A squabble among Republican leaders in the Florida Legislature has some people talking about a possible state government shutdown. Gov. Rick Scott, though, wants lawmakers to focus on the budget.
House Speaker Richard Corcoran of Land O'Lakes is pushing for a rule that would require any new budget requests for lawmakers be filed one month before the legislative session begins. And that has riled Clearwater Rep. Jack Latvala, who says that means the deadline is already passed - it was Tuesday.
Latvala has said one of the Senate's options is to shut down the legislature.
But during a visit to the Florida State Fair on Thursday, Gov. Scott said he's focusing on getting the state budget passed in a timely manner.
"You always try to get prepared for everything you can. But my goal is that we'll have a session, it'll end on time, you know, maybe they'll just show up and pass my budget, which would be a good day," said Scott.
Scott is also at odds with Corcoran over Corcoran's plans to end funding for Visit Florida's tourism marketing efforts and shut down the organization charged with recruiting new businesses, Enterprise Florida. Scott says those plans would end up killing jobs.
