2021 Legislative Report 2 - January 29, 2021

Appropriations Chairs continued to discuss how all sectors of the budget will be squeezed as they work on battling the COVID economy in Florida. 

Governor DeSantis unveiled his 2021-22 budget proposal, called FLORIDA LEADS. In it, he proposed a $96.6 billion budget, up $4.3 billion from last year including $2.6 billion in COVID related spending. The Governor has left $6.6 billion in reserves to be able to deal with unforeseen COVID expenditures. Some of the increases in spending he is asking for include $344 million in education to continue teacher salary raises and $277 million for the Department of Economic Opportunity to be able to assist with all of the unemployment claims and other issues that arise.

Here is a link to the Governor’s Proposed Budget for 2021-22: http://www.bolderbrighterbetterfuture.com/HomeFY22.htm