Nat Bender on Monday, June 6 2022 - 12:03pm. But lawmakers have reduced that amount, targeting $209.5 million for housing initiatives, but limiting rental assistance efforts to about $100 million, with another $100 million establishing a hometown heroes program helping first responders, teachers and nurses with down payment assistance. All rights reserved. Local lawmakers, lobbyists and labor leaders said the $109 billion state budget Gov. That would bring the program from one that was not funded at all this year to one of the largest land-buying programs in the state. By, Move to take the wood stork off a federal endangered list is putting environmental groups at odds, Environmentalists object to bills they say undercut development, conservation goals, Bill Before Florida Senate Would Put Local Ordinances on Hold if Challenged, Legislation would make it illegal for doctors to provide gender-affirming care to transgender youths, Barbara Bryant, the first woman to head the U.S. census, has died at 96, Scientists find signs of horse riding in ancient human remains, A man dies of a brain-eating amoeba, possibly from rinsing his sinuses with tap water, Garland supports effort to hold Russia accountable for war crimes, A report from the Commonwealth Fund highlights racial inequities in Florida's health care system, Biden's plan to stop surprise medical bills faces bipartisan pushback in Congress. Jared Moskowitz, Jamie Raskin blast Lauren Boebert over COVID-19 amnesia. The 12 school districtstargeted in the House's original proposal were looking to get the $200 million penalty removed from the state's school funding system. In another dramatic move, lawmakers dropped aHouse-backed $200 million redistribution of funds from 12 counties that defied Gov. Included in the budgets many provisions is a 5.38% raise for all state employees, increases in teacher salaries and funding to boost the minimum wage for state workers to $15. The proposal was praised by Vicki Hall, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Florida, the largest union representing state workers. During a press conference announcing his plan, DeSantis said his decision to keep schools and other state operations open in fall 2020 signals he is committed to protecting Florida employees. Ron DeSantis spends big in $99.7 billion budget proposal. An Edward R. Murrow Award-winning series explores the high costs of the pandemic for children and young adults. The project will restore wildlife habitat, rehydrate wetlands, and improve discharge into the Floridan Aquifer and directly benefit the Wakulla Springs. Want more of our free, weekly newslettersinyourinbox? Ausley represents more than 19,000 state employees in Leon and Gadsden counties. James Call in the Tallahassee Democrat reports on the "historic" raises in the state budget, thanks to AFSCME advocacy and member activism. endobj Lawmakers cut the bulk of a $309 million fund for hospitals that serve the states poorest and sickest Medicaid patients. They apparently succeeded Tuesday,but still unclear in negotiations was whether teachers and staff in these districts would be eligible for the new school recognition awards. The Legislature, following a request from DeSantis, created a one-month gas tax suspension in the budget for October, which will lower the price of gas by about 25 cents a gallon. Ten years ago, Floridas workers paid $5,205 or 11% of the states median income. Lawmakers now are certain to extend the session. Nationally, health insurance costs accounted for 11.6% of median U.S. household income in 2020, compared to 9.1% in 2010. TALLAHASSEE In what would be by far the largest budget in state history, legislators on Thursday released a record $112.1 billion spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year that includes more than $1 billion for pay raises for state workers and contractors. About 9 p.m.Tuesday, Trumbull and Stargel sent a memo to fellow lawmakersacknowledging that they wouldn't make a midnight deadline in time fora constitutionally required 72-hour waiting period before lawmakerscanvote on the budget by Friday'slast scheduled day of the 2022 session. The study compared employee health insurance costs, including insurance premiums and deductibles. At issue is a minimum wage increase of $15-an-hour pushed by the Senate compared to a 5.38 percent salary increase in the House, to address rising inflation. