Florida Budget Proposals in Brief (FY 2025-26): Safety Net

‍This post is part of the “Florida Budget Proposals in Brief” blog series, where FPI highlights some of the key components of the House and Senate budget proposals — where they align, how they differ, and what it means for Floridians, communities, and the state economy. The difference between the House and Senate proposals is $4.4 billion, the largest difference between the chambers over the past 10 fiscal years. Consequently, policymakers will have to negotiate significant differences as they continue to agree upon a final budget. The proposals also differ from the governor’s $115.6 billion recommended budget for FY 2025-2026, with the Florida House advancing a $113 billion plan and the Senate proceeding with a $117.4 billion proposal.

The blog post below focuses on the proposed safety net budgets.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF) provides cash assistance on a temporary basis to families with children at a time when the family is most in need. Oftentimes, Florida families turn to TANF after parents or caregivers experience a medical crisis, divorce, or other loss of income. The program is supposed to help struggling families provide essentials for their children —like diapers, soap, school supplies, and clothes — without having to resort to foster care. Foster care as an alternative costs the state much more than TANF, and it breaks up families only due to their financial situation. However, Florida is neglecting its TANF program, as well as the children in families who turn to the program for help. TANF benefit payments in Florida have not changed in three decades. For a family of three, Florida provides a maximum of $303 a month in assistance monthly — or less than 14 percent of poverty — one of the lowest in the country.

Yet, neither the House nor the Senate propose to increase TANF payment levels. Instead, both budgets would reduce the overall funding for cash assistance payments to TANF families. Although the current budget funds cash assistance payments at nearly $113 million, both the FY 2025-26 Senate and House s suggest funding it at just over $85.5 million. While the proposed reduction in the appropriation for cash assistance payments for FY 2025-26 is likely due to caseload decline and should not result in reduced payments to individual families, lawmakers have not budgeted for any increase to current payment allotments.

In addition, neither the House nor the Senate appropriates funds to provide TANF to families with newborns. Some parents are currently denied some or all assistance because the family already receives TANF for another child under a Florida law commonly referred to as “family cap.” Like family cap laws in other states, Florida’s family cap statute was enacted based on false racist and sexist stereotypes that have since been debunked. However, Florida has declined to fund assistance for families with newborns who are currently excluded from the program, making the state one of only six states that have not repealed family cap.

Food Insecurity

Approximately 1 in 5 children in Florida face hunger. Fortunately, food banks — which distribute food to people in need throughout the state — play a large part in combating food insecurity. Yet, the House misses important opportunities to more robustly address food insecurity among households who continue to struggle to put food on the table, particularly in areas where it is difficult to buy affordable, nutritious food.

For example, the Senate proposes to fund Feeding Florida, which is a network of nine food banks that provides millions of pounds of food to Floridians facing hunger, at $38 million, a significant increase from the $7.5 million appropriated by the Legislature in FY 2024-25. The House does propose to appropriate over $2 million to members of Feeding Florida food banks, such as Feeding South Florida and the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. In addition, the House also proposes to provide $850,000 in support for food banks, including but not limited to $300,000 for Feeding Northeast Florida’s Fresh Start Program.

In comparison, the Senate proposes to appropriate at least $5.1 million to members of Feeding Florida food banks, such as Feeding South Florida, Feeding Rural North Florida, the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, and Feeding Northeast Florida’s Fresh Start Program. The Senate also proposes $2.4 million for support of food banks, including $1.8 million for Feeding Tampa Bay.

Similarly, although Farm Share is currently funded for FY 2024-25 at $6.5 million, the House proposal fails to fund Farm Share, while the Senate proposes to increase Farm Share’s funding to $8 million. Farm Share partners with farmers across the state to receive fruits and vegetables to distribute to people for free to help fight food insecurity in Florida.

However, both the House and Senate agree on $10.9 million in funding for emergency feeding organizations.