It’s finally over: 2022 FL Legislative Session adjourned Sine Die at 1:03 p.m. yesterday

By Peter Schorsch
FloridaPolitics.com
March 15, 2022

Florida is flush with cash, and lawmakers voted to put it to use by passing a $112.1 billion budget on Monday.

The spending plan includes a $1.7 billion increase in K-12 schools funding, a 5.4% across-the-board pay raise for state employees, boosts to environmental programs, and a grab bag of tax cuts — including a one-month moratorium on the state’s 25-cents-per-gallon gas tax that will save motorists an estimated $200 million.

The budget, which is $11 billion more than the current year, passed with a unanimous vote in the Senate and a 105-3 vote in the House — the nays came from Democratic Reps. Mike Grieco andDotie Joseph and Republican Rep. Anthony Sabatini.

With the budget settled and shipped to DeSantis, the Legislature adjourned Sine Die shortly after 1 p.m. The traditional hankie drop marked the end of a Legislative Session that saw numerous controversial bills pass along partisan lines, including a 15-week abortion ban and the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which has snagged national headlines in recent weeks.

It ain’t over until the hankie drops. Image via WLRN.

While Democrats lamented the focus on those issues — and their inability to stop them from passing — DeSantis all but took a victory lap in the Capitol rotunda.

“I think you guys gave an enormous amount of good things this Legislative Session. I’m really proud to see a lot of stuff that came across the finish line,” he said in a post-Sine Die news conference that was interrupted by protesters shouting for the state to “stop funding corporations.”

The budget now awaits edits from the Governor, who holds line-item veto power. Last year, DeSantis was thought to have wielded a relatively light touch when he slashed $1.5 billion to leave a $101 billion budget.