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media. He previously reported for Fresh Take Florida, a news service that covers the Florida Legislature and state political stories operating out of UFs College of Journalism and Communications. A South Florida native, he has a passion for political and accountability reporting. ATallahassee initiative that provides scholarships to acquire GEDs, high school diplomas and to attend college or technical and vocational schools. Though the longtime lobbyist was quick to add that the pay raise "is huge" for the region. While lawmakers have been mired in grueling, emotional fights over abortion and other hot-button topics during this years legislative session, their proposed budget received little criticism. James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. By this initiative happening, it is not about having a salary, it is about can a teacher pay their light bill, can a teacher pay their water bill, can a teacher give a kid who doesnt have food at home an extra snack, or an extra bag of chips to put in their backpack and not at the expense of their own home., I dont think people always understand the countless hours we put into our work, said Loren Temes, 2nd Grade Teacher, Renaissance Charter School at Wellington. From a leadership perspective, when I am looking for talent to hire, I dont want salary to be a deciding factor in that a teacher wont join our organization because they cant afford it., Educators are the backbone of America, said Tiqkia Barrow, 5th Grade Teacher, Renaissance Charter School at Wellington. Districts lose dollars because of masks: GOP lawmaker aims to strip state funding from school districts that defied Gov. Read More February 16, 2023 Safer drinking water in Philadelphia, the nation thanks to the Biden infrastructure law . We have invested more than $2 billion in teacher pay, and with rising inflation, this could not come at a better time. Salaries - Florida State Auditors report states that the top 3 reasons for leaving are retirement, better pay/benefits and poor working conditions. Political editor Emily L. Mahoney will send you a rundown on local, state and national politics coverage every Thursday. State budget: State pay hike with veto of food bank expansion The 12 districts are Alachua, Brevard, Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Indian River, Leon, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach, Sarasota and Volusia counties. Two Broward Health hospitals lost a combined $22 million or so. No state workers will make less than $15 per hour. Then there is the Catch 22 for the Health Insurance Subsidy Tax Exclusion. In the 2015 Legislative Session- the last time state workers saw an across-the-board raise- lawmakers approved a 2.5% raise for state employees. And the problem has gotten worse over the past decade. <>/Metadata 242 0 R/ViewerPreferences 243 0 R>> The journals or printed bills of the respective chambers should be consulted for official purposes. Senate unveils $108.6 billion budget with pay hikes for state workers AMIkids provides Gadsden County youth with mental health, substance abuse, mentoring, and vocational training services as a juvenile diversion program. All 2022 Bill Summaries for Appropriations Committee, $43.7 billion from the General Revenue Fund (GR), $2.8 billion from the Education Enhancement Trust Fund, $ 1.2 billion from the Public Education Capital Outlay Trust Fund (PECO TF), $64.3 billion from other trust funds (TF), 112,472.26 full time equivalent positions (FTE), An additional $1 billion for Inflation Fund was reserved for budget amendments necessary to counter increased costs due to inflation, which is not included in the $8.9 billion in reserves, FEFP (funding provided in overall BSA increase), Agency for Health Care Administration - Medicaid Services, Agency for Persons with Disabilities - Medicaid Waiver Services, Department of Juvenile Justice - Contracted services, Department of Veterans Affairs - Contracted services, 5.38 percent State Employee across-the-board increase to address inflation, State Law Enforcement Officers/Troopers - Increase minimum salary to $50,000 or an additional 5 percent pay increase, whichever is greater, Correctional and Probation Officers - Increase minimum salary to $41,600 ($20 per hour), and other position classifications ranging from $45,760 to $57,886, State Firefighters - Increase minimum salary to $41,600 ($20 per hour), Juvenile Justice Detention Officers - Increase minimum salary to $39,520 ($19 per hour), Juvenile Justice Probation Officers - Increase minimum salary to $41,600 ($20 per hour), Veterans Homes Nurses - $5.6 million for salary and recruitment incentives, Assistant State Attorneys and Public Defenders - $5,000 - $10,000 