A squabble among Republican leaders in the state legislature has some people talking about a possible government shutdown.
House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes, is pushing for a rule that would require any new budget requests for lawmakers to be filed one month before the legislative session begins. And that has riled Rep. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, who says that means the deadline is already passed - it was Tuesday.
He says one of the Senate's options is to shut down the legislature.
During a visit to the Florida State Fair, Governor Scott says he's focusing on getting the state budget passed - on time.
"You always try to get prepared for everything you can," Scott said. "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."
Governor Scott is also at odds with Corcoran over his plans to end the state's tourism marketing efforts and shut down the organization charged with recruiting new businesses. He says that will end up killing jobs.
"By cutting taxes, by reducing regulation, by recruiting companies, look what's happened," Scott said. "We've got 1.2 million (new) jobs, we have over 250,000 new job openings. We need to continue to do the things that work, because that's what families care about."
