DeSantis signs a slimmed-down Florida budget into law after vetoing millions

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the state’s new budget of about $115 billion into law Monday, capping the end of a lengthy and combative legislative season that was largely defined by GOP infighting, despite the party’s iron grip on Tallahassee.

The signing came “right at the buzzer,” DeSantis said, just one day before the budget goes into effect. It took lawmakers 105 days to finalize the spending plan, during what was supposed to be a 60-day session.

The budget comes in at about $4 billion less than the state’s current adjusted budget, and is nearly $600 million less than the Legislature’s proposed budget, after DeSantis used his line-item veto power to cut spending projects.

“I think what you see in the budget is an example of a very fiscally responsible state,” DeSantis said. “We’re meeting the needs of the state of Florida that I think most people want us to be focusing on. We’re not, you know, frittering it away.”

The new budget and a related tax cut package include a 2% raise for state workers and a 10% to 15% pay hike for state law enforcement, $1.3 billion a year in tax cuts for families and businesses, and $4 billion to fund scholarships to private and religious schools.

Democrats supported the budget, but some criticized the spending on vouchers and tax cuts, arguing for more funding for public schools and programs that support low-income families.

The second-term governor, who cannot run for reelection in 2026, held the bill signing event in The Villages, one of the world’s largest retirement communities and a place long known as a conservative stronghold.

DeSantis used the event to tout a slate of familiar talking points, railing against a self-described democratic socialist running for New York City mayor, while touting his own crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and his push to eliminate property taxes in the state, a change that voters would have to approve.

The adoption of a tighter state budget comes as officials are grappling with the loss of federal coronavirus funding and as economists fret over Republican President Donald Trump’s trade wars and a sweeping proposal to cut federal taxes and spending.

Florida’s legislative leaders have largely downplayed concerns about how Trump’s aggressive and unpredictable economic policies could impact the state’s coffers, but lawmakers are taking steps to set aside billions of dollars in reserves.

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Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.