The Senate approved the budget by a 32-8 vote, after House lawmakers approved it Thursday night on a largely party-line vote.
While Republicans insisted the deep budget cuts were inevitable because of Florida's sagging tax collections, Democrats countered that GOP lawmakers refused to look at alternatives, whether authorizing slot machines at dog and horse tracks around the state, or closing existing tax loopholes.
''I think we have turned out a fiscally responsible budget,'' said Sen. Lisa Carlton, an Osprey Republican and chief budget writer for the Senate.
But some economists have warned that the cuts -- which includes a 9 percent cut in education -- could spread financial pain throughout the state and make Florida's economy worse. This marks the third time since October that legislators have been forced to slash state spending.
The budget cuts 695 jobs, eliminates pay raises for all but state troopers, forces layoffs of teachers, nursing home and child welfare workers and affects hundreds of private businesses that perform work for the state. South Florida schools are among the biggest losers, losing $120 million out of $332 million in cuts to public schools across the state.
The result is likely to be a loss of $6 billion in Florida's economic activity over the next year, a deepening of the recession and an increase in unemployment, said David Denslow, head of the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Demographic Research and a frequent advisor to the Legislature.
''Fewer people will go to restaurants, buy new cars and spend money on local vacations, and that has a further effect on the economy,'' he said, noting that every dollar cut from state spending translates to $1.50 in lost economic activity. ``A reduction in state spending is one of the mechanisms through which a recession spreads.''
Denslow's warnings mirror the arguments Democrats have raised for days, and other economists agree. Bruce Nissen, director of Research at the Center for Labor Research and Studies at Florida International University in Miami, said those who have the least will be affected the most.
''Cutting expenses helps to slow the economy further, and people who rely on those services depend on them more,'' he said. You've got kind of a vicious cycle.''
Legislators say the budget includes a net reduction of 695 jobs. The number of layoffs is actually higher, but they are offset by an increase of 916 guards to staff three new prisons. Those prisons will cost $305 million, $10 million more than what the budget spends on classroom construction.
Meantime, probation officers, state attorneys and public defenders all face staff cuts. The budget, which covers spending from July 1, 2008, until June 2009, also shutters 13 driver's license offices around the state and closes two state revenue offices.
To soften cuts to healthcare and education, the budget shifts $300 million in road money into those programs. But nowhere are the job cuts more stark than those that affect nursing homes and programs for the disabled.
Nursing home administrators and their union members say the $163 million in cuts, on top of $75 million trimmed this year, could shut down some nursing homes and force as many as 3,500 layoffs. But even they say they're not as bad off as those who run homes for people with developmental disabilities such as Down syndrome or cerebral palsy.
Over two years, programs for the disabled will have sustained about $180 million in reimbursement-rate cuts -- a 20 percent reduction -- and program administrators say it could seriously limit services to as many as 8,000 people.
''Homes won't be able to stay open. People will lose their jobs. The needy will lose their services,'' said Jim McGuire, executive director of the Ann Storck Center, a Fort Lauderdale-area home that serves up to 300 people.
''As of July 1, we're going to begin a rapid economic downturn and the meter starts ticking and we're day-by-day to see how long we can stay open,'' he said.
Before voting Friday, several Democratic senators decried the cuts to education and health and children's programs. ''Certainly, we all understand what a difficult year this has been, and we put a number of things back in the budget that we all can agree were extremely important,'' said Sen. Nan Rich, a Weston Democrat. ``But I think I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the children in our child welfare system. . . . This inadequate funding will leave many kids at home with abusive parents and will jeopardize more kids who will be unable to exit Florida's foster care system. This is devastating for our kids, and it is something we should have worked harder to prevent.''
But Republican senators argued that the Legislature did the best it could in tough economic times.
''What we are seeing here is just short of a miracle,'' said Sen. Steve Oelrich, a Cross Creek Republican. ``We have really made something out of practically nothing. This could have been a disaster. . . . But we had to take the cut someplace. What we are arguing about is, we don't have nirvana and we aren't where we should be and it's our fault. . . . But it's not our fault. It's the economy.''
Nissen of FIU said it all comes down to a question of philosophy. By cutting the budget, legislative leaders may be thinking they will ``let the economy take its course and it will eventually reach rock bottom.''
The only other option, he said, is the fiscally liberal view: ``In an economic downturn, government spending should go up.''
Rep. Ray Sansom, the House budget chief, told legislators after their budget debate that they rejected that idea.
''We didn't fall into the easy trap of raising taxes,'' he said. We didn't borrow money, we didn't spend money we didn't have. . . . We didn't expand gambling.''
Sen. Jeff Atwater, a North Palm Beach Republican, said the budget strikes a balance and uses every option lawmakers had.
''There's only a finite numbers of options: borrow more money, spend your savings account or try to cut back,'' he said. To some extent, we tried to do everyone of those.''
