Budget Watch - New Estimates Add More than $2 Billion to Available GR for the Budget Now Being Developed By The Legislature

The General Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) met on April 6 and increased Florida’s general revenue (GR) projections by $1.476 billion in the current budget year and $551 million in FY2021-22.1 This two-year total increase of $2.027 billion, coupled with the $2.109 billion increase from the December 2020 REC, restores more than three-fourths of the $5.4 billion two-year reduction in the estimates adopted in August 2020 – the first REC after COVID-19 hit Florida.

As the 2021 Legislature develops the next state budget, the fiscal position the state finds itself in is remarkable when it appeared, just a little more than a year ago, that we were heading towards a fiscal disaster. The Legislature will now have $38.5 billion in GR available for the next budget, almost $1 billion more than anticipated back in March 2020 when
the current budget passed and before pandemic-related costs and revenue losses were considered.