The Florida Senate and House belatedly released their draft budgets at the end of last week, and the details revealed that Florida Forever — the state’s premier land conservation program — would be shortchanged or starved under the proposals. 

While the budget submitted by Governor Ron DeSantis in December proposed $115 million for Florida Forever, the Senate’s budget called for just $35 million. And the House’s budget did not provide any funding for the program. 

Three years ago, the Governor and the Legislature committed to providing at least $100 million a year for Florida Forever. In a recent poll commissioned by the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation, 81% of respondents said they supported funding for the program at that level. And in 2014, 75% of state voters approved an amendment to the Florida Constitution committing billions of dollars in real estate tax revenues over 20 years to land and water conservation. 

Both the Senate and House budgets would spend $300 million to protect agricultural land from development through the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program — a worthy investment and $100 million more than the Governor proposed. However, unlike Florida Forever, the RFLPP does not provide public access or increase the inventory of public land available to become state parks, forests and wildlife management areas. Both programs need robust and sustained funding to protect the full range of Florida’s high-priority natural lands and the array of valuable benefits they provide for our water supply, wildlife and quality of life.   

In further disappointments from the two chambers, neither would provide funding for Florida Communities Trust or the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program. Those programs provide grants to communities to expand parks and outdoor recreation, respectively. The Governor proposed $15 million for each. The Senate and House proposals also allocate less total funding for Everglades restoration and other water protection goals than the $1.4 billion the Governor proposed in his budget. And both chambers would provide about half the $208 million the Governor proposed for grants to communities to protect them from storms and sea-level rise. 

There is at least one bright spot in the budget among 1000 Friends’ priority areas: Both the Senate and House would match the Governor’s proposal to provide full funding for the two principal state affordable housing programs, SAIL and SHIP. And like the Governor, the Senate would provide an additional $150 million for SAIL. 

The later-than-usual release of the Senate and House proposed budgets will leave less time for the two chambers to work out their differences before the scheduled end of the 2026 session on Friday, March 13. Please join us now in urging members of the Senate and House budget committees to increase funding for Florida Forever to meet their commitment to this vital program. 

Thank you for standing with us in seeking essential investments in Florida’s future,

1000 Friends’ legislative advocacy team