SCOTT SIGNS BUDGET, VETOES $368 MILLION
Gov. Rick Scott signed a record-sized $74.1 billion budget Monday, but not before trimming off hundreds of millions of dollars in local projects and proposed tuition increases. Scott vetoed nearly $368 million in spending from the budget legislators presented him two weeks ago, using his line-item authority to strike $50 million for a coast-to-coast bike trail, $46 million in college and university tuition hikes and more than 150 other projects. Scott's extensive veto list is more than twice as large as his list last year, and his largest since his first year in office when he slashed $615 million. Even with the vetoes, the 2013-14 budget is still the largest on record, and includes $480 million for teacher pay raises, $8.5 billion for transportation projects, $151.8 million for Everglades restoration, $278 million for ports and $45.5 million for business incentives.
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Tampa Bay Times - 05/21/13