state budget

More than 600 organizations statewide are scrambling to fill a financial void after Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed $32 million in grants for arts and culture. South Florida arts leaders, who say the industry pumps nearly $6 billion into the economy, called the decision ‘shocking.’

Dubbed the “Focus on Florida’s Future Budget,” the proposal asks lawmakers for an additional $5 million to continue a controversial program that has transported undocumented immigrants to Massachusetts and California and to set aside $1 million for potential legal expenses related to Florida State University being left out of the four-team college football playoffs.

Southern Boulevard in Palm Beach County will have over a thousand new lights across 18 miles. It's an effort to stop deadly car crashes on dark stretches of the roadway.

A $112.1 billion budget that Florida lawmakers passed last week covers more than the state’s basics for education, health care, and law enforcement.

A number of high-profile bills await Gov. DeSantis’s signature — bills that govern teaching about sexual orientation in schools, how companies conduct training around racial issues at work, and that give parents more control over school books.

The number of bills DeSantis has vetoed have increased since he first took office in 2019, when he cut $131 million from a budget totaling $90.98 billion.

The state legislature passed a record-breaking budget Monday, ending a session dominated by fierce debates on issues such as education, abortion and immigration.

The session was scheduled to end on Friday, but state law requires a 72-hour “cooling off” period before lawmakers can vote on the budget.

They range from proposed funding for public schools to money that would go toward cancer research.

The House voted 102-14 to approve the proposal, after Democrats objected to shifting $200 million away from 12 school districts that required students to wear masks last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic and called for more money to go to affordable housing and health care.

State economists reported Thursday that general-revenue tax collections in December were $610.9 million, or 19.3 percent, over a projection made in August. General revenue totaled $3.771 billion during the month, compared to the projection of about $3.16 billion.

House Higher Education Appropriations Chairman Rene Plasencia, R-Orlando, told reporters the stipend was “subsidizing textbook companies.”