No budget talks this weekend

BY THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Florida budget negotiators will not start formal talks until at least early next week, though leaders are making "forward progress," according to a memo Thursday from House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island. Crisafulli notified House members that conference negotiations will not start this weekend. House and Senate leaders are trying to work out "allocations," which are overall amounts of money that will be available in different areas of the budget. That is a first step, with conference committees then negotiating the details of each budget area, such as education and health and human services. "There is positive forward progress in the effort to reach an agreement on budget allocations with the Senate,'' Crisafulli said in the memo. "However, there is still a great deal to be worked out. Therefore, we will not begin conference this weekend. It is my hope that we will begin conference early next week."