House passes Florida property tax reduction, but not aligned with Senate

The Florida House has passed legislation that would dramatically reduce the property tax — if the Senate agrees with the plan and voters approve it in November.

But the Senate does not agree.

“Those counties that are constrained, we do care about the impact we're going to have on them,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ed Hooper on Wednesday. “So we’re being very careful about what we do. Sixty-seven totally different counties are impacted in a totally different way, and we're considering all of that.”

He said his chamber’s yet-to-be-released plan will not be as “generous” as the House plan to eliminate all non-school property taxes on primary homes, which make up a sizable chunk of local governments’ budgets.

But the House went ahead and passed it anyway on Thursday.

“This may well be the most aggressive legislation ever passed by a legislative chamber on property taxes in the history of the United States,” said House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami.

With the chambers also nearly $1.5 billion apart in their budget proposals, the divide deepens questions on whether the legislative session will be extended like last year and whether a special session will be needed for lawmakers to work out the property tax issue.

“What happens in the days ahead will decide if we will be here another three weeks or another three months,” Perez said.

He added: “We continue to be open to any of the Senate’s ideas — provided those ideas ever materialize as actions.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis has been calling for a property tax reduction for around a year. Like the Senate, he hasn’t come out with a proposal.

In a social media post Thursday morning, DeSantis said, “We’ve been working with members of the Senate who have been great partners.”

DeSantis has been feuding with the House and has promoted a spring special session for property taxes. He’s already called an April special session for redistricting.

“Given that it can’t be voted on by the people before November, it’s better to do it right than do it quick!” DeSantis wrote.

Albritton weighs in

Taking questions from reporters on Thursday afternoon, Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, continued to be vague about what the Senate will do with the tax.

“Getting it right is more important than doing it quickly,” Albritton said. “The proposal that ultimately comes out of the Senate is something we can build consensus around and help Florida homeowners and find balance with our local communities.”

Regarding Hooper’s comment about the Senate plan not being as “generous” as the House’s, he said, “I think that still has yet to be determined.”

But he added that he wants whatever passes to be something voters will actually approve, so all the discussions aren’t an “exercise in futility.”

He also said he didn’t believe the two chambers were that far apart with their budget proposals.

“Is there enough goodwill to be able to get us moving through this process and to have it done within the window of 60 days?” he said. “Look, I believe so. I really do.”

The session started in mid-January and is currently scheduled to end in mid-March.

Democrats, local governments have worries

Democrats in the House strongly opposed the property tax measure on Thursday, warning it would affect local services and require fees to be raised elsewhere.

“In an affordability crisis, cutting property taxes sounds helpful, but in practice, it often does the opposite of what people intend,” said Rep. Daryl Campbell, D-Fort Lauderdale. “Property taxes fund local services people rely on every day.”

While the House measure says law enforcement funding can’t be reduced, Democrats wondered about how local governments will keep up with rising public safety costs.

“We're going to be having some big, difficult conversations,” said Rep. Monique Miller, R-Palm Bay, who sponsored the measure, HJR 203.

She said it might be possible for “some of the smaller cities or boutique law enforcement divisions to go and work through the sheriff's office.”

Local governments have also expressed concerns.

In a statement, the Florida Policy Institute said this “represents nothing more than a cost shift — one that would leave a $18.3-billion hole across local budgets, according to the state’s own estimate, while forcing local lawmakers to choose between gutting critical services, raising taxes and fees to make up for the missing revenue, or acting on a combination of these options.”

If you have any questions about state government or the legislative process, you can ask the Your Florida team by clicking here.

This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.