TAMPA, Fla. — After discussing $1.6 billion in line-item vetoes Monday at Hillsborough College, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s $117.6 billion budget into law.

“So, the budget that I’ll sign today, after doing my line-item vetoes, will represent the fourth straight year in Florida that we’ve actually reduced our state budget,” DeSantis said. “Who else is doing that?”

Despite reducing the size of the state’s budget, DeSantis said Florida will have at least $18 billion in reserves — up from $10 billion when he took office — and a “fully funded rainy day fund.”

“And that rainy day fund has more than tripled since I took office in 2019,” DeSantis said, going on to note the state’s AAA credit rating “from every major credit rating agency.”

An increase in population and a dramatic shrinking of the cost of government — DeSantis said 1,300 government positions no longer exist — were some of the reasons the governor said the state was able to increase reserves with a smaller state budget.    

DeSantis noted that this year’s budget included $30 billion for K-12 education in the state, which is $8 billion more than Florida was spending in 2019 when he took office.

Speaking of his cuts to the budget sent to him by the Florida Legislature, DeSantis said they bring his two-term total to $10.6 billion.

“And just to put that in perspective, if you look at all the governors since 1998 combined up until my tenure, all of those governors — that’s two-term governors and a one-term, so that’s 20 years — they did a total of $5.6 in line-item vetoes combined amongst all of them,” he said.

DeSantis’ office did not immediately release specific details on the cuts the governor made to the budget with his line-item veto.

“So, I can say, this will be my eighth budget that we’ve done, and if you go back to 2019 until now, no question that we’re leaving it better than we found it,” said DeSantis as he prepared to sign his last budget as governor. “No question that we’re stronger. No question that we are fiscally responsible. No question that we have met all the challenges that have come before us.”