By STAFF REPORTS
Florida legislative budget chiefs worked until nearly 10 p.m. June 13 to finalize the state’s budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, which legislators voted to pass 45 days after they were originally scheduled to finish.
Delayed by a special session, a week of snow, political barbs, argument over expected future budget shortfalls, and disagreement on tax cut packages, the Florida Senate and Florida House of Representatives struck a deal in mid-June. Legislators returned to Tallahassee to conclude legislative session, finishing their work just two weeks before the next fiscal year begins.
Lawmakers ultimately announced passing a roughly $115.1 billion budget filled with various legislator, agency and local priorities. On June 30, Gov. Ron DeSantis line-item vetoed roughly $600 million from the legislative-passed budget, announcing a roughly $117.4 billion budget for the 2025/2026 fiscal year. The budget disparity rests in vetoes of reserve funding and fund shifts.
Among the environmental budget items this year is $15 million funded in the Senate’s supplemental funding list for Florida Forever. The Legislature added another $3 million in trust fund dollars for the program, totaling $18 million. The Senate’s proposed budget language provided specific guidance to the Department of Environmental Protection.
The funding is for “acquisition of lands that are partially or wholly within the Ocala to Osceola Wildlife Corridor within Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Hamilton, Lake, Marion, Putnam, Union and Volusia counties or within a Florida Forever project boundary in Flagler, St. Johns or Nassau counties.”
According to the Department, the Florida Forever program has acquired more than 1 million acres with a value of $3.8 billion since it started in 2001.
Within a Senate committee bill related to natural resources, the Legislature repealed a law last year designed to push gaming funds into trust funds for land management and acquisition. Gov. DeSantis vetoed a provision in the budget that would have clawed back $200 million in funding for the Florida Wildlife Corridor from the 2024/2025 budget.
The Senate bill also includes references to the South Florida Water Management District acquiring land for water storage north of Lake Okeechobee, which the legislature finds, “is in the public interest, for a public purpose, and necessary for the public health and welfare.”
“The governing board of the district is authorized to acquire land, if necessary, to implement a reservoir project north of Lake Okeechobee with the goal of providing at least 200,000 acre-feet of water storage,” SB 2506 reads. “…The district and the state are not authorized to request that the United States Army Corps of Engineers acquire the lands for such reservoir project and may not include any such request in the project partnership agreement for such reservoir project.”
Notable budget items:
$550 million for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP)
$382 million for the expanded Water Quality Improvement Projects
$81 million for the Northern Everglades and Estuaries Protection Program
$65 million for the C-51 Reservoir
$64 million for the EAA Reservoir
$50 million for Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Estuaries discharge reduction
$25 million for Total Maximum Daily Load nutrient reductions
$25 million for the Indian River Lagoon Protection Program
$20 million for Agricultural Nonpoint Source Water Restoration Project
Notable vetoed items:
$7.5 million: Orange County Wedgefield Water & Wastewater System Improvements
$4,324,000: Brevard County Sykes Creek Phase 2 Environmental Dredging
$2 million: Hallandale Beach Stormwater Mitigation Project – Northeast Quad Injection
Well System
$2 million: Jacksonville – Armsdale Road Drainage Improvement Project
$1 million: Hallandale Beach Comprehensive Stormwater Management and Flooding
Mitigation Project
$918,075: Old Plantation Water Control District Pump Stations Rehabilitation and Automation
$750,000: Miami Waterkeeper Investigating Water Quality in Biscayne Bay
