The House has released its proposed budget for 2025, and it contains a relatively small earmark to ensure that when Miami-Dade hosts seven World Cup events in 2026, there won’t be a repeat of last year’s Copa América debacle.

House lawmakers plan to send $500,000 to the county Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office (MDSO) for extra security during large-scale events of global importance.

That’s half the sum freshman Miami Republican Rep. Omar Blanco sought in a Feb. 13 appropriations request, which doesn’t appear to have a Senate companion.

The inspiration for the request and the House budget line item is what happened last July in Miami Gardens, where a throng of soccer fans without event tickets overpowered security forced their way into Hard Rock Stadium to watch the Copa América finale.

Footage showed fans scaling the stadium’s walls, climbing into windows and the structure’s ventilation system to gain access, and getting arrested. A police officer told USA Today at least 10-15 people were taken into custody.

Many others, including journalists, were detained or forcibly removed from the stadium. By then, some fans had significantly damaged the stadium, including the escalator and entrance at the 72 Club. A handful of people could be seen receiving medical treatment and asking for water in the sweltering South Florida heat.

International criticism of the event’s insufficient security swiftly followed. The Argentine newspaper, Ole, called the event a “party (that) almost became a tragedy.” Radio New Zealand described it as “a stunning scene from the home of the National Football League’s Miami Dolphins, which is used to welcoming massive crowds at sport’s biggest events, including the Super Bowl four years ago.”

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s Office said the Miami-Dade Police Department, since replaced by the MDSO, had assigned “over 500 officers” to handle the sellout crowd of more than 65,000 ticket holders and other non-ticketed people who amassed outside the stadium. But the Office also noted that security responsibilities for the event also fell to Copa América organization CONMEBOL and “other law enforcement agencies.”

Blanco, a career first responder, believes more needs to be done.

“The legislative funding will bolster law enforcement prevention and response while enforcing trespass into mass ticketed events in Hard Rock Stadium, LoanDepot Park (home of the Marlins), and many other large-scale venues across Miami-Dade County,” his funding request says. “MDSO expects increased costs for global events with enhanced safety/anti-terrorism needs.”

It also references “Multiple lawsuits filed regarding public safety concerns.”

The proposed House budget lists Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz as the funding requester and the funding as nonrecurring. It also shows that Miami-Dade planned to provide a 100% match to the requested funding.

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More than $245 million stands to roll into Pinellas County in the 2025-26 fiscal year from the state of Florida, according to the House budget proposal.

The largest expenditure that would benefit Pinellas is $87.8 million for Family Support Services of Suncoast, which serves as the lead agency in Pinellas and Pasco counties working to avoid removing kids from their homes and supporting struggling families.

The University of South Florida (USF) St. Petersburg campus also stands to land a big chunk of the state’s proposed upcoming budget, with $36 million allotted in the House version for the campus’ operating budget and another $5 million for an environmental and oceanographic sciences research and teaching facility. Those proposed allotments are in addition to other general funding for USF, which has a main campus in Tampa and another regional campus in Sarasota.

The Early Learning Coalition of Pinellas County would receive $31 million in the House proposed budget.

House budget chiefs have also slotted $27.9 million for workforce education within Pinellas County Schools, as well as $13 million for voluntary pre-K.

Other items benefiting Pinellas County in the House proposed budget range from low five-figure allocations to multimillion-dollar line items, and would pay for things like fire station upgrades, wastewater improvement, education, criminal justice reentry programs, seniors and more.

Here are other expenditures proposed in the House budget that would be directed to programs, services, government and groups in Pinellas County.

— $5 million: Gulfport Potable Water Proactive Storm Mitigation.

— $2.5 million: Ponce De Leon Boulevard improvements in Belleair.

— $1.8 million: St. Petersburg College for its Prepping Institutions, Programs, Employers, and Learners through Incentives for Nursing Education (PIPELINE) program.

— $1.8 million: Barbara Circle reconstruction in Belleair.

— $1.7 million: Mehlenbacher West improvements in Belleair.

— $1.54 million: The inspHire program (formerly Reentry Plus) for pre-release risk assessment, plan of care, professional development, life management skills training and referrals for certain incarcerated people, including post-release services such as professional development, job and skills training, family reunification, financial assistance and job placement assistance for qualifying people within Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco or Polk counties.

— $1.5 million: The Pinellas Suncoast Fire and Rescue Station No. 27.

— $1.5 million: Fire Station No. 22 in St. Pete Beach.

— $1.5 million: Clearwater North Beach Stormwater improvements.

— $1.2 million: The Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas for community-based services.

— $1.1 million: PIPELINE performance rewards for postsecondary technical career centers that offer a licensed practical nurse program.

— $1.1 million: Largo Fire Station No. 40 Relocation project.

— $1 million: ARK Innovation Center In Pinellas County Schools.

— $1 million: Boys and Girls Clubs of the Suncoast’s Tarpon Springs Club Learning Center expansion.

— $1 million: Water reclamation facility improvements in Oldsmar.

