ORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke Monday afternoon in Central Florida to announce his budget requests for law enforcement in the next fiscal year.
The governor held the briefing at a Florida Highway Patrol station in Orlando and was joined by FHP Chief Mark Brown.
DeSantis said Monday he is asking for lawmakers in the next fiscal year to approve $73 million to increase the minimum pay for entry-level sworn state law enforcement officers by 20 percent.
He also wants $5,000 bonuses to recruit and retain both state and local level law enforcement.
In addition, the governor said there is enough money in the budget to also renew $1,000 bonuses for all sworn law enforcement, EMTs and first responders for a second year.
He is seeking a large boost in pay for all state officers currently serving in the Sunshine State.
"My proposal also includes an increase in pay of 25 percent for all other state sworn law enforcement personnel to help our state law enforcement agencies retain the folks we already have and also to reward them for hard work serving and protecting Floridians," DeSantis said.
In addition, the governor is asking for $124 million from the Legislature to increase salaries for correctional officers at state prisons, bringing the base salary up to $20 an hour.
The governor wants to also use $11 million for the Department of Juvenile Justice to increase minimum pay for juvenile detention officers to $17 an hour and $19 an hour for juvenile probation officers.
"Increasing salaries for state law enforcement by 20 and 25 percent respectively is going to make a real difference for those officers [and] their families," DeSantis said.
The governor once again said he is making a push to recruit officers from other states if they are not satisfied in their current role.
All in all, the governor is asking for $400 million in new funding proposals.
DeSantis also spoke about the new omicron variant of COVID-19 and reiterated his stance that Florida will not implement any restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus.
"We are not in Florida going to allow any media-driven hysteria to do anything to infringe people's individual freedoms when it comes to any types of COVID variants," DeSantis said. "In Florida, we will not let (the federal government) lock you down. We will not let them take your jobs. We will not let them harm your businesses. We will not let them close your schools."
Speaking Monday, President Joe Biden gave no indication that the U.S. will impose any new lockdowns for travel restrictions within the U.S. related to the omicron variant.
Biden added that he will release a detailed plan Thursday about how the U.S. will combat COVID-19 this winter.
"Not with shutdowns or lockdowns, but with more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing, and more," Biden said.