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Florida House reinstates two vetoed legislative appropriations; creates three select committees for HB 1B
Summary
On Jan. 27, 2025, the Florida House voted unanimously to reinstate two vetoed legislative operating appropriations and the speaker announced three select committees to consider HB 1B on illegal immigration, while cancelling other committee meetings for the week.
Tallahassee — The Florida House of Representatives on Monday voted unanimously to reinstate two vetoed appropriations for legislative operating support and the chamber's speaker announced the creation of three select committees to hear H.B. 1B on illegal immigration during a special session convened Jan. 27–29, 2025.
The motions to reinstate specific appropriations 2802 and 2803 from H.B. 5001 (2024 Regular Session) passed by recorded votes after Representative Kennedy moved both reinstatements. The clerk announced the first vote as "111 yeas, 0 nays" and the second as "111 yays, 0 nays." The clerk then announced that each specific appropriation and its related proviso "are reinstated, the veto of the governor to the contrary notwithstanding." The transcript does not specify dollar amounts for appropriations 2802 and 2803.
Representative Kennedy, speaking in support of the motions, said the governor's veto included a 100% reduction of the legislative services support budget and said that the cut affected functions "as basic as IT and as important as economic forecasting, auditing, and government accountability." Kennedy described the veto as, "on its face... innocuous," but said the removal of those funds hindered the legislature's ability to serve constituents and called the reinstatement an opportunity to correct what he called an oversight in the veto process.
Speaker Daniel Perez announced that, to focus the chamber on special session business, all previously scheduled committee meetings for the week were canceled. He said staff would distribute notebooks containing the call for special session B, the bill Representative McClure would file that morning, and the bill analysis. Perez said H.B. 1B would be heard in three select committees the same day rather than routed to standing committees: Select Committee on Illegal Immigration A, chaired by Representative Robinson at 1 p.m.; Select Committee on Illegal Immigration B, chaired by Representative Tomko at 3 p.m.; and Select Committee on Illegal Immigration C, chaired by Representative Duggan at 5 p.m. The speaker instructed members to find their select committee assignments in the distributed notebooks.
Perez also said the Rules and Ethics Committee would meet that evening at 7 p.m. in House Office Building room 404, and that the legislature would reconvene on the floor the next day. He reminded members that the bill submission deadline had been extended from the prior Friday to Wednesday at 5 p.m. during the special-session period. A proclamation read at the start of the session stated that the special session convened at 10:45 a.m. Monday, Jan. 27, 2025 and would end at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.
Members then approved a motion from Representative Garrison to adjourn for the purpose of holding committee and subcommittee meetings and other house business and to reconvene Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025 at 10 a.m., or upon the call of the chair; the motion was approved by voice vote.
Background: Speaker Perez said the reinstatements would begin a process to review and, where appropriate, reinstate vetoed appropriations that affect the operation of the legislative branch. He noted that last summer the governor vetoed roughly 30% of the legislature's operating budget, which he said totaled $57,000,000; those operating funds support back-office functions and offices that aid the legislature's work. The governor's veto message regarding H.B. 5001 was read into the record by the clerk and was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis.
Votes at a glance
- Motion to reinstate specific appropriation 2802 and its related proviso (H.B. 5001, 2024 Regular Session): Motion by Representative Kennedy; vote announced as 111 yeas, 0 nays; outcome: reinstated.
- Motion to reinstate specific appropriation 2803 and its related proviso (H.B. 5001, 2024 Regular Session): Motion by Representative Kennedy; vote announced as 111 yays, 0 nays; outcome: reinstated.
What remains unspecified in the record: the transcript does not state the dollar amounts for specific appropriations 2802 and 2803, nor does it record any roll-call breakdown by member name beyond the announced tallies.
