With just 10 days before the 2015 legislative session comes to a close, Florida Senate President Andy Gardiner (R-Orlando), is convening a workshop on Tuesday, to discuss the precarious situation of the health care budget.
From Tampa Bay Times:
“Considering this uncertainty surrounding critical health care issues, I have asked (Appropriations) Chair (Tom) Lee to utilize the first portion of the final meeting of our Committee on Appropriations, scheduled for Tuesday, April 21, at 10:00 a.m. to host a workshop during which all senators will have the opportunity to hear from our Senate professional staff about potential funding scenarios and implications for their constituents,” Gardiner wrote in a letter to his fellow senators last week.
Gardiner encouraged all senators to make attendance at the workshop “a priority.”
Thus far, lawmakers have not been able to devise a budget largely because it is unclear whether or not federal funding of $2.2 billion hospital funding program will be renewed.
Republicans in Florida are divided over Medicaid expansion with most urging GOP Gov. Rick Scott to accept the expansion. Gardiner, who favors Medicaid expansion said earlier that, resistance to it is putting tax cuts and the entire state budget in peril.
