As the 2nd week of the 2025 Florida Legislative Session ends, let’s take a look at the Appropriations Requests that have been submitted by Senator Thomas (Tom) Leek.
This list follows my March 9 blog post identifying the Appropriations submitted by our State Representatives.
This is a manual review so forgive me if I miss anything!
The Senate process is a bit different from the House of Representatives Process. From the Florida Senate website:
“The appropriations bill is one of the most important bills considered by the Legislature. This bill is the state’s budget and it specifies the amount of money available to various state agencies during the next year. The appropriations bill follows the same course as other general bills, but because it is difficult to get both houses to agree on all items in the bill, a conference committee is usually appointed to resolve the differences.”
On the Senate side, there is a 7 page form to be completed. You can view the blank form here: Funding Initiative Request Form
Let’s walk through an example with a 30 Million dollar request for St. Johns County State Road 16, Phase II.
This Request reads as follows:
“FDOT is scheduled to spend $30 million to resurface State Road 16 from International Golf Parkway to I-95 over the next year. This newly resurfaced road will then undergo milling and paving a second time during the construction phase of the SR 16 Capacity Improvements project. St. Johns County sees an opportunity to enhance government efficiency, eliminate duplicative costs, and to better utilize state resources by re-appropriating this $30 million toward the SR 16 Capacity Improvements project. This appropriations request will widen SR 16 to 4 lanes from International Golf Parkway to I-95.”
This looks like a St. Johns County version of DOGE – currently there is $30 million slated to resurface State Road 16 from IGP to I-95 in the coming year. Much needed work! However, the State Road 16 Capacity Improvements will require the road to be milled and paved again! (duplicative work!)
This request from Senator Leek is to re-appropriate the $30 million to the Capacity Improvements project that will widen SR 16 to 4 lanes from International Golf Parkway to I-95.
The type of funding for this project is “Fixed Capital Outlay.”
The Total Project cost for Fiscal Year 2025-2026 (including matching funds) is 51,708,000. Matching funds come from Federal, State, Local and “Other.”
The project has previously received state funding of $7,500,000 in 2024-2025 (Appropriation 2069A)
Future funding will likely be requested in the amount of 10,000,000 per year!
It is noted that St. Johns County has identified additional developer contributions and a federal competitive grant as future matching funds to state funding beyond FY 26 – this could reduce future financial contributions by the state.
This project is currently in the Construction Phase, is noted as “shove ready” and construction slated to starte 7/1/2025 with completion by 1/30/2027.
The purpose of the 30,000,000 is notes as “Design, permitting, right of qay acquisition, construction, post-design services and CEI for the four-lane widening of State Road 16 from International Golf Parkway to I-95, with option to include bike lanes, sidewalks, or multi-use paths where appropriate.”
The form requires answers to questions such as purpose and goal of the project, activities and services provided to met the intended purpose, what services provided to citizens, who is the target population, and the expected beneift or outcome of the project
You can read through the full request here: St. Johns County State Road 16 Phase II
This request will be reviewed by the Appropriations Committee on Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development. You can check their calendar and find the contact information for the committee members here: Transportation, Tourism, Economic Development Committee
You can share your thoughts on any of the Appropriations requests with Senator Leek and members of the Appropriations Committee.
Senator Leek’s contact information can be found here: Senator Leek State Senate Page
There is a link on the page to send him an email directly from there.
Here is a list of the Appropriations Requests from Senator Leek that appear to be directly impactful to St. Johns County. There is a much longer list of requests he has made (link below) but remember his district covers more than just St. Johns County.
If I could locate a corresponding request from one of our Representatives, I’ve noted that as well. If the column for Corresponding House Request is blank, I did not see a corresponding request.
| Number | Request | Amount | Corresponding House Request | |
| 2524 | Equine-Assisted Regional Rehabilitation Center for Children and Veterans | 1,700,000 | Sapp | 2223 |
| 2530 | St. Augustine Teen Center Boys & Girls Club | 400,000 | Greco | 2092 |
| 2531 | Historic St. Johns County Police Athletic League Diamond of Dreams | 1,000,000 | Sapp | 2184 |
| 2533 | The Florida Museum of Black History Phase 1 – St. Johns County | 2,000,000 | ||
| 2535 | District 23 Medical Examiner’s Office | 6,000,000 | Sapp | 2172 |
| 2539 | I-95 Interchange Improvements at International Golf Parkway | 3,500,000 | Kendall | 1499 |
| 2542 | St. Johns County Career and Job Readiness Program | 245,000 | ||
| 2543 | St. Augustine Airport Student Maintenance Training Program | 250,000 | Kendall | 1722 |
| 2544 | BRAVE (Be Resilient and Voice Emotions) Program | 3,000,000 | ||
| 2546 | St. Augustine Land Purchase, Continued Design and Construction of Resilient Structure Anastasia Blvd. | 2,500,000 | Greco | 2110 |
| 2547 | St. Augustine Volusia Woods Extension – West Augustine Septic-to-Sewer Project | 1,000,000 | Greco | 2886 |
| 2549 | St. Augustine Beach Stormwater System Resiliency | 1,910,000 | Greco | 2095 |
| 2550 | The Arc of the St. Johns, Inc. Transportation Facility Project | 750,000 | Greco | 2125 |
| 2551 | First Coast Technical College – Firefighter & EMT Program Enhancement/Expansion | 760,285 | Kendall | 2285 |
| 2553 | Hastings Museum and Community Civic Center | 400,000 | ||
| 2554 | St. Johns County State Road 16 Phase II | 30,000,000 | ||
| 2555 | The Institute for Classical Education at Flagler College | 1,500,000 | Greco | 2890 |
| 2556 | St. Johns County Historic Markland House Restoration | 2,000,000 | Greco | 2094 |
| 2557 | St. Johns County Road 2209 Central Segment – Phase 3 | 8,000,000 | ||
| 2840 | St. Johns County EPIC Sober Living Transitional Housing Expansion Project | 2,500,000 | Greco | 2083 |
| 2841 | St. Johns County EPIC Recovery Center Women’s Substance Abuse Residential Treatment Beds | 750,000 | Greco | 2098 |
| 2870 | St. Johns County Council on Aging Shelter & Shade Project | 572,000 | Greco | 2080 |
| 3013 | St. Augustine Youth Services Intensive In-Home Therapeutic Programs | 450,000 | Greco | 2100 |
| 3177 | Home Again St. Johns, Inc. Homeless Veterans Support & Housing | 250,000 | ||
| 3184 | Anastasia Island Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Improvements | 500,000 | ||
| TOTAL | 72,587,285 | |||
All Appropriations Requests for the 2025 session can be found at this link: 2025 Session Appropriations Requests
You can filter by Leek to pull up just ones Senator Leek has submitted. You can click the request name and link through to the full request.
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Beth Tate 