FPI models four potential scenarios for statewide paid leave.
A statewide paid family leave program could benefit between 194,000 and 366,000 Floridians.
It’s time to implement the bipartisan law passed nearly three years ago.
Florida lawmakers did not address key cost-of-living issues during the 2026 regular session, like skyrocketing health care and energy costs.
In February 2026, Florida dismissed its remaining lawsuit against CMS and HHS over the continuous coverage requirement.
One of the cuts made to SNAP by H.R. 1 is to significantly limit the categories of legal immigrants who can qualify for benefits to people who are: lawful permanent residents (LPR and green card holders), Cuban and Haitian Entrants, or Compacts of Free Association Citizens. As Florida grapples with the implementation of these changes, it is clear that this new law jeopardizes the food security and health of some of the most vulnerable people in Florida, including immigrants who are either seniors or children, as well as the economic health of the communities in which they live.
FPI provided the oral testimony below to the Florida Senate Appropriations Committee on Senate Bill (SB) 1758.
Property taxes support a wide range of public services and programs.
Within the context of looming deficits, leaders in the Florida House and Senate clearly believe they are dealing with a spending problem with a simple solution: fewer expenditures. However, there are at least three issues that complicate this approach that policymakers ought to consider as they negotiate and finalize the budget: H.R. 1, the state’s tax preferences, and persistent funding gaps.
In the 2026 session, the Legislature has introduced two broad education bills — HB 1279 and SB 1052 — with numerous provisions, including removing Title IX gender diversity requirements and limiting higher-education enrollment for immigrants. This blog focuses on the latter, concerning anti-immigrant provisions.
"We are pleased that the Florida House has removed language in HB 693 that would have banned certain lawfully residing immigrant children from the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicaid.
HJR 203 represents nothing more than a cost shift.
The proposed rule represents only incremental change.
This legislative session, Florida representatives have proposed SB 1758/HB 1453, which impose work-reporting requirements (WWRs) for adults aged 19–64 (SB 1758) or 18–64 (HB 1453), who don’t meet certain exemptions.
FPI opposes the bill for its provisions seeking to keep bright immigrants from pursuing higher education in the state.
The measures would cost localities anywhere from $6.7 billion (HJR 205) to $18.3 billion (HJR 201) annually.
SB 318 would bring much greater transparency and accountability to the state’s universal voucher program.
In July 2025, the U.S. Congress passed H.R. 1, titled the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which included significant cuts to Medicaid financing as well as changes to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) eligibility for certain immigrant populations.
In July 2025, the U.S Congress passed H.R. 1 — titled the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — which included significant cuts to Medicaid financing, as well as changes to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) eligibility for certain immigrant populations.
The bill, HB 693, would go a step further than the harmful policy changes already implemented under H.R. 1.
Almost half of Florida voters oppose eliminating property taxes on homesteads.
Florida Policy Institute (FPI) supports measures that help make the state a place where families can build a healthy future and where workers and businesses can thrive — a state where historical barriers to economic mobility have been removed so that everyone can share in widespread prosperity.
The last thing Floridians can afford right now is a dramatic increase in health care premiums.
According to the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE), charter schools “are public schools that operate under a performance contract, or a ’charter’ which frees them from many regulations created for traditional public schools while holding them accountable for academic and financial results.”
FPI's annual report on its research and policy work over the course of 2025.
Tax relief should be targeted to people who need it most.
Florida’s Department of Corrections (DOC) faces several challenges— ranging from budget cuts, understaffing, an aging population that requires intensive and specialized medical care, and aging infrastructure. Secretary Ricky Dixon, explained how the department’s chronic understaffing issue poses a threat to the safety of the incarcerated and staff. Furthermore, Secretary Dixon detailed how the lack of staff has contributed to more overtime pay, which has caused the department to operate at a $189 million deficit.
The letters were sent as of November 11, 2025.
More than $4 billion in federal disaster recovery funding is now flowing to Florida communities to help them recover from 2023–2024 storms, reshaping local budgets and recovery efforts from Fort Myers, to Cedar Key, to Tallahassee.
The start of November is proving to be one of profound hardship for millions of Floridians.
Millions risk losing access to basic needs services, assistance, and health insurance.
The federal government has always paid 100 percent of the grocery benefits provided to families participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program (SNAP). However, due to H.R.1—the reconciliation bill recently enacted by Congress—these benefits are no longer fully guaranteed.
Florida faces $14.8 billion in documented unmet recovery needs, even with historic federal funding.
Far too many Floridians struggle to make ends meet at a $14 wage.
Read FPI's budget summaries for FY 2025-26, by issue area.
Florida Medicaid Calculator
An estimated 611,100 Floridians work outdoor jobs.
FPI previously cautioned that eliminating property taxes would tie local lawmakers’ hands.
Eliminating property taxes is a costly decision.
On July 4, 2025, Congress passed the federal reconciliation bill (H.R. 1) which guts nearly $1 trillion from health care spending, including $800 billion expected to come from the Medicaid program, while the other cuts come from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace.
FPI is hosting three virtual discussions to dive into the current policy landscape and FY 2025–26 budget analysis.
The state's lack of accountability has contributed to a system of inadequate care in Florida, especially for children.
H.R.1 will shift as much as $1.2 billion each year in SNAP costs from the federal government to Florida.
