{"id":72334,"date":"2026-06-29T18:21:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T22:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=72334"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:21:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T22:21:56","slug":"desantis-signs-2026-27-state-budget-vetoes-1-6-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/06\/29\/desantis-signs-2026-27-state-budget-vetoes-1-6-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"DeSantis signs 2026-27 state budget, vetoes $1.6 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the state\u2019s $117.6 billion budget for the 2026\u20132027 fiscal year<\/strong>, marking the eighth and final spending plan of his tenure.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While initial headlines highlighted a $1.6 billion total reduction<\/strong>, the final veto list reflects a combination of project cuts and blocked fund transfers. Specifically, DeSantis issued $810 million in direct line-item vetoes<\/strong> alongside a $750 million vetoed transfer<\/strong> that lawmakers had attempted to move into the state\u2019s rainy-day fund.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The signed budget marks the fourth consecutive year of declining overall state spending in Florida.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major Vetoes & Cuts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

DeSantis noted during his press conference that he focused on cutting “nice to have” items rather than essentials, targeting specific policy tie-ins and local projects:<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Sovereign Immunity Expansion:<\/strong> In a high-profile move, DeSantis vetoed a bill that would have raised the caps on how much money local governments and the state pay out in negligence lawsuits (which would have increased individual caps from $200,000 to $350,000). He argued the expansion would incentivize “frivolous lawsuits.”<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Correctional Officer Raises:<\/strong> He axed $91.5 million meant for correctional officer salary increases, not because he opposed the raises, but because lawmakers tied the funding to a mandate to build a new prison. DeSantis labeled the move a “D.C. swamp game” that would generate unneeded state debt.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Elder Care Expansion:<\/strong> The budget slashed more than $30.6 million intended for the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), blocking hundreds of planned new elder care slots across counties like Pinellas.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Rainy-Day Fund Transfer:<\/strong> He blocked a $750 million transfer to the state’s Budget Stabilization Fund. Because Florida’s rainy-day fund is already maxed out at its current constitutional limit of $5 billion, DeSantis rejected adding more before a proposed constitutional cap increase is officially enacted.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Cultural & Local Infrastructure Grants:<\/strong> He slashed $3 million in Culture Builds Florida grants and rejected various local stormwater, road improvement, and animal welfare facility projects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    What Remained: Budget Highlights<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Despite the heavy veto pen, several key priority areas received historic funding levels:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • K-12 Education:<\/strong> A record $30 billion<\/strong> allocated for public schools, which pushes per-student spending to an all-time high of $9,338. This includes $1.56 billion specifically earmarked for teacher salary increases.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Environmental Restoration:<\/strong> $1.2 billion<\/strong> dedicated to Everglades restoration and water quality protection, helping to keep the state-funded portion of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir project ahead of schedule.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Tax Holidays & Relief:<\/strong> The budget locks in a permanent Back-to-School tax holiday, a second consecutive “Second Amendment” tax holiday (exempting firearms, ammunition, and camping gear from September through December 2026), and a sales tax refund of up to $500 for homeowners installing impact-resistant windows and doors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the state\u2019s $117.6 billion budget for the 2026\u20132027 fiscal year, marking the eighth and final spending plan of his tenure. While initial headlines highlighted a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNFwvMTBcL2Rlc2FudGlzLXBuZy53ZWJwP2ZpdD01NDklMkM0MDQmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJEZVNhbnRpcyBzaWducyAyMDI2LTI3IHN0YXRlIGJ1ZGdldCwgdmV0b2VzICQxLjYgYmlsbGlvbiIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.lGp_kDzsxJ78_hERtnuFTBv5MjNnvsGTnX_5zKhUORoMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjRcLzEwXC9kZXNhbnRpcy1wbmcud2VicCIsInR4dCI6IkRlU2FudGlzIHNpZ25zIDIwMjYtMjcgc3RhdGUgYnVkZ2V0LCB2ZXRvZXMgJDEuNiBiaWxsaW9uIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.PzWRlXJA8P0UFp81MejoB9NHlaObYqge_rBpOw1DpDwMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[15040,15041],"class_list":["post-72334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-desantis-signs-2026-27-state-budget","tag-vetoes-1-6-billion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72335,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72334\/revisions\/72335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}