Sandspur
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For the second year in a row, the Florida Senate and House
were unable to agree on a budget during the 60-day legislative session and were
forced to return to Tallahassee to finish the job. The 2026-2027 Florida state
budget, totaling over $114 billion, was finalized behind closed doors, without
any public input, over Memorial Day Weekend. The only committee meeting on the
final budget proposal was held at 10:45 p.m. on the Sunday night before
Memorial Day. No one from the public was recognized to speak. And to no one’s
surprise, the outcome of the budget was as flawed as the process to create it. (emphasis added)
Overall, the Florida Department of Environmental
Protection’s budget is being slashed to $2.5 billion, a nearly 40% cut to state
environmental programs when compared to 2022. That’s $1.7 billion, over just
the next year, that will not be used to protect forests and wildlife corridors;
restore springs, rivers, and estuaries; fund water quality and water supply
projects; or ensure that our permitting and regulatory systems are properly
staffed and functioning.
Despite a state law requiring the Florida Forever program
receive a minimum of $100 million a year, for the first time in over a decade,
Florida’s premier land conservation program received no new funding in the
budget. (Florida Forever should receive more than a billion dollars a year, if
the Legislature cared about voters and the constitution, but that’s another
story.) That means no new funding to purchase new lands for state parks, state
forests, or public hunting lands. No new funding to buy irreplaceable lands at
risk of being bulldozed and development. No new funding to protect critical
watersheds or habitat for endangered species.
As a reflection of the state’s priorities, the budget is a clear indication that the Legislature has abandoned its commitment to conserving our natural areas and protecting Florida’s wildlife. The Legislature is not only turning its back on acquiring new public lands but also taking funds away from the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
The 2026-27 budget clawback every single remaining dollar
from the Florida Wildlife Corridor funding approved unanimously only a few
years ago. The vast majority of this funding, $225 million, is being
transferred to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to purchase
agricultural easements that temporarily prevent development, but offer no
public access or recreational opportunities and dubious environmental benefits.
The remaining funds are prioritized to bailout bad investments by wealthy coastal
property owners in Okaloosa County. Only after the bailouts of wealthy
landowners across the state, does any funding trickle down for land
conservation to benefit Floridians.
The picture for water restoration funding is nearly as bleak as it is for land conservation. Springs funding was maintained at a paltry $50 million which is so insufficient that it only guarantees future degradation. The Apalachicola River, Indian River Lagoon, Biscayne Bay, and Florida Keys received even less. Restoring the Ocklawaha River, the most important environmental project in Florida, received not a cent.
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| Withlacoochee River 2026-05-27 (102) |
Like Wildlife Corridor funding, Legislative leaders raided
the Florida Water Quality Improvement Grant Program, enacted only a few years
ago to stop the ineffective and wasteful practice of picking water projects
based on pork-barrel politics instead of science and the benefit to taxpayers.
Despite a requirement in state law that these funds be distributed to the most
effective and beneficial projects, the Florida Legislature is redirecting funds
to projects based on partisan politics, rewarding political allies and big
donors with hundreds of millions of dollars of your hard earned money.
The budget now heads to the Governor’s desk. Although the Governor cannot add to the budget, he does have line-item veto power. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on ways you can contact the Governor to speak out against particular projects in the budget, and we’ll dive deeper into specific allocations once the budget is signed.
💦 Dive Deeper
We know you care deeply about protecting Florida’s springs
and drinking water, state parks and hunting lands, and wildlife, but it seems
the majority of the Legislature has turned a blind eye to what matters most to
their constituents and voters. Here’s a few of the biggest red flags out of the
Florida Legislature’s budget:
Florida Forever - No New Funding
The Legislature has ditched Florida Forever, which is used to acquire state park, hunting, and other recreational lands, in favor of more funding for private agricultural lands through the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program. We cannot protect our springs, rivers and aquifer, conserve essential wildlife habitat, and slow development without a meaningfully funded conservation and recreation land acquisition program.
Florida Wildlife Corridor - Existing Funding Clawed-back
During budget negotiations, we alerted Springs Advocates of the Legislature's attempt to use conservation funding to bail out a property owner in Okaloosa County. Unfortunately, the misuse of Florida Wildlife Corridor only got worse as budget negotiations progressed, and the Legislature snuck in another provision to acquire property in Okaloosa County outside of the Wildlife Corridor.
Water Quality Improvement Grant Program - Defunded
For the second year in a row the Legislature defunded the
Water Quality Improvement Grant Program - created in 2023 to ensure our tax
dollars are being used efficiently - and swept the funding into politically
driven pork-barrel projects that benefit local developers and politicians more
than the public or our environment.
Swimming at Silver Springs - Funded
We appreciate the advocates who contacted legislators to oppose swimming at Silver Springs. Despite our concerns for wildlife and state park visitors’ safety, the Legislature included a $2.5 million appropriation for swimming at Silver Springs. Although disappointing, we will continue to work on stopping swimming at the headspring as the project moves through the permitting process.
Even with Governor DeSantis’ line-item vetoes, this budget
will remain a misrepresentation of the state’s greatest and most urgent
conservation needs. Sweeping funds that were dedicated and celebrated for the
Florida Wildlife Corridor just a few years ago, spending millions of taxpayer
dollars on just a few acres with no conservation value, ignoring the growing
list of lands the state can acquire with high conservation value, and
prioritizing political favors over protecting natural resources is paving a harsh
future for Florida’s environment.
The 2026-27 environmental budget is the worst since the early days of Rick Scott. Advocates, we’ll need you to remember legislators’ budget priorities as you head to the polls later this year. Protecting springs and natural lands for future generations depends on us holding our legislators accountable today.
Thank you for staying engaged throughout the budget process,
Chloe Dougherty (chloe@floridaspringscouncil.org)
Communications Director
Florida Springs Council
