The budget also level funded Florida’s public universities at the 2020-21 level, early on in the session legislators had proposed cutting FAMU’s budget by $7.6 million.
A budget for the wealthy
Florida’s spending plan for 2021-22 reflects a budget that may or may not help the average Floridian. The GOP-controlled Florida Legislature agreed to spend only $6.7 billion of the $10.2 billion in federal dollars available from the Biden administration, failing to use tons of dollars that could bolster programs to provide immediate help for Floridians during the current public health crisis. Some $3.5 billion of those federal dollars will end up sitting around in state reserves.
Governor DeSantis, and the Legislature, again this year blocked healthcare expansion for 800,000 poor Floridians, and refused to expand Medicaid for low-income families. Florida is one of about a dozen states that still hasn’t expanded Medicaid for vulnerable populations during the pandemic.
Which means a large number of residents from black, brown, and poor backgrounds may remain without health insurance, as more infectious COVID-19 variants are spreading across the nation.
FAMU had been seeking state funding for the 3, 812.5 acre Brooksville Farm, since acquiring the property from the USDA in 2015. The Brooksville farm includes 19 buildings, 2,830 square feet of laboratories, 3,600 square feet of office space, and a variety of other support structures constructed between 1932 and 1987. When FAMU gained control of the property it was considered the largest single land transfer ever from the federal government to a HBCU.
The 2021-22 Florida state budget amounts to a more than 10% increase over the current year. The increase is largely due to $10.2 billion in Federal Dollars sent to the state from the Biden administration, and larger than expected state tax collections.
The 2021-22 Florida state budget amounts to a more than 10% increase over the current year. The increase is largely due to $10.2 billion in Federal Dollars sent to the state from the Biden administration, and larger than expected state tax collections.
A budget for the wealthy
Florida’s spending plan for 2021-22 reflects a budget that may or may not help the average Floridian. The GOP-controlled Florida Legislature agreed to spend only $6.7 billion of the $10.2 billion in federal dollars available from the Biden administration, failing to use tons of dollars that could bolster programs to provide immediate help for Floridians during the current public health crisis. Some $3.5 billion of those federal dollars will end up sitting around in state reserves.
Governor DeSantis, and the Legislature, again this year blocked healthcare expansion for 800,000 poor Floridians, and refused to expand Medicaid for low-income families. Florida is one of about a dozen states that still hasn’t expanded Medicaid for vulnerable populations during the pandemic.
Which means a large number of residents from black, brown, and poor backgrounds may remain without health insurance, as more infectious COVID-19 variants are spreading across the nation.
The current year budget expires on June 30, 2021. Once Gov. DeSantis receives the 2021-22 budget from the legislature he has, according to the Constitution, 15 days to sign it, do line-item vetoes, or veto the entire budget.
