Governor Rick Scott unveiled Florida's proposed $79.3 billion 2016-2017 budget on Monday. Scott said he hopes to allocate more money this year and is projecting the state's revenue to increase.
Scott introduced the plan at a small manufacturing business in Jacksonville. He says small business are integral to Florida, because they help diversify the economy and create more jobs.
That's why he says the new budget will call for $1 billion in tax cuts for manufacturers and retailers. Scott also wants over $20 billion to go towards education.
He's calling the new budget Florida First.
"Florida will be first in jobs, we'll be first in education, we'll be first in public safety and we'll be first in being able to take care of the systems of our state," he said.
Scott views Texas as a model and as competition. That's why he plans to allocate $250 million to compete for economic development.
"So we can get regional offices, corporate offices, high-tech businesses, manufacturing businesses--so we're diversifying our economy like Texas did," he said. "Texas used to be just an oil and gas economy. We're primarily a tourism and construction economy. In a national recession, we'll get hurt."
Last week, Scott said he planned to set aside about $8.5 million to improve the state crime lab's turnaround time. However, he hasn't proposed any allocation of funds to process the nearly 10,000 untested rape kits in evidence rooms across the state.
