Democrat
