TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida lawmakers passed a record $112.1 billion state budget proposal Monday that includes pay raises for state workers and a gas tax suspension before the November election.
Lawmakers were forced to extend the 60-day legislative session because of lengthy budget negotiations and state rules that require a 72-hour cooling-off period before they can vote on the spending plan.
This year's session has been dominated by bitter debates on legislation involving abortion, critical race theory and instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity.
The budget raises the minimum wage for state workers to $15 per hour and all state workers will get a 5.38% pay raise to account for inflation. It also gives public defenders and assistant state attorneys a $5,000 to $10,000 pay increase, boosts the minimum salary for state law enforcement officers to $50,000 and raises the minimum salary for teachers to at least $47,500.
“This budget invests in the workers who serve our state and her people," Republican Senate President Wilton Simpson said in a previous statement.
The budget bill hits on many of the priorities laid out by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in his budget proposal made in December, in which he pushed for worker pay raises and a five-month pause on the state's gas tax. He said the gas tax suspension was needed to offset rising gas prices and inflation he blames on President Joe Biden.
Lawmakers instead agreed to suspend the gas tax for one month, in October, and plan to recoup the lost revenue with federal coronavirus stimulus dollars. Republican Sen. Kelli Stargel said lawmakers chose October, just before the election, because there are typically fewer tourists in the state at that time.
DeSantis, who is running for reelection and is considered to be a potential 2024 presidential candidate, has final say on the budget bill.