state budget

The Orlando Fringe and Tampa Fringe are offering to give up their grants if Gov. Ron DeSantis restores the $32 million in funding he nixed for more than 600 arts groups.

The 16 pages of cuts ranged from as little as $10,500 for a county public works generator to $80 million for group insurance for the state college system.

Florida’s annual legislative session is set to end on time Friday now that the legislature has released the final details of its $117.5 billion spending plan.

With differences on issues such as funding prisons, a health-care plan and home-hardening grants, Senate and House budget committees on Wednesday approved spending plans that top $115 billion.

Gov. Ron DeSantis trimmed over a half billion dollars from the spending plan that goes into effect July 1st. The line-item vetoes put the budget at roughly $116.5 billion.

Nearly 150 laws that Florida legislators passed this year are set to go into effect Friday.They range from a record $109.9 billion budget to a nod to strawberry shortcake.

Breaking from efforts by Florida lawmakers to punish school districts that imposed mask mandates during the pandemic, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday directed Florida’s new education commissioner to ignore a plan that would have made the districts ineligible for $200 million.

Pointing to a need to further brace the state against a potential recession, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued $3.13 billion in vetoes Thursday as he signed a $109.9 billion budget for the fiscal year that will begin July 1.

Florida lawmakers will vote Monday on a record $112.1 billion state budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, up 10.4 percent from a spending plan approved for the current year.

With a budget remaining unfinished Tuesday night, the annual legislative session is headed to overtime. Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, and House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, issued a memo shortly before 9 p.m. that said budget talks would continue Wednesday.