STATE WORKERS GET PAY RAISE

Florida’s 90,000 state workers are getting a pay raise. The 249 million dollar pay-raise package covers all state workers, and also covers a 7% increase in health insurance premiums and pension contributions. The pay raise survived the over one billion dollars that Governor Ron DeSantis cut from next year’s state budget before he signed it into law two days before the mandatory deadline. The Governor said the cuts were necessary to make up for the loss of revenues created by COVID-19’s impact on the state’s economy. DeSantis and legislative leaders have said they planned to shore up those deficits using the state’s 4 billion dollar reserve fund and another 4.6 billion dollars from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The budget goes into effect Wednesday.