Backroom Briefing: Weekly political notes from The News Service of Florida

By Jim Turner ©2026 The News Service of Florida

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis reiterated this week that Florida won’t fund a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays.

But state money could be used in other ways to assist the baseball team as it looks to create a “live, work, play and learn district” on land at Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry Campus.

“I think they’ve got, you know, kind of a shared vision that could potentially be very, very good,” DeSantis said Tuesday during an appearance at St. Petersburg College in Pinellas Park. “But ultimately, you know, I want to just see, see this be a successful enterprise in one way or another.”

Rather than directly using state money for a stadium, DeSantis cited a 2023 move to provide $4 million from the Job Growth Grant Fund program for an Interstate 75 interchange project to help the Buc-ee’s convenience-store chain with a planned location north of Ocala.

The money went to the city of Ocala and the Florida Department of Transportation to increase the pace of work on the interchange.

DeSantis also used the Job Growth fund, which is designed to provide money for infrastructure projects and job-training programs, to construct a road around Miami Freedom Park, a massive mixed-use development that includes a 25,000-seat soccer stadium for Inter Miami.

DeSantis said at the time that the $8 million in road work would help create construction jobs, relieve future traffic in the area and potentially increase tourism in a new business district.

DeSantis’ Buc-ee’s comment preceded the Hillsborough College Board of Trustees’ approval on Tuesday of a nonbinding agreement for the Rays to use 113 acres of the Dale Mabry Campus for a proposed stadium and accompanying mixed-use development.

The development, which would include educational buildings, could eventually emulate The Battery Atlanta, a 10-acre mixed-use project that the Atlanta Braves developed next to the taxpayer-funded Truist Park northwest of Atlanta.

While the agreement doesn’t require Hillsborough College to do the project, college President Ken Atwater described the opportunity as “transformational” for the school and the student experience.

“By reimagining the Dale Mabry Campus within a dynamic, mixed-use district, we are enhancing the educational experience while strengthening our role as an economic and civic anchor for the community,” Atwater said in a statement.

BUDGET EARMARKS

With the House and Senate expected to release initial budget proposals in the next couple of weeks, senators have requested more than $5.5 billion for nearly 2,600 projects and programs in their home districts.

In the House, more than 2,800 proposed “member projects” seek $6.37 billion.

The proposals, often derided by critics as “turkeys” or “pork,” seek money for such things as local organizations, museums and road, education and environmental projects. They range from a $10,000 request by Rep. Omar Blanco, R-Miami, for the non-profit Page by Page, Inc., to advise children and school administrators on how to conduct book drives to a $100 million request by Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville, for infrastructure improvements at the University of Florida.

A proposal filed Monday by Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, asks for $50 million to make improvements to Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry Campus.

“The campus improvements will provide multi-function, multi-use spaces for instruction, workforce training, local stakeholder development, and community events and programming,” the proposal said. “The campus improvements will also create a hub for high-value partners to increase public access to academic and workforce training opportunities.”

As in most years, many of the proposals are filed in both chambers.

A 2025-2026 budget approved by lawmakers in June included more than 1,600 member projects, with a total tab of more than $2 billion. DeSantis used his line-item veto power to slash about $300 million of the spending.

When the 2026 legislative session opened on Jan. 13, Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, talked of “the strong fiscal responsibility Floridians expect and deserve.”

“And, again this year, the Florida Legislature will pass a balanced budget that holds the line on state spending, pays down debt, cuts taxes and saves for the future,” Albritton said.

SOCIAL MEDIA POST OF THE WEEK

“I am fine with whatever fate awaits me. If this catastrophic error of judgement makes me unemployable, so be it. I made a mistake. I admitted to it. I want to make it right, and if that means never working in politics again, it’s a consequence I am ready to accept.” — Christina Pushaw (@ChristinaPushaw), an official in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration after her ties with gubernatorial candidate James Fishback were confirmed.