This year, the Florida Legislature provided nearly $30 million in new and restored funding for FIU. Governor Rick Scott signed the 2015-16 budget Tuesday morning.

Below are the $21.8 million in FIU projects that were newly funded by the Legislature and approved by the Governor:

• $11 million net increase in Performance Funding
• $2.3 million for the Satellite Chiller Plant Expansion at MMC
• $3.9 million recurring for FIUnique, which includes: $1.5 million for the Center for Children and Families, $1.5 million for the College of Medicine EMBRACE program, $600,000 for the College of Education Panther LIFE program, and $300,000 for the Fostering Panther Pride program.
• $600,000 for the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars of which half is recurring dollars
• $300,000in additional funding for the FIU Center for Democracy
• $3.7 million for Hurricane Research and Mitigation Projects

In addition to these new funds, the legislature also restored proposed budget cuts to FIU:

• $2.5 million for the College of Medicine’s Neighborhood HELP program
• $1 million for the College of Law’s Center for Ethics and Professionalism
• $500,000 for The FIU Center for Democracy
• $250,000 for The FIU Center for Leadership
• $331,451 for the College of Medicine Primary Care Residency Program

The following FIU items were funded by the Legislature but vetoed by the Governor, among the $500 million in vetoed projects statewide.

• $5 million for Strategic Land Acquisition (FIU Expansion)
• $3 million for the FIU-Royal Caribbean BBC housing mold remediation
• $500,000 for the West End Tech Center, an FIU partnership with Topp Solutions
• $200,000 for the Applied Research Center

The FIU expansion project has a lot of momentum based on the overwhelming voter support we received in November. In addition, we have received $10 million toward the relocation project, which was allocated by the Legislature and approved by the Governor last year.

Please join us in thanking the State Legislature, especially our Miami-Dade delegation, for championing FIU’s priorities and for recognizing that FIU’s success is our community’s success.

We also would like to thank all of you for your support during this legislative session and for being engaged members of the FIU community.

Thanks to you, FIU will continue to be Worlds Ahead.