FORT PIERCE, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday held a news conference in Fort Pierce to sign Florida’s “Framework for Freedom” budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
The budget was passed by Florida lawmakers to play out the annual legislative session, with DeSantis calling Thursday’s event the session’s “capstone.”
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“We’ve done more in the last six to eight months since the election than any, I think, state has done in our lifetime to move the ball forward and be bold and take on these issues, and that’s one of the reasons why people, you know, keep flooding down here,” DeSantis said, claiming Florida has spent the time taking on people fleeing other states due to so-called leftist ideology.
The final budget totaled $116.5 billion following line-item vetoes in what was passed by the Legislature, which called for a $117 billion total. In total, $510.9 million in budget items were vetoed.
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DeSantis ran through multiple aspects of the budget at Thursday’s event before diverting to national politics, recapping some of what made it in the final plan.
On tax relief, DeSantis mentioned such initiatives as the “Freedom Summer” sales tax holiday that began in May, sales tax exemptions on baby and toddler items set to begin July 1, toll rebates and two disaster preparedness sales tax holidays he expects to save Floridians $144 million.
“We also in the budget include $130 million for targeted pay increases for people in state law enforcement and public safety agencies. So, different parts of the country have slashed police spending, attacked law enforcement; we’ve consistently in Florida stood by people in law enforcement, not only with good policy but also with good compensation,” DeSantis said, soon bringing up $1.1 billion in raises for teachers and instructional personnel, money that he said he didn’t want “going to bureaucracy or to unions.”
$635 million in the budget is going toward workforce education programs, DeSantis said. K-12 funding was set at a record $26.8 billion, and New College of Florida will receive “tens of millions of dollars” in the budget, according to DeSantis.
“We also have $2.3 billion in the budget for mitigation response and recovery efforts through the Florida Division of Emergency Management. Some of this is Hurricane Ian, but we also set aside about $500 million a year for our Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund, and part of the reason we’re able to respond quickly is because we have this money that’s there, and we’re able to just go do things,” DeSantis said.
The governor’s website — with figures therein attached to a budget proposal of $114.8 billion — stated the budget would maintain reserves of $6.9 billion in general revenue, a $42.2 billion general revenue portion and total reserves of $15.7 billion.
Over $39.4 billion of the $117 billion budget was to be sourced from federal funds. Before the vetoes, the bill text showed a $46.5 billion general revenue portion.
“Part of the reason that we’re here (in Fort Pierce) is because we wanted to be in a nice beautiful backdrop to highlight all that we did — all that we did in this budget for Florida’s natural resources, environmental stewardship, Everglades restoration and the new program that we’re going to do for the Indian River Lagoon,” DeSantis said. “...This budget has a total of $7.3 billion between environment agriculture and natural resources, including $1.6 billion for Everglades and water quality projects.”
After DeSantis, Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Shawn Hamilton and two others got through formalities, the floor opened for questions.
The governor’s first pick was of a woman who asked for his reaction to a White House Pride Month event at which a transgender activist was banned from returning over videos allegedly showing them going topless.
“When they had at the White House, you know, this transgender flag as the precedence over the American flag, that’s wrong, that is not how you display the American flag and I think when you have the inappropriate conduct at the White House, with, like, a transgender flashing people nude and all this stuff, you know, just totally, totally inappropriate,” DeSantis said.
If elected president, DeSantis promised the Fort Pierce crowd he would “bring accountability to bear” upon Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health over their respective response efforts in the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We need a reckoning about what happened during COVID with this federal government because they underwrote- they supported policies that were destructive to this country, and they did it without remorse, they have not (admitted) mistakes whether it’s lockdowns, whether it’s masking,” DeSantis said. “...So, these people have not learned any lessons and make no mistake, if we don’t bring accountability to bear on Fauci, on CDC, on NIH, on all these on all these corrupted institutions, they are going to do it again and it will happen again.”
DeSantis also took shots at California Gov. Gavin Newsom, claiming Florida’s population has grown in part due to a “massive exodus” from California due to Newsom’s mismanagement, challenging him to join the 2024 presidential race.
U.S. Census data shows 37,464 California residents moved to Florida in 2021.
“What I would tell him is, ‘You know what? Stop pussyfooting around. Are you going to throw your hat in the ring and challenge Joe, are you going to get in and do it or are you just going to sit on the sidelines and chirp? So why don’t you throw your hat in the ring?’” said DeSantis, who for months left political experts guessing and made no clear statements over whether he was ever going to run himself.
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