Legislative Sprinkle List
Do you like sprinkles? They tend to make treats just a little bit sweeter, right?
Well, the Florida Legislature likes sprinkles, too – but they use hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to sweeten their treats.
Here’s how it works…
At the end of every legislative session, Supplemental Funding Lists (aka, the “sprinkle lists”) suddenly appear during the final volley of budget negotiations between the House and the Senate to help fill some budget gaps or honor some legislative leadership priorities or even practice “good government” with taxpayer dollars that didn’t quite make it through budget committees.
Whether the sprinkle list is “good government” or not is up to Florida voters – but tallyED would like to simply inform voters of this nuanced tradition that occurs during the legislative budget process in Florida.
For example, in 2021, the Florida House’s “sprinkle list” included 76 projects totaling $182,179,652.
And the Florida Senate’s “sprinkle list” included 115 projects totaling $165,537,417.
Collectively, that’s $347,717,069 worth of “sprinkles” in the 2021 budget.
Fast forward to 2022: the Florida House’s “sprinkle list” included 62 projects totaling $263,589,598.
And the Florida Senate’s “sprinkle list” included 161 projects totaling $511,807,179.
Collectively, that’s $775,396,777 worth of “sprinkles” in the 2022 budget.
What’s the point of all this? Voter education, plain and simple.
We elect our leaders to make decisions on our behalf. Sometimes they make good decisions and sometimes not so much. But the allocation of taxpayer dollars is an important part of their job as elected officials and tallyED would like to ensure every voter understands how they are allocating those dollars.
Two final data points:
• In 2021, Governor DeSantis vetoed $7,870,926 worth of projects from the two (2) “sprinkle lists”, which left $339,846,143 for extra legislative sweeteners.
• In 2022, Governor DeSantis vetoed $138,525,871 worth of projects from the two (2) “sprinkle lists”, which left $636,870,906 for extra legislative sweeteners.
**tallyED will update this blog with the 2023 “sprinkle lists” when they become available and after the governor issues his veto list**
Florida House 2023 "sprinkle list"
Florida Senate 2023 "sprinkle list"
And look for more data-driven transparency and accountability blogs from tallyED soon.