Aid gives state chance to spend big

Florida lawmakers looking at $10B windfall

TALLAHASSEE — When Florida lawmakers kicked off the session last week they were concerned with how to close a $2 billion shortfall. Now they’re looking at a $10 billion windfall, thanks to the $1.9 trillion federal COVID-19 relief package signed by President Joe Biden on Thursday.

The package includes $350 billion in aid to states and cities, and Florida’s share is already upending lawmakers’ approach to the budget.

Legislative leaders had pointed to the projected shortfall as a reason to look at cutting spending for higher education and for K-12 schools amid questions over how

many students will be in classrooms next year. They are also considering canceling an expensive project to build three major highways.

But the federal money allows the state some major breathing room and a chance to spend big.

“It clearly takes a lot of the pressure off a lot of the deeper cuts that were going to have to be made,” said Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby.

Simpson has stressed that the federal money is a one-time boon, so it should be spent on road and water projects and other singular uses instead of boosting annual programs that would face cuts in futures years once the federal money is gone.

“The (Department of Transportation) trust fund took a pretty good hit because of sales tax collections in March, April, May of last year, and so by being able to put resources into those areas we would be able to stimulate job creation,” Simpson said.

Before lawmakers knew the COVID-19 aid payments were coming for certain, House Speaker Chris Sprowls warned K-12 school superintendents that the nearly 88,000 students missing from enrollment counts should be found and accounted for to help lawmakers draft an education budget for the coming year.

Federal CARES Act money allowed Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to hold funding level for school districts this year, but Sprowls warned that might not happen next year. With the latest round of federal funding, cuts based on reduced enrollment might not be needed.

House Democratic Co-Leader Evan Jenne of Dania Beach said he agrees that road and water projects would be a good use of the money but that education and health care programs should get some of the money as well.

“We need to make sure that we protect what was already in there first and lessen the blow that could’ve been on schools, postsecondary, whatever it may have been,” Jenne said.

Jenne specifically mentioned school maintenance and construction projects, known as Public Education Capital Outlay, or PECO dollars, as a use for the federal money. That would keep the money in the education system while ensuring it’s spent on one-time projects, as Simpson outlined.

Even after covering the $2 billion shortfall, the state’s coffers could have billions more in new funding this year. Having just learned they are receiving the money, lawmakers haven’t begun detailed talks about how the money could be spent.

At the same time, Jenne doesn’t want the stimulus money to be used as an excuse to keep alive the three new arterial highways the Legislature approved last year.

Simpson and Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, have pushed to stop the project, known as M-CORES, from moving forward.

One of the reasons cited was the anticipated tight budget year, but environmentalists have decried the project from its inception, saying the roads aren’t needed and would disrupt key portions of the state’s environment.

Lawmakers have until April 30, the last day of their regular session, to decide how to divvy up the money for the budget year that begins July 1. They’ll also look for guidance from the federal government on how the money can be spent before making any decisions.

Jenne, though, wants his colleagues to think big.

“I would hope that we take this gift that we’re being given right now and do something really positive that will affect generations moving forward rather than just trying to spackle over bad ideas, cracks in M-CORES, and things like that,” he said. “I would hope we can do something that would have real generational change.”