Budget deal funnels $1,000 bonuses to Florida first responders
By The News Service of Florida
Published article
TALLAHASSEE - House and Senate leaders Monday night finished nailing down details of a roughly $100 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, after agreeing that first responders statewide should get $1,000 bonuses for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lawmakers also agreed to pump an additional $80 million in state and federal money into a program that provides services to help keep people with intellectual and developmental disabilities out of institutions. The infusion of money will lead to serving more people in the so-called iBudget program, though lawmakers did not immediately have an estimate of how many people would be removed from a waiting list.
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“We’re trying to focus on things that were one-time, infrastructure builds,” said Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Kelli Stargel (right), a Lakeland Republican who negotiated final details with House Appropriations Chairman Jay Trumbull (left), R-Panama City.
Because of a legally required 72-hour “cooling off” period, the budget is required to be finalized and printed Tuesday for the annual legislative session to end on time Friday.
House and Senate leaders Monday night finished nailing down details of a roughly $100 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, after agreeing that first responders statewide should get $1,000 bonuses for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The move sets the Legislature on course to finish the two-month session by its scheduled deadline, Friday.
Among the late agreements between House and Senate negotiators is a decision to set a $13 minimum wage for all state workers, a $43 million item promoted by Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, in advance of statewide minimum wage increases approved by voters last fall.
Even Gov. Ron DeSantis got in on the pay hikes. He was given $1.2 million to make “salary adjustments” for his agency heads in one of the last-minute deals made by lawmakers.
The Republican governor and GOP-controlled Legislature were helped by the American Rescue Plan advanced by President Biden and the Democratic-led Congress, which steered $10.2 billion to state government and erased what had earlier been expected to be a lousy budget year certain to include deep program cuts.
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