Special Session Ends on Time
The Florida legislature concluded its special session Friday afternoon as anticipated, but not without considerable speculation as to whether they would reach agreement on key budget issues.
The original call of the special session indicated that the legislature would return to Tallahassee from June 7 through June 9 to adjust the state budget. The short return period seemed to indicate an agreement between legislative leaders and the Governor’s office. However, as the special session began, rumors of disagreements between the chambers and the Governor began to surface. In the end, whether those disagreements were real or perceived, all parties came to the table and worked out the remaining budget items.
As the special session ended, Governor Rick Scott, Senate President Joe Negron and House Speaker Richard Corcoran appeared at a news conference celebrating a session that added money to the public school budget, funded economic development requests important to Governor Scott, and restored money to the higher education budget. The legislature also passed a law governing medical marijuana, which it was not able to do during the regular session.