Ordinarily, the last week of the annual legislative session is a blur of deal-making, with bills bouncing back and forth across the Capitol’s fourth floor. But with the House adjourning Tuesday amid a battle with the Senate about budget and health care issues, the 2015 session will be remembered for its messy end—and the piles of bills that died in the crossfire. Lawmakers will come back sometime in May or June for a special session to negotiate and pass a budget. But with the 60-day regular session formally over, here is where five major issues stand:
BUDGET: At some point, lawmakers will pass a budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. They don’t have a choice. But the Republican-dominated House and Senate remain more than $4 billion apart in their budget proposals and have not started the formal process of trying to come to agreement. While the House and Senate always have budget differences, this year’s standoff focuses almost exclusively on health care. Lawmakers don’t know whether the federal government will extend a $2.2 billion program known as the Low Income Pool, which is scheduled to expire June 30 and plays a key role in helping hospitals care for poor and uninsured patients. Meanwhile, the Senate wants to use $2.8 billion in federal Medicaid money to offer health insurance to hundreds of thousands of lower-income Floridians, a nonstarter for the House.
