With the drop of a handkerchief, Florida lawmakers closed-out the annual 60-day legislative session on time Friday. A number of important issues were tackled on the last day of the session, but one big issue, Medicaid expansion, has still not been settled.

There is talk that Gov. Scott will call a special session to iron out a Medicaid compromise.

Fla. Legislature passes 74.5 billion budget

The Florida Legislature is sending a $74.5 billion state budget to Gov. Rick Scott.

The Florida Senate passed the budget by unanimous vote. The Florida House then approved the measure 106-11.

Flush with cash for the first time in seven years, the budget includes more than $1 billion for public schools.

It also includes a state worker pay raise and money for teacher pay raises.

Legislators included a 3 percent tuition hike for college and university students. Scott has remained steadfastly opposed to tuition hikes.

The budget does not include any federal aid to cover additional people under Medicaid, a key component of the federal health care overhaul.

But lawmakers kept intact a benefit that allows top state officials to pay very little for their own health insurance.

Legislature passes bill to extend early voting

A bill that would expand early voting days and sites is now heading to Gov. Rick Scott's desk.

The House and Senate approved the bill Friday, the last day of the legislative session. It would allow elections supervisors to hold up to 14 days of early voting instead of the current eight days. It also would expand sites where early voting can be held.

The bill (HB 7013) attempts to address problems with long lines and counting delays that once again made Florida the butt of late night television jokes during the presidential election.

The bill was passed two years after the Republican-led Legislature and Scott cut early voting from 14 days to eight.

The bill would also move back the presidential primary to comply with national party rules. That was a priority of US Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, who is considered a possibility to run for president.

Mortgage foreclosures bill headed to Scott

Florida lawmakers have sent Gov. Rick Scott a bill meant to speed up the residential mortgage foreclosure process.

The bill (HB 87) cleared the Senate on a 26-13 vote on Friday.

The bill aims to relieve a backlog of foreclosure cases in a state swamped by a rising number of homes taken back by banks during the housing crisis.

Republican Sen. Jack Latvala said Florida's real estate market won't return to normal until the backlog of foreclosure cases is reduced.

Latvala said the measure is tilted more in favor of consumers than banks.

Democratic Sen. Darren Soto said the bill doesn't protect people who lose their homes due to fraud.

The bill reduces the amount of time for banks to go after foreclosed homeowners on deficiency judgments.

Anti-'Shariah' bill is dead for this session

A bill that would ban Islamic law and other foreign laws from being applied in state courts has died on the last day of Florida's legislative session.

Senate President Don Gaetz on Friday declared the bill (HB 351) "resolved" after its sponsor decided not to ask for the unanimous vote required to move the bill forward.

It had failed a previous procedural vote on Thursday. The House approved the legislation on a 79-39 vote last month.

Sen. Alan Hays sponsored the bill. The Umatilla Republican said he wanted to protect Floridians from foreign law being used against them in state courts.

But there are no reported cases in which a Florida court applied foreign law. That led critics to deride it as a solution to a "phantom menace."