pay increase, Charter School Repairs and Maintenance - $195.8 million, Public School Maintenance - $11.4 million, College and University Maintenance - $843.7 million, Developmental Research School Repairs and Maintenance - $8.1 million, Small School District Special Facilities - $64.4 million, District Tech Center Projects - $13.9 million, Florida College System Projects - $216.2 million, State University System Projects - $563.9 million, School for the Deaf and Blind Maintenance and Renovation Projects - $8.5 million, Public Broadcasting - Health and Safety Issues - $5 million, Authorization for State University System (SUS) Capital Improvement Student Fee Projects - $44.7 million, Partnerships for School Readiness - $53.2 million, Early Learning Standards & Accountability - $4.9 million, Voluntary Prekindergarten Program - $553.4 million, Decrease of 2,645 fewer students ($6.4 million), Voluntary Prekindergarten Program Additional Base Student Allocation (BSA) Payments - $151.3 million; these additional payments are provided to ensure all VPK instructors are paid a minimum wage of at least $15 per hour, FEFP Total Funds increase is $1.69 billion or 7.5 percent, FEFP increases in Total Funds per Student is $384.55, a 4.96 percent increase [from $7,758.3 to $8,142.8], Base Student Allocation (BSA) increase by $214.49 or 4.9 percent, FEFP Base Funds (flexible $) increase of $1 billion or 7.15 percent, Required Local Effort (RLE) increase of $633.2 million; RLE millage maintained at prior year level of 3.606 mills, Teacher Salary Increase Allocation - $250 million increase for a total of $800 million that school districts must use to increase the minimum salaries of classroom teachers to at least $47,500, Safe Schools Allocation - $30 million increase for a total of $210 million for School Safety Officers and school safety initiatives, Mental Health Assistance Allocation - $20 million increase for a total of $140 million to help school districts and charter schools address youth mental health issues, Reading Instruction Allocation - $40 million increase for a total of $170 million to provide comprehensive reading instruction, Turnaround School Supplemental Services Allocation - $24.4 million - funds for services designed to improve the overall academic and community welfare of students and their families at designated lower performing schools, Funding Compression & Hold Harmless Allocation - $68.2 million - compression funds for districts with total funds per FTE that are less than the statewide average and hold harmless funds for districts that have a reduction in the District Cost Differential, FEFP increases are provided to school districts to ensure all employees are paid a minimum wage of at least $15 per hour beginning in the 2022-23 school year, Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program - $6.5 million, School Recognition Program - $200 million, Community School Grant Program - $7.6 million, Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources Centers - $8.7 million, Transition Support Funding for Jefferson County School District - $5 million, Computer Science and Teacher Bonuses - $10 million, School District Foundation Matching Grants - $6 million, Florida Association of District School Superintendents Training - $750,000, School and Instructional Enhancement Grants - $46.4 million, Florida School for the Deaf & Blind - $53.2 million, Assessment and Evaluation - $134.7 million, VPK and Student Literacy Program Monitoring Systems - $15.5 million, Just Read Florida Early Literacy Professional Development - $1 million, ACT and SAT Exam Administration - $8 million, Workforce Development for career and technical education and adult education - $390.4 million, Perkins Career and Technical Education grants and Adult Education and Literacy funds - $123.3 million, CAPE Incentive Funds for students who earn Industry Certifications - $6.5 million, School and Instructional Enhancement Grants - $4.4 million, Pathways to Career Opportunities Grant Program for apprenticeships - $15 million, Workers Compensation Insurance Premiums for apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship students - $2 million, Nursing Education Initiatives - $20 million, Adults with Disability Funds - $11.6 million, Inclusive Transition and Employment Management Program - $1.5 million, CAPE Incentive Funds for students who earn Industry Certifications - $14 million GR, Nursing Education Initiatives - $59 million, System Wide Base Funding Increases - $55 million, Student Open Access Resources (SOAR) - $5.4 million, Student Success