Senate Appropriations Committee

Instead of adjourning the 60-day session on Friday as scheduled, it will spill into a 61st day on Saturday.

The exact total was not immediately available, but proposals from the Republican-led Legislature and GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis are all in the $90 billion range.

Florida senators agree a school safety bill has a lot of good provisions but are divided on one issue: expanding a program that allows teachers to carry guns.

Citing ill health, Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced Monday that he will resign his Senate seat, effective April 1. The early departure clears the way for Gov. Phil Bryant, a fellow Republican, to appoint an interim successor — perhaps Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves — and sets up a special election on Nov. 6, NBC...

State economist Amy Baker told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday that damage from Irma is forecast to be anywhere from $25.4 to $45.9 billion.

A Florida Senate bill that would require the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to study and create regulations for fracking is essentially dead.

The Senate Appropriations Committee narrowly defeated a bill Thursday that would set regulations for fracking, a method of oil and gas drilling that environmentalists have opposed over fears it could contaminate drinking water and make people ill.

Loud but hardly universal catcalls from Republicans underscored the obstacles and opportunities ahead as U.S. and Cuban leaders announced an opening of embassies in Havana and Washington and a resumption of diplomatic relations severed the year President Barack Obama was born.