House and Senate budget negotiators were slapped Saturday by a leading tea party group for beefing up the pool of money given Gov. Rick Scott for luring companies to Florida.

Lawmakers are working through the weekend on settling differences in $74-billion-plus spending plans.

Late Friday, House and Senate conferees agreed to set aside $79.2 million as economic incentive cash controlled largely by the Republican governor — who is actually seeking $173.7 million for the fund.

The Senate had earlier low-balled the House on the issue — proposing a mere $20 million while the House recommended $73 million in its budget proposal.

But the Senate’s sudden turnaround brought a swift response from Americans for Prosperity, the advocacy group founded by the conservative Koch brothers. AFP also warred with Scott last year over his support for legislation advancing alternative energy.

“Hopefully, the Senate will rethink their decision to increase funding for these handouts, a program that amounts to little more than corporate welfare,” said AFP’s Florida director, Slade O’Brien. “Giving out taxpayer funded incentives to companies that are coming to Florida or expanding their existing business is not a proven way to encourage jobs.”

Lawmakers have been citing concerns about such giveways, especially since the recent collapse of the Treasure Coast’s Digital Domain Media Group.

Digital Domain drew $20 million in state incentives — part of $130 million it received in overall government aid. Among the losers was the city of West Palm Beach, which gave the company $2 million to begin a program locally with the Florida State University film school.

The company defaulted on loans and investments last fall, and closed its main operation in Port St. Lucie.

A conservative group Friday said it is launching an election-year campaign aimed at getting political candidates to endorse dramatic changes to Florida’s public pension plans, its tax system and education.

Slade O’Brien, Florida director for Americans for Prosperity, said the organization will ask the public and those running for office this year to commit to promoting its “Five for Florida,” plan.

The five issues highlighted will make Florida the “most attractive state in the nation for families, businesses and entrepreneurs,” said O’Brien, who is based in Boca Raton.

The plan is posted on www.FiveforFlorida.com. A questionnaire seeking support for the proposals also is being sent to candidates. Results are to be posted on the AFP site. 

AFP, which is supported in the project by the James Madison Institute, is calling for ending the state’s corporate income tax — a move O’Brien said will attract businesses. It would also create a level playing field for businesses when balanced with an end to corporate tax breaks and incentives.

 AFP said Florida’s current tax policy is “dictated by cronyism.”

“Floridians are really clamoring for politicians who will be honest with them,” O’Brien said.

Another plank in ”Five for Florida,” would steer all new employees in the Florida Retirement System into 401(k)-style investment plans, away from the state’s traditional pension plan. The FRS recently received strong marks from the Pew Center on the States, but the groups Friday still warned that the fund is not adequately financed and looms as a potential problem for taxpayers.

Municipal pension plans, which are generally in worse shape than the FRS, also should push new workers into the investment plans to assure longterm solvency, said O’Brien and J. Robert McClure, president and CEO of the James Madison Institute.

McClure said the proposals included in “Five for Florida,” are “another tool in the toolbox for freedom.”

 Americans for Prosperity, a grassroots activist organization, was founded by Charles Koch and part-time Palm Beacher David Koch, billionaire brothers who back of a host of conservative causes and whose Koch Industries is an oil services company.

AFP also is a mainstay of the tea party movement, which was a big supporter of Gov. Rick Scott in his 2010 election.

The pension overhaul and elimination of  the state’s corporate income tax, which brings $1.8 billion into the state treasury, have also been advanced by Scott.

Other provisions of the platform unveiled Friday include a call for expanding charter schools and virtual education, and bringing more public scrutiny to state contracting and permitting at all levels of government. If the changes limit revenue flowing into public coffers, that’s OK, O’Brien said.

“We don’t want government to grow,” he said.

Conservative activists called Tuesday for Gov. Rick Scott to veto an energy bill pushed by fellow Republican Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, with critics saying it picks winners and losers by providing tax incentives to wind-, solar- and biofuel companies.

Americans for Prosperity and the Heartland Institute have been spearheading an effort that’s flooded Scott with emails and phone calls opposing HB 7117, which would provide $16 million in renewable energy tax credits next year.

The organizations’ condemn the approach as “crony energy” that builds on millions of dollars in incentives already provided for alternate energy production by the Obama administration, which they also oppose.

“There’s no reason to set us down this path,” said Slade O’Brien, state director for Americans for Prosperity. “I don’t think there are going to be economic benefits. You’re basically going to cost the Florida taxpayer more money for energy….if you’re passing this bill, increasing the energy costs of being in Florida as opposed to being in Georgia, as opposed to being in Alabama…that’s not good business. That’s not smart.”

Americans for Prosperity, a grassroots activist organization, was founded by David and Charles Koch, whose Koch Industries includes oil refineries, energy development and commodities trading. AFP also is a mainstay of the tea party movement, which was a big Scott supporter in his 2010 election.

AFP and the Heartland Institute’s opposition creates some tricky crosswinds for Scott.

Putnam, a former congressman, is seen as a future Republican candidate for governor — maybe even a 2014 primary opponent for Scott.  Putnam has been a strong proponent of energy diversity, which draws support from the state’s agricultural industry, already invested in biofuel production.

In another twist, the energy bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, had been AFP’s ‘legislator of the year’ last year.

O’Brien offered no apologies.

“We’re equal opportunity complainers when things aren’t right,” O’Brien said.

Sen. Joe Negron, the Stuart Republican whose district includes parts of Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, was named “legislator of  the year,” by the Florida branch of Americans for Prosperty, the conservative advocacy organization.

Negron shared the title with Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, both of whom were feted for their efforts to tilt the state Legislature further to the right. AFP, which has emerged as a guide and financial backer of the tea party movement, was founded by conservative billionaire energy titans, David and Charles Koch.

Seventy-nine legislators — all Republicans – received A+ scores from the group. Every Democrat drew a failing grade — except Rep. Leonard Bembry, D-Greenville, who was given a D by AFP.

Slade O’Brien, AFP’s Palm Beach County-based state director, said Negron was pivotal in the Legislature’s efforts to revamp Medicaid, while also steering the state toward reducing the size of government and cutting taxes.

Democrats drawing lousy marks, “show hostility towards the free market and protecting the individual liberties on which our country was founded,” O’Brien said.