Incentive Funds - $30 million GR, 2+2 Student Success Incentive Funds - $20 million GR, Work Florida Incentive Funds - $10 million GR, Moffitt Cancer Center Workload - $10 million in additional funds, Johnson Matching Grant Program Workload - $20,000 in additional funds, Nursing Education Initiatives - $46 million, Cybersecurity Resiliency - $20.5 million, HBCUs - $680 thousand in additional funds, Nursing and Health related education initiatives - $2 million, Engineering and Technology initiatives - $29 million, Benacquisto Scholarship Program - $36.4 million, Children/Spouses of Deceased or Disabled Veterans - $13.5 million, Dual Enrollment Scholarship - $18.05 million, Law Enforcement Academy Scholarship - $5 million, Medicaid Price Level and Workload - $2,207.5 billion, KidCare Workload (Due to Caseload Shift to Medicaid) - ($58.8) million, Minimum Wage for Medicaid Providers - $273.6 million, Minimum Wage for Nursing Homes - $212.8 million, Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICF/IID) Reimbursement Rates - $29.6 million, Maternal Fetal Medicine Provider Rate Increase - $2.5 million, Organ Transplant Rate Increase - $6.3 million, Specialty Childrens Hospitals - $84.9 million, Hospital Outlier Payments - $50.2 million, Florida Cancer Hospitals - $156.2 million, Florida Medicaid Management Information System (FMMIS) - $112 million, Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) - $82.7 million, Establish Recurring Dental Services Program for the Developmentally Disabled - $8.5 million, Direct Service Provider Rate Increases to Address Minimum Wage - $403 million, Waiver Rates for Behavior Services - $14.2 million, Home and Community Based Services Waiver Waitlist - $59.6 million, Community Based Care Funding Increase - $158.4 million, Mitigate Title IV-E Earnings Shortfall - $32.6 million, Foster Care Child Daycare Subsidy - $24.9 million, Foster Care Board Rate Parity - $19.1 million, Fatherhood Engagement and Family Involvement Programs - $31.8 million, Increased Subsidy for Foster Youth Attending Postsecondary Education - $16.9 million, Maintenance Adoption Subsidies - $10.1 million, Guardianship Assistance Program - $8.7 million, Foster Care Board Rate Adjustment - $3.3 million, Expand Adoption Incentive Benefits to Law Enforcement Officers - $4 million, Community Based Behavioral Health Services - $211.1 million, State Mental Health Treatment Facilities Forensic Beds - $20 million, Legal Settlement Funds for Opioid Epidemic Abatement - $11.3 million, Florida Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) Team Funding - $7 million, Florida System and Florida Safe Families Network Technology Modernization - $31.5 million, Alzheimers Disease Initiative - $12 million, Community Care for the Elderly - $9 million, Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program - $37.7 million, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute - $20 million, Leon Haley, Jr., MD Trauma Center - $80 million, Fatherhood Grants - Home Visiting Program - $4.4 million, Primary Care Health Professional Loan Repayment Program - $6.6 million and 3 positions, Dental Student Loan Repayment Program - $1.8 million, Hormonal Long-acting Reversible Contraception Program - $2 million, State Veterans Nursing Homes - Nurses Salary and Recruitment Incentives - $5.6 million, State Veterans Nursing Homes - Contracted Services Increase to Increase Wages to $15 per hour - $6.9 million, Nonrecurring Trust Fund Shift to General Revenue Due to Trust Fund Deficit as a result of the New Homes Delayed Opening, and Decreased Occupancy Rates Due to COVID-19 - $41.3 million, Florida is For Veterans Increase for Administration and Programs - $2.06 million. The budget is 10.4 percent higher than last years $101.5 billion budget, which would be the largest one-year increase in at least a decade, according to data from Florida TaxWatch. 5 min read Despite failing to meet a late Tuesday deadline to finalize a 2022-23 state budget, House and Senate negotiators did manage to approve a 5.38% pay. While the university systems claim that university employees have received similar raises via merit raise and pay for performance schemes, the reality is that most university employees pay has been frozen or has increased only by tiny amounts since 2003. Times 3/14/2022. But he, along with Ausley and Tant said the big prize was the state worker pay raise. According to the Division of State Group Insurance in the Department of Management Services, the annual family premium for the state group health insurance plan was $21,973, as of July 1. Weve put words into