In just eight days in June 2025, a South Florida Detention Facility was built on a remote airfield deep in the Florida Everglades, spanning Miami-Dade and Collier counties. The detention facility, managed by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, was designed to detain up to 3,000 people with an estimated $450 million annual operating cost.
In a natural disaster-prone state like Florida, investment in environmental conservation efforts and updated state infrastructure is of utmost importance. Such investments are particularly important in South Florida, where climate equity and gentrification are growing issues of concern.
This year, Florida’s education landscape was partly obfuscated by the uncertainty around federal education policy. The release of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 in the fall of 2024—which was viewed as the blueprint for federal-level policy changes—provided insights on likely changes to federal policies, including the role and scope of the Department of Education.
As a state that has not expanded its Medicaid program, Florida will be particularly hard hit by this coverage loss.
H.R. 1—the federal reconciliation bill that became law on July 4, 2025—spells disaster for Florida by cutting $186 billion in federal funding from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), as well as imposing new restrictions on eligibility requirements that unnecessarily limit access to nutrition assistance to people who are the most in need.
In January 2025, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $4 billion in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding to Florida to help meet unmet recovery needs from 2023 and 2024 storms. Yet despite the scale of the recovery crisis and the availability of federal funds — with damages from both Helene and Milton alone exceeding $100 billion — the Florida Department of Commerce has refused to establish a Homeowner Reimbursement Program.
Florida continues to fall behind other states in promoting economic security and self-sufficiency for residents struggling to make ends meet. Currently, over 3 million Floridians face hunger, including one in five children. Unfortunately, the ongoing erosion of the state’s basic needs programs leaves families who are experiencing hard times with few—if any—resources to meet their needs. To make matters worse, H.R. 1 (P.L. 119-21, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act), the federal reconciliation bill that Congress recently passed, will deepen Floridians’ inability to meet their everyday needs.
To assist the public and add transparency concerning the FY 2025-26 vetoes, Florida Policy Institute has developed a tool to show vetoes as they impact counties.
Florida relies heavily on its general sales tax to balance its budget.
If the reconciliation package moves forward, tens of billions in federal investments and tax credits would be eliminated.
Once again, policymakers are pursuing tax cuts and plan to pay for them with budget cuts.
Passage of this bill is an act of cruel disregard for the lives of millions of Americans.
FPI reiterates the need for uniform heat-illness protections.
Proposed cuts would have devastating impacts on Florida families.
The House’s proposal would hit Miami-Dade County especially hard.
Hear from FPI and Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy on the alarming cost of cuts happening to health care, safety net programs, and education in Florida.
The bill would make deep cuts to critical health care and food assistance programs.
FPI is so proud to see one of our long-standing priorities become law.
No child or adult in Florida should have to go hungry, nor should they be forced to forgo health care.
Florida could lose at least $1.6 billion in federal dollars for SNAP in 2028 under the U.S. House’s budget proposal.
The U.S. House's bill would let the enhanced Marketplace premium tax credit expire after 2025.
What has happened in Florida should be used as a cautionary tale.
The proposed total funding for K-12 education is $30.9 billion in the House bill and $31.7 billion in the Senate.
The Florida Senate took an important step in protecting children by rejecting HB 1225 and SB 918.
Without a plan to raise revenue, significant tax cuts will offer little relief and prevent lawmakers from tackling ongoing budget challenges.
Floridians can’t afford short-term relief at the expense of long-term resilience.
Cutting SNAP would be devastating to Floridians already struggling to make ends meet.
The legislation's massive reduction in unit requirements and the return to the qualified contract loophole is very concerning.
Both chambers’ general revenue appropriations for Medicaid are nearly identical.
FPI highlights some of the key components of the House and Senate budget proposals.
Without more transparency from Hope Florida, it is impossible to gauge its efficiency and long-term impact on Florida families and the state’s budget.
As Florida passed its encampment ban last year, the creation of affordable units is paramount.
Webinar on Proposed Congressional cuts to Medicaid and SNAP
Neither the House nor the Senate propose to increase TANF payment levels.
The legislation would impact over 110,000 Florida youth.
For FY 2025-26, both chambers propose $680,046 and five new positions.
Both the House and Senate FY 2025-26 proposals elevate funding for Florida Forever.
Both chambers’ budget proposals provide an overall increase for the Department of Corrections.
HB 1225 would further erode Florida's child labor law.
Florida groups caution that impact of proposed federal cuts would reverberate in every county.
Florida’s students and schools will all be negatively affected by reductions in funding for advanced academic and technical preparation programming.
This 2025 session, the Legislature seeks to further chip away at the protections put in place for working teens in 2024.
DOC should be the first stop in the governor’s quest to ensure accountability and save taxpayer dollars.
People with past convictions are largely excluded from occupational licensing opportunities.
Millions rely on Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and other essential services.
This could be the second year in a row that Florida lawmakers opt for rollbacks to the state’s child labor laws.
HB 1225 would further erode child labor protections in Florida.
The Florida Legislature could, for the second year in a row, erode protections for kids
The legislation would roll back child labor protections.
Replacing property taxes with a doubled state sales tax rate is unpopular among voters across the political spectrum.
Florida groups and community members convened to talk about how massive proposed federal cuts to Medicaid and SNAP would impact families.
There is no doubt that Floridians are struggling to afford living in the state, especially in South Florida.
