Tallahassee – After successfully adjusting one budget rejection override, Florida State Speaker Danny Perez is looking to review other items Governor Ron de Santis cut last year, including spending on arts, criminal justice and healthcare. A committee was established.
Perez has assigned House members to four workgroups that are scheduled to begin hearings Tuesday to review the governor’s cuts that took place last summer. The group is made up of several Standing House Committees and members of its Chairs, and is permitted to meet for up to 10 days.
All senators have the opportunity to engage in workgroups as work takes place within the Senate Budget Committee.
Once they have finished reviewing the veto, the group will make recommendations for further legislative measures against Perez.
The action comes after Congress stood up to DeSantis during a special session last week and rejected his proposal to help the Trump administration achieve its immigration enforcement goals. Instead, Congress approved its own immigration enforcement plan, which has not yet been presented to the governor. DeSantis threatened to refuse, but said Monday there was an immigration bill that would compromise.
In the same special session last week, Senate Speakers Ben Albritton and Perez coordinated legislative overrides of two vetoes by Desantis. Override was born in the House of Representatives as the budget passed as a House bill.
Desantis’ veto has won more than $50 million in total for legislative services. These services include the Government Supervision Office, the Bureau of Surveying Florida’s Economy and Population, employees who maintain many websites in the state, a searchable lobbyist database, invoice text and for viewing by the public. The Florida Channel, including the House and Senate websites, provides analysis of the analysis, will stream videos and live feeds of legislative and newspaper conferences.
Items on these lines had money to look into the exchange fees charged by companies that account for up to 3.5% of all credit card transactions they process.
The governor’s veto that could be reviewed by the new group includes a $32 million arts grant of a nature he “wakes up” or deemed inappropriate, and hundreds of Forces organizations to compete for lost funds.
Among the programs he targeted was the popular Fringe Festival, including one held in Orlando every year. The Orlando Fringe Festival was scheduled to win $70,000 last year.
This week, Desantis rolled out its budget for next year, recovering $27 million in arts funding, as long as the program it recognizes is family-friendly.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
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