Florida's Line-Item Veto: How the Governor Cuts the Budget, and Why Overrides Are Rare

Florida's governor does not have to accept or reject the state budget as a whole. The governor can strike individual spending items, one at a time. Here is how that power works and how seldom lawmakers push back.

What the Constitution allows

The Florida Constitution lets the governor veto any specific appropriation in a general appropriation bill. There is a limit: the governor cannot veto a condition or restriction attached to spending without also vetoing the money it applies to. The same section allows the Legislature to restore a vetoed item if two-thirds of each chamber votes to reinstate it.

The yearly veto list

The cuts are spelled out in a transmittal letter and veto list issued with the signed budget, documents WLRN published this year. In 2026, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the 2026-27 budget on June 29 at an event in Tampa, two days before the July 1 start of the fiscal year, WGCU reported. His office did not immediately make the full line-item list public that morning, the station noted. The list was later posted as a PDF on the governor's website, which WPTV linked in its coverage.

The $117.6 billion budget lost nearly $810 million in line items, mostly local projects requested by lawmakers, WLRN reported. DeSantis also rejected a $750 million transfer into the state's rainy day fund and a prison construction financing plan, a move that eliminated correctional officer raises tied to it. House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa said an early review showed Democratic districts were hit about two to one.

Overrides are rare

Because the budget is technically a House bill, any override effort has to begin in that chamber, the Florida Phoenix explained in 2025, when House Speaker Daniel Perez set up workgroups to review DeSantis' vetoes from the prior budget.

In November 2010, lawmakers overrode eight vetoes by outgoing Gov. Charlie Crist, including a $9.7 million item for UF's Shands Teaching Hospital. Those were the first overrides in 12 years, the Associated Press reported.

The next came in January 2025, when lawmakers restored $57 million for legislative support services, the first such step in roughly 15 years. In March 2025, the House voted to override four more vetoed budget items worth more than $5 million, including local water projects and a program for veterans in crisis, WLRN reported.

How we reported this: This explainer was drafted with AI assistance from the sources linked above, and every fact was checked against those sources. See an error? Contact us and we'll correct it.

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