action by replacing Common Core, eliminating the Florida Standards Assessment, and working with our close friends in the Florida Legislature to secure $800 million in state funding to provide teachers a well-deserved pay increase. With session ending soon, state workers still don't know what their pay Please see the attached memorandum regarding the 2022-2023 Salary Increase and Minimum Wage Pay Adjustment for In-Unit & Out-of-Unit Staff. Florida Gov. Republicans have said they chose October, a month before statewide elections, because there are typically fewer tourists in the state at that time. But the two chambers. The other two aircraft would be available to the lieutenant governor, Cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, the House Speaker, Senate president and chairs of legislative committees and agency officials. Florida lawmakers approved the state's biggest-ever budget, a $112 billion plan that includes a gas-tax holiday, pay raises for workers and more spending than the governor's proposal. On the health care side, Florida leaders once again turned down billions in federal subsidies that the state could have used to expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of working poor Floridians. %PDF-1.7 Thecelebration over a historic 5.3% across-the-board pay raise for state employees and a new $15 minimum wage for state workers was partlyovershadowed Friday morning by the vetoes of $1 million earmarked to the Second Harvest of the Big Bend and a $50,000 appropriation for the Leon Works Expo and Junior Apprenticeship Program. "/> Insurance premiums for both of us under the family plan is deducted from my FRS Pension. I am happy to say that Governor DeSantis, the Legislature, and the Department of Education are making education a priority in Florida, said Kristen Geiger,Teacher, Fleming Island Elementary School. ", More on DeSantis' budget: DeSantis budget includes raise for state workers, new emergency operations center, More on state minimum wage: Florida lawmakers consider banning cities, counties from setting local minimum wages. This will help Florida to recruit and retain great teachers., Governor DeSantis is unquestionably the most pro-teacher governor in the nation. 6.2% of each of your paychecks is withheld for Social Security taxes and your employer contributes a further 6.2%. DeSantis, Cabinet members and other state leaders also were helped by budget-writers Tuesday, who agreed to spend $31.3 million to buy two Embraer Phenom 300E executive jets, each with an 11-seat capacity, under legislation awaiting final approval. Lawmakers have assigned $3.5 billion in federal dollars for various projects in the next fiscal year, with the biggest piece about $1.4 billion going to construction and maintenance for the states colleges and universities. Permitless carry is a bad idea, says suspended Hillsborough state attorney | Column, Closing schools, reshuffling students vexes Hillsborough board, Florida's 15-week abortion ban heads to DeSantis' desk, Prosecutors and public defenders will see raises, transport undocumented immigrants out of the state, Get Capitol Buzz, a special bonus edition of The Buzz with Emily L. Mahoney, each Saturday while the Legislature is meeting, Did the Florida Legislature pass this bill to punish newspapers? House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, fought for initiatives aimed at strengthening fatherhood in Florida. That could prove a big boost for many nursing home caregivers who make the states minimum wage of $10 per hour. The Florida Senate on Friday announced a plan to raise the minimum wage for state employees to $15 an hour, an initiative led by Senate President Wilton Simpson, who also wants to hike pay for school bus drivers and other school vendors. I am proud to be an educator and we have certainly come a long way. Lawmakers proposal for school spending is one of the largest ever, and the Florida Education Association, which represents teachers, called it a real step forward. Prosecutors and public defenders will see raises between $5,000 and $10,000. Questions? The spending targets a host of practical problems, lawmakers say, including inflation. Meanwhile, the health insurance recommendations in DeSantis proposed budget run afoul of Sen. Jeff Brandes desire to remodel the state group health insurance program in the next fiscal year. Not sure how much this has penalized us. While pay raises look settled, Trumbull and Stargel held a later Tuesday meeting to address dozens of other spending issues.
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