2025 Federal Actions and Initiatives Affecting Florida started with:
* Everglades Restoration: The Department of the Interior has continued to advance the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), which aims to improve South Florida’s ecosystem, reduce harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee, and enhance water supply.
* Offshore Drilling: The administration has announced plans to allow new offshore oil drilling off the coast of Florida (and California) for the first time in decades. This has drawn pushback, including from Florida Republicans worried about the impact on tourism and the environment. The first of 30 planned lease sales for the Gulf of Mexico took place in December 2025.
* Immigration Policies: Aggressive federal immigration policies, including mass deportation efforts and raids, have been pursued. These actions have resonated particularly in Miami, which has a large foreign-born population, and are impacting communities with family members facing detention and deportation.
* Transportation Funding: The Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has invested approximately $2 billion in modernizing America’s transit bus infrastructure for Fiscal Year 2025, a portion of which will be allocated through grants to Florida’s transit agencies for new buses and facility upgrades.
* Healthcare and Social Programs: Florida’s government is working with the federal administration on an application for federal healthcare funding for rural communities, which is included in the state’s proposed “Rural Renaissance” legislation.
Federal and State Plans for 2026
Plans for 2026 often involve overlapping federal policies and state legislative priorities:
* Energy and Environment:
* The ongoing plan for 30 oil lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico through 2039 means continued federal support for fossil fuel production near Florida’s coast.
* The state has a proposed $117.4 billion budget for FY 2026–27, including investments in transportation infrastructure and environmental programs, which may align with or require federal grants.
* Infrastructure and Economic Development:
* Florida’s proposed “Rural Renaissance” legislation aims to create opportunities in rural communities by expanding education, health care, and commerce. This includes efforts to secure federal healthcare funding and invest in farm-to-market roads to support the agricultural supply chain, some of which may utilize federal funding programs like the Rural Infrastructure Fund.
* Florida is also set to receive significant federal funding through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program and other federal capital project funds to enhance rural transportation and broadband.
* Federal Government Structure and Policy Direction:
* Federal policy agendas, such as those related to the “Project 2025” blueprint, suggest continued efforts to restructure federal agencies, reduce taxes on corporations, and roll back various social and regulatory policies. These changes would likely influence federal funding, regulatory enforcement, and policy guidance across numerous areas in Florida, including education, environmental protection, and healthcare.
* The President announced an intention to sign an executive order to establish a single national regulatory framework for Artificial Intelligence (AI), which would interact with proposals from Florida’s Governor to create a state-level AI Bill of Rights with consumer protections.
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