Governor Ron DeSantis announces State-Wide Toll Relief plan

Miami- Governor Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday afternoon his proposal to provide state-wide toll relief for all eligible Floridians.

Speaking to a crowd at the Florida Department of Transportation in Miami-Dade County, Gov. DeSantis outlined a toll relief plan that is to cover every single toll facility in the state of Florida and consequently impact more than 750,000 Floridians.

Drivers who have 40 or more transactions a month while using toll transponders such as SunPass and E-PASS will receive a 50 percent discount on their monthly bill. Per DeSantis, these measures will “save the average commuter $550 per year.”

Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nuñez was also present at the plan’s announcement in Miami and remarked that “(the toll savings program) has the potential to positively impact families in South Florida and beyond.”

 

A full map of all tolls and roads covered under DeSantis’ proposal can be found here.

According to DeSantis, the plan will be financed by the state of Florida’s strong revenues and budget surplus, which, as DeSantis underscored to the roar of his audience, is the “largest government surplus in the history of the state”.

However, some worry that measures like these will only provide short-term local relief in the face of a burgeoning national economic crisis.

Indeed, while preserving an optimistic tone during the plan’s uncovering, DeSantis explained that part of the plan’s underlying purpose is to give the pockets of Floridians a break from rising energy costs and feverish inflation, but that the Biden administration’s poor economic policy is being anything but helpful at curbing these.

Distancing his administration from that of President Joe Biden’s, DeSantis emphasized how, unlike the national government, Florida, through “maintaining a Free state and using taxpayer’s money wisely”, has experienced a post-pandemic economic boom and is now financially capable of providing its residents much-needed economic support.

DeSantis’ proposal still awaits legislative action, but if passed, it will go into effect on July 1, 2023, and run through June 30, 2024.