Gov DeSantis has vetoed nine bills plus $590M in budget line items

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has vetoed nine bills from this session with only a few measures remaining for a decision, along with $590 million in line items from the state budget.

To override any vetoes, including line items, lawmakers would need a two-thirds vote in both chambers.

Among some of the larger line-item vetoes:

• $35.1 million for grants and aids to local governments for energy programs.

• $14 million for a new hangar for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

• $11 million for the Conner lab facility.

• $7.5 million for water and wastewater improvements in Orange County.

• Nearly $6.3 million for the Ocklawaha river restoration that included the building of a new bridge.

• $5 million for an expansion of Brevard County School District's West Shore junior and senior high schools.

• $4.4 million for public television stations and $1.3 million for public radio stations.

• $4.3 million for environmental dredging of Sykes Creek in Brevard County.

• $3 million for the second phase of the Westchester Free Standing Emergency Department.

• $3 million for critical utility infrastructure generators.

• $2.9 million for the Florida Strawberry Festival building and generators in Plant City.

• $2.8 million for the Florida International University's Transportation Efficiency program.

The nonprofit group Florida TaxWatch said DeSantis vetoed 65 of the 238 appropriations listed in its annual "Budget Turkeys" report and $126.1 million in member project appropriations that the report said merited close scrutiny.

On Tuesday, DeSantis vetoed three House bills, 1445, 1095 and 1133.

HB1445 would have required members of the Board of Governors and the university Board of Trustees to either be a state resident or a graduate of the university, an additional requirement that DeSantis said in his veto letter the state Supreme Court had consistently declared unconstitutional.

HB1095 would have created a new pilot program in Hillsborough County for certain offenders whose conditions of probation require an abstention from drugs and alcohol. DeSantis said in his veto letter that lawmakers declined to provide an appropriation for the program, making it impossible to implement.

HB1133 would have amended the operations of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. DeSantis said in his veto letter that while the intent of the bill was to prevent commission officers from entering hunting property without probable cause, he suggested to lawmakers provide something similar to the Boater Freedom Act.

On Monday, the governor vetoed HB5015. This was intended to reduce the rate of cost increases for the state's health insurance program for state employees. In his veto message, DeSantis said the bill "will have a negative impact on state employee families' cost and access to prescription drugs and supplies."

He said also that he supports the goal of reducing the rate of cost increases, but that all lawmakers, not a 14-member budget panel, should evaluate recommendations and make all options available for review.