Budget woes will dominate 2008 session

TALLAHASSEE --

With state tax collections in freefall and the budget on a record-breaking decline, Florida lawmakers not only must pass a scrawny budget as they convene for their annual session this week, they must try to avoid having it reshape the political landscape for years to come.

Just days after the opening gavel on Tuesday, lawmakers will strip the current year's budget of more than $500 million from programs, then embark upon cutting $2.5 billion more from next year's spending plan by the session's May 2 close.

The severe cash crunch -- the worst decline of a two-year budget cycle in modern state history -- will thwart lawmakers' ability to bring home pet projects in an election year. It will stoke conflicts among powerful interest groups with state-funded needs. And it will exacerbate the ideological rift now dividing moderates and conservatives in the Republican-led Legislature.

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