Florida Senate convenes special session on immigration and restores two vetoed legislative support line items

The Florida Senate convened a special session in Tallahassee on Jan. 27, 2025, called under Article III, Section 3(c) of the Florida Constitution and Section 11.011, Florida Statutes, to consider immigration-related legislation and related appropriations. During the opening proceedings the Senate read a proclamation calling the special session and filed Senate Bill 2B by Senator Gruters, titled an act relating to immigration.

The session immediately addressed line-item vetoes in the 2024 General Appropriations Act (House Bill 5,001). Senators moved to restore two specific appropriations—line items 2802 and 2803—that the governor had vetoed. Both motions were made by the Senate rules chair and put to a recorded vote.

Why it matters: The overridden line items fund legislative support services cited in the Senate, including information-technology support and other services that maintain bill tracking, amendment systems and public access to legislative proceedings. Senate leaders said restoring the items is necessary to keep the legislature’s operational and transparency systems functioning.

The secretary read the joint proclamation that convened the special session “for the sole and exclusive purpose of considering legislation to … maximize the state's ability to coordinate with and assist the federal government in its enforcement of federal immigration law and policy,” and to consider specific items enumerated in the proclamation. The clerk also read messages from the Florida House stating that the House had, by the required two-thirds vote, reinstated specific appropriations 2802 and 2803 and requested the Senate's concurrence.

Senator Passadoma, identified in the record as the rules chair, moved that line item 2802 of HB 5001 from the 2024 regular session “be passed, the veto of the governor to the contrary notwithstanding,” and explained the line item funds legislative support services. Leader Pizzo spoke at length during debate, criticizing a separate veto the governor issued to arts funding and noting broader budgetary consequences. “We cut $32,000,000 out of the budget that the governor did for the entire arts program for the entire state of Florida,” Leader Pizzo said. He urged colleagues to consider the broader impacts of vetoes even as they voted to restore support-service funding.

Passadoma and other senators framed the immediate motions as narrowly focused on restoring support services and IT functions: senators said the money would return in full within 60 days if an override succeeded, and that this special session provided an opportunity to address other items as needed. The Senate proceeded to vote; the secretary reported the required two-thirds thresholds were met and announced that line item 2802 was passed by the required constitutional two-thirds vote (recorded tally: 35 yays, 1 nay as announced). The Senate then moved and passed line item 2803 by the required two-thirds majority (recorded tally: 36 yays, 1 nay as announced).

Beyond the override votes, the chamber approved a motion to waive rules so that SB 2B would be placed on the special order calendar with an amendment deadline tied to the conclusion of the Appropriations Committee. The Senate adjourned until 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 28, or upon the call of the president for committee work and other business.

The record shows the actions taken were procedural and limited: the special session proclamation listed a broad set of immigration-related subjects for consideration, but the Senate’s business on Jan. 27 focused on reinstating the two contested appropriations that fund legislative support services and placing a filed immigration bill on the special order calendar. No final action on SB 2B or on substantive immigration policy was recorded in the transcript for this sitting.