Budget talks bog down

House and Senate leaders still need to bridge large gaps

TALLAHASSEE — Lawmakers made little progress in Sunday budget negotiating sessions and enter the last fortnight of the special session still needing to bridge large gaps between the House and Senate on health care, education mental spending.

The special session is a result of the breakdown between the House and Senate over healthcare spending during the regular session, but talks Sunday highlighted the yawning chasm between the chambers over whether to borrow money for conservation projects.

House members want to borrow through bonds nearly $300 million for projects related to Amendment 1, a referendum passed by voters last fall requir-

and

environ- ing lawmakers to spend on conservation and environmentalcleanup projects.

Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, however, doesn’t want to use any bonds in Amendment 1 projects.

“B-O-N-D is a four-letter word,” said Hays, the Senate’s top agriculture and environment budget writer. “I am not considering bonding.”

House environmental budget chief Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, withdrew bonding from the House’s latest offer Sunday, calling it an “olive branch.” But he said the chamber is still committed to that approach, because interest rates remain low and it will be cheaper to borrow money now than in the future.

“I cannot be any more clear: The House is very interested and supportive of bonding as [budget negotiations] go forward,” Albritton said.

Senators also took issue with the House’s economic-development-budget offers, including $10 million for infrastructure