state budget

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.

With legislative leaders trying to meet a Tuesday deadline for finishing a new state budget, Gov. Ron DeSantis will get more money than he requested for a reactivated Florida State Guard and to relocate undocumented immigrants out of the state.

Budget negotiations are ready to move forward in the Florida Legislature. The makeup of the various appropriations conference committees have been announced, along with overall funding amounts for different sections of the 2022-2023 fiscal year budget.

State leaders are considering setting a minimum wage for school workers of $15 an hour. It comes amid staffing shortages in positions such as bus drivers and food service workers.

Florida lawmakers will have an additional $2.6 billion to play with in general-revenue taxes, along with nearly $6 billion in unspent federal coronavirus stimulus money, as they begin to piece together an election-year budget.