PASCO COUNTY, Fla. – Florida state lawmakers today approved the $112.1 billion budget for fiscal year 2022-2023 today, the largest in state history. It was boosted in part from receiving nearly $3.5 billion in federal stimulus funds.
What You Need To Know
- Among the highlights include: A suspension of the 26.5 cents per-gallon gas tax in October
- Per-student funding in public schools is to rise 4.96%, from $7,758.3 to $8,142.8
- A 5.38% across-the-board pay increase for state workers.
It came on the 63rd day of the session, which went slightly into overtime when lawmakers didn’t come together to complete the final budget until last Thursday. State law requires a 72-day “cooling off” period between the time the budget is completed and when lawmakers vote on it.
One of the single biggest line-item projects in this budget is $706 million allocated for a new H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute campus in Pasco County. That includes $106 million in infrastructure funding, with the rest coming in annual allocations of $20 million over the next 30 years.
Rendering of the new H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute campus in Pasco County
Speaking after the session formally ended this afternoon in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke enthusiastically about the proposal, noting how Moffitt had treated his wife Casey recently. Casey DeSantis was diagnosed last fall with breast cancer, but she recently announced earlier this month that she is now cancer free after receiving treatment and surgery.
“I just look at how great care that she received at some of our great institutions like Moffitt. All of the advances that have happened,” DeSantis said. “It has saved huge amounts of lives. And I think that this money and the research, you know there’s going to be people well into the future who are going to benefit from that.”
Moffitt Cancer officials said that construction for the project will begin soon – and that ultimately they hope to have include pharmaceutical companies and other bio-tech companies that will be part of the footprint.
“We believe that this piece of property will be a magnet, and will draw a lot of interest in the state of Florida,” said Jamie Wilson, Vice President of Government Relations with Moffitt Cancer Center.
“The brain power that we are creating within this state, that we already have that we’re building on, means that very brilliant people don’t have to go to Boston or the Research Triangle or California anymore,” he said. “They can come right here to Tampa Bay. They can come right here to Florida. That’s what this is all about.”
Other big budget items include $50 million being set aside for the construction of a new 2nd District Court of Appeal facility in Lakeland.
And annual per-student public school funding is going up to a record-high $8,142.
There’s also more than $362 million for down-payment assistance and construction of more rental units. But many Democrats and housing advocates around the state said that’s woefully short of what’s needed as rents have risen dramatically just in the past year alone in some of the state’s biggest cities.
Miami-Dade County Democrat and gubernatorial candidate Annette Taddeo laid out her criticisms of the budget in a written statement.
“This session was a generational opportunity for real change in Florida, to focus not only on meeting the needs of today for families who are struggling, but to set up Florida to be a global economic leader for generations to come,” she said. “Instead, this legislature fiddled at the knee of a governor whose eyes are solely focused on winning Republican primary voters for the Presidency, all while making hard times harder for the families who need help the most.”
Outgoing GOP House Speaker Chris Sprowls disagreed.
“Politics shouldn’t be about catering to the most powerful voices, or cowering in fear from the angriest voices,” he said. “It’s about giving a voice to the everyday moms and dads. Grandparents who pay their bills, who go to work, and parent their children. Those are the real heroes in this session.”
