Gov. DeSantis vetoes $600M in projects as he signs 2025-26 budget

Gov. Ron DeSantis has vetoed $600 million from the 2025-26 budget as he signed the $115 billion spending plan recently passed by lawmakers.

DeSantis signed the budget Monday — one day before the new fiscal year starts — at a press conference in The Villages. The full list of vetoes was not immediately released.

The Governor touted the budget as being leaner than last year’s version while also paying off $830 million of the state’s debt early.

“Signing the budget underscores the fact that Florida is the best fiscally managed state in these United States,” DeSantis said. “How many places are spending less year over year? Not a lot.”

DeSantis said his vetoes were to hit targets to keep the budget in line with his budget recommendations from February.

“Sometimes there’s just a lot of stuff that you kind of have to veto,” DeSantis said.

At the press conference, DeSantis highlighted the state’s investment in education and school choice as more than 500,000 children are using taxpayer-funded vouchers. Florida teachers will get pay increases as the state budget allocates $100 million more, up to $1.4 billion, on what DeSantis said could only be spent on teacher salaries.

The budget also includes funding $352 million road projects through his Moving Florida Forward initiative.

DeSantis also touted $2 billion in tax cuts, such as the end of the business rent tax that the Florida Chamber of Commerce had been lobbying to repeal. Other tax cuts include sales tax holidays on school supplies, hurricane prep, firearms and outdoor-related equipment.

DeSantis has been pushing for eliminating property taxes — a call he continued to make Monday. He said he was working with Senate President Ben Albritton.

“I know the individual members in both the House and Senate are very excited about providing an opportunity to really do something historic and to really make Florida truly the Free State of Florida,” DeSantis said.

Critics are voicing concerns that if Florida voters pass an initiative to repeal property taxes, it could mean cuts to government services.

DeSantis signed the budget Monday after a 105-day extended Session where he and House GOP leaders openly feuded. The House tried to limit DeSantis’ power on picking college Presidents and scrutinized the charity Hope Florida, run by the First Lady.

“The Session was unnecessarily bumpy,” DeSantis said Monday. “This one, I think, was more driven by personal agendas, by kind of vendettas.”

“I think it got really nasty between the House and Senate leadership,” he added. “And I would just say most of what we have here was really a result of a lot of the Senate working with our Office to be able to land the plane in a way that I think the people of Florida respect.”

One former adversary stood by his side Monday at the press conference: Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.

DeSantis accused Simpson of being a “fox guarding the henhouse” during a January Special Session when a bill would have made Simpson the head of immigration enforcement, instead of DeSantis. Eventually, a compromise was reached to make DeSantis and his Cabinet share powers.