New Florida budget: From bears to water quality

New Florida budget: From bears to water quality

A $117.46 billion budget that state lawmakers approved last week includes big-ticket items such as a 3 percent pay raise for state employees, a $240 bump in per-student school funding, $13.99 billion for transportation projects and $702 million for Everglades restoration.

But the budget, which drew almost unanimous support Friday and is headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis, includes a lot more than that.

Here are some examples:

¦ BEAR SAFETY: Franklin County would get $683,500 for residential trash containers that would be resistant to bears.

¦ BEEF RESEARCH: The Cattle Enhancement Board would receive $1 million for research designed to expand uses of Florida beef and to market the state’s cattle industry.

¦ HEARING AIDS: A $5 million item in the budget would create a program to help purchase such things as hearing aids and assistive listening devices for children.

¦ MULTIVITAMINS: The Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer’s Disease Research Program would receive $1.5 million to study the effects of daily multivitamin use on improvement in people’s cognitive function and associated cost impacts on the Medicaid long-term care program or state inmates over age 65.

¦ PYTHONS: The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would receive $3.1 million to expand the management and removal of Burmese pythons and other non-native species.

¦ RED TIDE: The Florida Department of Health would receive $1 million to study the long-term health impacts of exposure to blue-green algae and red tide toxins on residents, visitors and people who are exposed through their jobs.

¦ WATER QUALITY: The Water School at Florida Gulf Coast University would get $25 million to identify and analyze impaired rivers and determine root causes of the problems. ¦

The post New Florida budget: From bears to water quality first appeared on Bonita Springs Florida Weekly .