— $932,000: SPC for the 2+2 Student Success Incentive Fund to improve student success for associate degree-seeking students and those transferring to a bachelor’s program.

— $690,000: The Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services’ Noncustodial Parent Employment Program.

— $661,000: SPC for Work Florida Student Success Incentive Fund supporting college strategies and initiatives to align care education programs with statewide and regional workforce demands and high-paying jobs.

— $570,000: Safety Harbor Pier replacement.

— $500,000: Pinellas Meals on Wheels.

— $500,000: Pinellas County Traffic Control Flood Mitigation Project for signal cabinets on Gulf Boulevard.

— $500,000: The Pinellas Opportunity Council Emergency Assistance Program.

— $500,000: SPC’s advancing biomedical education program.

— $500,000: A backup power system at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Pete.

— $500,000: The Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches’ Safety Harbor campus.

— $425,000: Hurricane-damaged stormwater drainage.

— $375,000: Pinellas & Hillsborough County Youth Advocate Program.

— $375,000: Pinellas Park citywide lift station alternate power.

— $375,000: Harmony Heights Community Safety project.

— $300,000: SPC teacher apprenticeship program.

— $250,000: St. Petersburg Free Clinic.

— $239,000: The Grandview Drive stormwater project in Tarpon Springs.

— $238,000: The Indian Rocks Beach Aquafence Flood Protection Program.

— $211,000: The Lakeview Drive stormwater project in Tarpon Springs.

— $175,000: AMPLIFY Clearwater’s IGNITE Entrepreneurship Center.

— $154,000: Student Success in Career and Technical Education Incentive Fund for high performing school district technical centers to establish new programs in high demand areas.

— $150,000: Pretrial or post-adjudicatory veterans’ treatment intervention programs.

— $150,000: Dunedin Fine Art Center

— $150,000: Goodwill’s Pathways program at its Suncoast section.

— $133,000: Roosevelt and Canal Streets stormwater project in Tarpon Springs.

— $19,000: Restoration and preservation of Old Town Hall in Belleair.

The House proposed budget also authorizes $5,000 in pay additives for sworn law enforcement officers and for certain non-sworn Florida Highway Patrol personnel.

At $112.95 billion, the House budget is $4.4 million less than the Senate’s proposed budget and $2.7 billion less than Gov. Ron DeSantis’. It includes a historic slash to state sales tax, from 6% currently to 5.25%, which House Speaker Daniel Perez says would save Floridians about $5 billion a year on taxable goods and services.

That proposal is at odds with DeSantis, who has instead proposed eliminating property taxes, and from Senate President Ben Albritton who hasn’t elaborated on tax cuts, saying only that he’s open to structural tax changes at some point.

The House plan also directs $12 billion into the state’s reserves, and it includes $100 million for veteran teachers, a move meant to provide a pay bump to experienced educators after DeSantis’ priority increase to starting pay cleared to help the state recruit new teachers.

Other highlights include increasing per student funding by $60, fully funding the state’s Bright Futures scholarship program and directing $765 million for maintenance and capital programs in public education through undergraduate programs.

The budget would also allocate $285 million for affordable housing programs, including the state’s Hometown Hero program that assists first-time homebuyers with startup costs.

On the environment, the House budget would set aside $300 million for rural and family land conservation and $200 million for the Resilient Florida Conservation grant program, while allocating $600 million to clean drinking water initiatives.

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Florida’s general unemployment rate ticked up in February for the second month in a row, coming in at 3.6%, according to FloridaCommerce.

The state saw its first jobless rate increase in about half a year in January, when the rate moved to 3.5% from 3.4%.

“There were 398,000 jobless Floridians out of a labor force of 11,196,000. The U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in February,” FloridaCommerce officials said in a news release.

Manufacturing employment showed notable growth reaching 432,000 jobs in the state, the highest level since 2002.

“When I became governor, we set a goal of increasing the number of manufacturing businesses and jobs in the state of Florida, and I’m happy to report we have succeeded beyond our wildest expectations,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis. “Since 2019, Florida has added almost 50,000 new manufacturing jobs, and over the same period of time, we’ve increased the number of manufacturing businesses in the Sunshine State by more than 30%.”

Florida’s unemployment rate is still lower than the national figure, which came in at 4.1% last month. It’s the 52nd month in a row that Florida’s jobless figure was lower than the rate across America.

Across Florida, Miami-Dade County had the lowest jobless figure in February, with a 2.6% unemployment rate. Miami-Dade was followed closely by Monroe County, coming in at 2.7%.

Those were the only major metropolitan areas in the state that saw a jobless figure below 3%.

Fort Lauderdale had a 3.5% unemployment figure. Orlando’s unemployment rate last month was 3.6%. West Palm Beach had a 3.7% unemployment rate last month.

Tampa and Jacksonville both recorded a 3.8% unemployment rate in February.

Pensacola’s jobless figure registered 4% in February. The Fort Myers-Cape Coral area’s unemployment rate also came in at 4%.

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