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Lawmakers Hide Millions in Florida University Budgets, Reporter Finds

Photo: Elisfkc via Wikimedia Creative Commons
The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Central Florida recevied $5 million via the legislature's "secretive budget process," according to reports.

Florida lawmakers hid hundreds of millions of dollars for special projects inside funding for state universities, a report from the Naples Daily News claims.

The projects, added without debate or input from the public or other lawmakers, don't officially appear in the state's $82.3 billion budget approved by lawmakers and signed by Gov. Rick Scott.

Thursday at 1:30 p.m. on Gulf Coast Live, Naples Daily News Tallahassee Bureau Chief Arek Sarkissian joins the program to detail his reporting about how state lawmakers stuff multi-million dollar projects within state university budgets.

Also joining the program is Ben Wilcox, the research director for Integrity Florida, discussing proposals in the Florida legislature that he says will make the state's spending of taxpayer dollars more transparent.

Matthew Smith is a reporter and producer of WGCU’s Gulf Coast Live.
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