TAMPA, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday signed a $116.5 billion state budget for Fiscal Year 2024–25 during a news conference at an event venue in Tampa.
Approved March 8 by the Florida Legislature and presented to the governor Wednesday, the “Focus on Florida’s Future” budget goes into effect July 1.
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The final figure of $116.5 billion reflects “close to a billion dollars-worth of line-item vetoes,” according to the governor. Specifics on the vetoes are pending publication of the relevant transmittal letter and are likely to be known within a week.
“A little less than we did last year because I thought it was important and I told the speaker that we want to hold the line, we don’t want to see — I know our population’s boomed, I know we’ve had a lot of inflation — but holding the line, doing big things we need to do, but then making sure we’re putting money in reserve and this budget. So to get to that point where we’re reducing spending year over year, we had to hold the line-item veto authority,” DeSantis said.
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DeSantis was joined at The Vault — located along North Franklin Street — by Shawn Hamilton, Manny Diaz Jr. and Jared Perdue, Florida department heads of environmental protection, education and transportation, respectively.
See what’s in the budget — and what’s not — by clicking here.
Watch the news conference again in the video player below.
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