Gov. DeSantis sinks $250,000 for USS Orleck as he blocks $175 million in local grants

A $250,000 state grant for making the USS Orleck a floating museum at a downtown Jacksonville pier has been swamped by a decision by Gov. Ron DeSantis to block $175 million in local grants approved last month by state lawmakers.

The state grant would have helped close the funding gap for setting up a  permanent dock for the USS Orleck.

Politico reported that a senior administration official said DeSantis had constitutional concerns that the pot of money for grants, which is part of the 2022-23 budget, was set up in a way that violates the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.

"It upended and reversed the normal process," the administration official said in an interview with Politico.

More: USS Orleck's Shipyards final move delayed indefinitely, but retired Navy ship will open to public

Getting it ship-shape: Sneak peek inside: Modern Navy helps get USS Orleck ship-shape for new Jacksonville museum duty

Hope for downtown: Tampa transformed its downtown — former mayor says Jacksonville could do same

The Orleck, which arrived in Jacksonville in March, opened this week for visits while docked on the Northbank riverwalk in front of the Hyatt Regency hotel, but the non-profit that owns the ship and the city of Jacksonville both view that as a temporary place for the vessel.

The city of Jacksonville has long planned to let the Orleck dock at Pier 1 in the Shipyards, a stretch of city-owned riverfront land that is slated to become a park and future site of the Museum of Science and History.

The city put the responsibility on the Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Association, a non-profit, to round up the money for land-based improvement needed for Pier One to support the floating museum.

State. Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville, sponsored a request in July for a $1 million local support grant for the Orleck. Mayor Lenny Curry's administration asked Duggan to seek funding.

Duggan's request said the city "is committed to ensuring that the USS Orleck has final docking space that honors its significant military history."

The request said the $1 million would enable the completion of Pier 1 for the Orleck's docking site by enhancing the area around the vessel with pedestrian safety improvements plus the visitor center and ticketing shop.

That would have added to the city of Jacksonville putting $50,000 in its 2022-23 budget to extend electric and water service to Pier One for the Orleck.

State budget commission OK'd money for 238 grants statewide

When the state Legislative Budget Commission met on Sept. 9 and divided up the $175 million in local support grants, it awarded 238 grants for projects across the state. The legislative commission approved $250,000 for the Orleck.

Those kinds of member-sponsored projects come up every year during the Legislature's crafting of the budget. Governors then decide which ones to strike using line-item veto power before signing the budget into law.

The $175 million for local support grants took a different approach by giving the Legislature the power to decide after DeSantis signed the budget about how to spend that pot of money.

DeSantis could not use line-item vetoes on each of those spending items. Instead, the budget language said DeSantis must take action by Sept. 30 in order to administratively release the money, Duggan said.

"To me, that can absolutely be interpreted to mean the Legislature gave the governor the ability to say well, we're not going to appropriate this money," Duggan said.

State Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, who sits on the Legislative Budget Commission, said the process for the $175 million in local support grants was unlike anything she's since during her time in the Legislature.

She said usually, members of the House and Senate both can make applications for member-sponsored projects, but only House members could put in for the local support grants.

By the time the Legislative Budget Commission voted, she said the commission got a list that already selected who would get grants and in what amount.

"It was very strange," she said.

Besides the state grant for the Orleck, other grants that fell by the wayside for Duval County were $250,000 apiece for the Jacksonville Farmers Market and Resource Center, the KIPP schools, and READ USA teen tutoring and workforce development.

For St. Johns County, the governor nixed $952,000 for tag! children's museum, $750,000 for West Augustine Health and Wellness Center, $250,000 for hurricane shelter storage and performing arts center, and $187,500 for a medication-assisted treatment facility and capacity expansion,

The Clay County grants were $1 million for the Clay County Substance Abuse Recovery Center and $500,000 for the Clay County Regional Sports Complex,

For Nassau County, the grants were $225,000 for the town of Hillard's Sixth Street paving project and $200,000 for Spring Lakes Estates drainage improvements. Baker County would have received a $100,000 grant for its senior life enrichment center.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: DeSantis blocks hundreds of local grants including one for USS Orleck