Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed the state budget for next fiscal year, which begins Wednesday.
It's the last budget DeSantis will sign before he leaves office. The budget includes a plan to transfer USF's Sarasota-Manatee campus to New College of Florida, which DeSantis remade with conservative leadership. It also includes teacher pay raises, Everglades restoration money and a lot more.
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DeSantis struck a celebratory tone during a Monday morning press conference.
"So the budget that I'll sign today, after doing my line item vetoes, will represent the fourth straight year in Florida that we've actually reduced our state budget," he said. "Who else is doing that?"'
But state Democrats were far less impressed.
"Democrats absolutely were disproportionately targeted in the vetoes by a rate of two to one by our initial assessment," said House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa. "What's so unfortunate about that is that regardless of whether or not your district is represented by a Democrat or a Republican, there are people of all political stripes in those districts."
DeSantis vetoed nearly $810 million in line items, most of them being projects lawmakers requested for their districts.
Beyond that, other vetoes included the transfer of $750 million from the general revenue fund to the Budget Stabilization Fund, or the "rainy day fund," which helps the state in case of shortfalls. He also rejected a prison infrastructure plan that would have financed new prison construction and maintenance, eliminating funding for correctional officer raises that was tied to it.
You can find the governor's budget transmittal letter and veto list below.
Budget Transmittal Letter
The veto list
If you have any questions about state government or the legislative process, you can ask the Your Florida team by clicking here.
This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
