The Senate Budget Committee unveiled late Friday a $70.7 billion budget plan and more than 20 conforming bills, a move that could once again stir discontent among a maverick group of senators who nearly derailed last year’s session.
The measure unveiled by the Senate is about $1.5 billion larger than the $69.2 billion spending plan that the House approved Thursday. It also contains about 540 more positions than the House blueprint.
Some of the differences could stem from what the upper chamber’s early draft includes in the budget. But there are also real gaps between the two chambers.
The Senate pledges almost $1.2 billion in increased state funding for education, eclipsing the House and Gov. Rick Scott’s proposal to add just over $1 billion to the system. The upper chamber also slashes $400 million from universities, saying that the schools will be able to draw on their reserves for a year.
