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Posted April 20, 2026 | By The News Service of Florida

Budget, redistricting push property tax cuts down on lawmakers’ agenda

Gov. Ron DeSantis has been campaigning for a large property tax cut for more than a year, promising lawmakers will put it on the November ballot. But with less than seven months until the election, no consensus plan has emerged from the Legislature to put before voters. And there likely won’t be any time soon.

Lawmakers will be busy approving new congressional districts when they meet for a special session on April 28. DeSantis originally set the session for April 20 but postponed it and added two of his top priorities — consumer protections for artificial intelligence and relaxing vaccine requirements.

Once all that is done, legislators will have to figure out how to break a stalemate over the budget.

House and Senate leaders are at odds over the next fiscal year’s spending plan. House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, prefers a $113.6 billion budget, while the Senate passed a $115 billion plan.

The long to-do list means DeSantis’ major priority will likely get pushed until late May, at the earliest.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Ed Hooper, R-Trinity, said it’s possible for lawmakers to include a property tax cut proposal in a special session on the budget, but consensus has been difficult to reach on that, too.

One sticking point has been how to treat rural counties that don’t have a large property tax base, or a large alternative source of revenue to pay for services if that source is drastically reduced.

Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, has cautioned about the need to prevent “fiscally constrained” counties from being left behind by a major property tax cut.

While the House put forward eight different plans during the regular session and passed one to eliminate property taxes for the non-school portion of the bill for homestead owners, the Senate didn’t advance any similar proposal.

Hooper said they’re still working on it.

“The Senate’s been working quite a bit on that issue. And you haven’t seen a plan; we don’t have eight plans,” Hooper said. “There’s 67 totally different counties in this state and a property tax issue that is great for one county could crush 31 poor counties.”

Democrats slam AHCA over stalled KidCare expansion

Democrats on April 17 questioned why the state wasn’t expanding children’s health insurance when the agency in charge of KidCare program reported a $32 million surplus.

During a Joint Legislative Budget Commission meeting, the Agency for Healthcare Administration requested to move the projected amount leftover funds from the 2025-2026 budget into reserves. The panel approved the measure but Rep. Allison Tant, D-Tallahassee and Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boca Raton, voted against it.

An AHCA representative said the surplus resulted from fewer families enrolling in the KidCare insurance program than expected.

Berman and Tant criticized the request arguing the surplus could cover approximately 42,000 children who lack insurance, in line with a bill passed by lawmakers in 2023.

“Until they implement the law we passed to cover those kids, I can’t in good conscience support a budget amendment that puts money into reserves instead of actually helping Floridians. Our kids deserve better,” Berman said in a statement.

In 2023, Florida passed legislation to increase the eligibility for KidCare from 200 percent of the poverty level to 300 percent, potentially adding 42,000 more children to the rolls. But the state has not yet enacted the changes, citing ongoing litigation with the federal government over coverage requirements.

A representative from AHCA said the lawsuit, which was dropped in February, is why the state has not implemented the program, but the agency is “actively trying to get to an agreeable place” between the state and the federal government to expand the program.

Tant said she was very concerned about the 42,000 kids who fall into the insurance gap.

“We have an obligation to do right by this legacy program, but more importantly to do right by these children and their families. These are working families who want to be self-sufficient, let’s give them the option to do that,” Tant said.

Florida Bar exam results released

The Supreme Court of Florida released its February results for the Florida Bar exam, with nearly 62 percent of takers passing the test.

Across Florida, 332 out of 537 first-time test takers made the cut.

Florida State University had the highest percentage of students passing the test, with six out of seven succeeding.

Florida International University had the second-highest passing rate, with 17 out of 21 students (81 percent), and Ave Maria University came in third with five out of seven students making the grade (71 percent).

In last place was the University of Miami with 11 out of 28 students passing (39 percent).