Fewer tax holidays, new money for prisons: Florida budget talks begin

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – With spending plans topping $115 billion, the House and Senate continued moving closer Wednesday to negotiations on a final budget for next year. The House is slated to vote Thursday on its budget proposal (HB 5001). The Senate will take up the House proposal and send it back with a message to start “collegial” budget talks, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said. “Like last session, I think we’re going to come in on time and on budget,” Passidomo told reporters. The bottom lines of the House and Senate plans are separated by about $350 million, with the House budget lower. Both would be reductions from the $119.1 billion budget in the current fiscal year, which ends June…