Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking lawmakers to spend $510 million to combat illegal immigration and create a six-week sales tax holiday on gun and ammunition purchases as part of his proposed state budget for the next fiscal year.
In his recommended $115.6 billion budget, DeSantis would spend nearly $590 million to continue a popular home-hardening program and resume back-to-school and disaster preparedness sales tax holidays.
He would also create a two-month fuel tax holiday for Florida boaters and repeal the business rent tax, which would save companies $1.6 billion over the next two years.
“All in all, this is a really good place for the state of Florida to be in,” DeSantis said during a news conference Monday.
DeSantis’ budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year is a recommendation. Ultimately, the Republican-controlled Legislature will craft the budget when it meets for the annual 60-day legislative session next month.
But it comes amid a bitter feud with lawmakers, some of whom are warning that they will take a more critical eye towards his spending.
Last week, lawmakers rejected his plan to spend $350 million flying migrants from Florida to other countries, and instead passed a bill stripping him of nearly all his immigration enforcement powers. DeSantis vowed to veto the bill — but on Monday sounded more conciliatory, saying that he was working out a deal with lawmakers. Spokespeople for the House speaker and Senate president declined to comment.
DeSantis is calling his spending plan the “Focus on Fiscal Responsibility Budget‚” and it’s about $900 million less than last year’s final budget.
DeSantis is proposing eliminating 741 vacant positions across state government.
His own office would continue to grow by 11 employees and about $11 million. The governor’s office has been the fastest-growing unit in state government since he was elected in 2018.
House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, said DeSantis’ proposed budget did little to help Floridians with the cost of living.
“The Governor’s budget proposal focuses on grabbing headlines and trying to keep him relevant in the national spotlight while leaving Florida’s families behind,” she said in a statement.
State lawmakers last week called out DeSantis’ lack of enforcement on E-Verify, the federal program that checks the legal eligibility of new workers. Until Wednesday, the state had not issued any citations against companies since 2022.
DeSantis’ proposed budget includes adding 10 positions at the Department of Commerce to enforce E-Verify. Another 21 positions and nearly $510 million would assist the federal government in combating illegal immigration.
State police and firefighters would receive an up to 25% pay increase under DeSantis’ plan. The union representing Florida Highway Patrol troopers last week said they needed more funding if they were going to be the “tip of the spear” in the governor’s immigration enforcement.
DeSantis continued to highlight education as a priority, calling for a $609 million increase in the state K-12 funding formula, to $16 billion. Combined with local tax revenue for schools, he projected an education budget of $29.7 billion.
He proposed increasing teacher pay by about $246 million a year, which in past years has translated into raises of about 1.5%.
His budget anticipated K-12 public school enrollment of 3.2 million students along with more than 350,000 children who receive state-funded education vouchers. Some observers anticipate Florida’s voucher system, which is expanding this year and is the nation’s largest, will exceed $4 billion.
DeSantis’ budget proposal also sets aside $69 million for “infrastructure improvements and resource management” at Florida state parks.
Last year, Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection proposed building golf courses, pickleball courts and 350-room lodges in nine state parks. The plan sparked outrage among Floridians and lawmakers of both parties.
Though DeSantis’ staff at first stood by the plans, the governor soon announced he would shelve the ideas — and said the state would go “back to the drawing board.”
When asked on Monday whether the proposed funding for this year’s budget had anything to do with the previous development proposals, DeSantis dismissed the state’s involvement and said “there was never anything that was proposed at all.”
For the upcoming budget, DeSantis said the parks plan would be to maintain “what we have” and avoid damage or depreciation of the resources.
After slashing more than $32 million in arts and culture funding from the budget last year, DeSantis’ proposal suggests $27 million for culture and museum grants.
That includes $1 million to fund projects related to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which will be on July 4, 2026.
Last year, DeSantis said he cut the arts funding over “sexual”festivals and said the Legislature needed to reevaluate how arts projects were funded.
“I thought it was too much into the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), into the woke stuff,” DeSantis said.
This year his proposal suggests coupling the $27 million in arts funding with a new law to “ensure funding is provided only to activities and programs that are appropriate for all age groups.”
A proposed bill coupled with that funding would give the secretary of state more influence over what gets funded and what arts programs could lose funding.
Although Florida’s economy and tax rolls are growing, state economists warned in December that the state was facing a nearly $10 budget deficit in the next three years and that state lawmakers can’t continue to spend as they have been.
DeSantis would also spend $830 million to pay down state debt ahead of schedule, an effort that has become a frequent talking point at his campaign events.
DeSantis’ proposed budget also doubles down on his accusations of fraud in Florida’s citizen initiative process by setting aside about $1.8 million for nine new positions to “perform investigations relating to petition fraud allegations.”
Last year, as DeSantis waged a war against Florida’s two citizen-proposed constitutional amendments, his administration released a report accusing the proposed abortion amendment of widespread fraud.
Since then, DeSantis has pushed for major change to Florida’s petition initiative process that would make it near impossible for a campaign to get on the ballot.
The governor’s budget proposal includes $1 million for voter signature verification, though it’s not immediately clear what that program would look like. Another $2.5 million would be spent upgrading the state’s voter registration system.
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