Last week marked the halfway point of the 2026 Legislative Session. Following behind-the-scenes pre-negotiations with budget chairs, both the House and Senate officially released their budget proposals from their respective chambers for how they would like to see Florida spend its money for the 2026-2027 fiscal year.  

Overall, the two proposals were $1 billion apart, with the House proposing $113.6 billion and the Senate proposing $115 billion (Source: The Florida Phoenix/Tallahassee Reports). Oh, and Governor DeSantis (who holds the power to veto budget items) announced his budget proposal for what he wants to see in the budget back in December — $117.4 billion.  

So, how did we get here, and where do we go from here in getting a final budget passed? 

During committee weeks last October-December, legislators invited municipalities in their districts to put in requests for appropriations (also referred to as budget requests), which serve as grants for projects for which they might need help in funding. These projects must serve the greater needs of the community and typically have a chance of being selected in the budget for funding if the requesting municipalities commit to providing some of their own funds to the project.  

For example, a municipality may submit a funding request to their legislator for a septic to sewer conversion project if they have a documented need for the project (i.e., failing septic tanks). Local organizations, including nonprofits, are also encouraged to submitproject requests for funding consideration.  

To increase the probability of a project being funded in the final budget, requesting organizations are strongly advised to submit an appropriations form to both their House and Senate legislators and to commit at least a 50% match in funding. 

Once the appropriations project requests are submitted by House and Senate sponsors, they are assigned to a specific budget committee silo according to the type of project. There are eight silos in the House and six in the Senate: Agriculture/Natural Resources/Environment; Health Care; Higher Education; Information Technology; Justice; PreK-12; State Administration/General Government; and Transportation/Economic Development.  

In the case of the septic to sewer conversion example, it would be assigned to the Agriculture/Natural Resources/Environment budget silo. Each budget committee silo is assigned a legislator to serve as chair, who is charged with submitting a budget silo proposal recommendation based on House, Senate and governor priorities. As each legislator has the tedious task of balancing the project requests for each silo, so do the chairs in balancing each member of their chamber’s projects with those of their leadership’s priorities.  

My next column will feature an overview and deeper dive into what happens next after the budget silo proposals are submitted and when each chamber’s overall budget proposals are dropped.