PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference in Port St. Lucie Friday morning, awarding the city over $3 million as part of the state’s job growth fund.
The governor was joined by Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Secretary Dane Eagle for the news conference.
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“We’ve got a total of $74 million that we’re going to be committing through the job growth grant fund and really trying to spur key infrastructure, job training, making sure that Florida continues to be strong economically,” DeSantis said.
Eagle said the funding to Port St. Lucie will contribute to over 5,000 jobs in the area.
“That’s hugely important especially as we’re coming out of COVID to make sure that we are putting our money where our mouth is when it comes to economic development in Florida,” he said.
DeSantis made a similar job placement announcement in the Florida Panhandle later on Friday in Marianna.
The governor said the state has been bringing in revenue higher than estimated and officials are monitoring national trends financially.
“We look at some of the other potential headwinds from nationally on the horizon and what we’re doing our best is to position Florida from a position of strength so that so that we’re able to minimize ... some of those potentially negative trends,” he said.
DeSantis reiterated the state would not be imposing any business restrictions or shut down as the state continues to see a surge in cases and hospitalizations, saying those moves would be harmful. The governor also said the state is monitoring developments on booster shots following Moderna’s announcement Thursday it is testing a potential booster shot for the vaccine.
This follows the governor’s announcement Thursday that he does not support hospitals requiring their staff members to get vaccinated, though he did not say whether he would ban hospitals from requiring staff to get vaccinated.