Fla. lawmakers to cut $2.3B from budget
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida legislators are beginning their search for areas to carve $2.3 billion from the current state budget during a two-week special session brought on by the economic crisis.
Florida is hardly alone in the revenue crisis caused by a yearlong national recession that has left other states in even more financial difficulty. Florida lawmakers meet today.
They fear a deficit of nearly $4 billion in the next fiscal year that begins July 1, 2009, resulting in even fewer health benefits for the poor and more overcrowding in a state prison system that already houses more than 100,000 criminals.
The deepening recession is also increasing demand for Medicaid, unemployment benefits and food stamps, which one in 10 Floridians already receive.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
