Gov. Ron DeSantis is guaranteeing a $1,000 bonus for every first responder in the state of Florida.
The governor made the announcement Wednesday during a news briefing at the Satellite Beach Police Department in Brevard County, promising checks to every sworn police officer, firefighter, paramedic and EMT in Florida.
“When the coronavirus pandemic hit, you had some people — and I don’t begrudge them from doing this — but you had some people working for different companies whenever they would just work on Zoom, from their bedroom or from their living room. A lot of them were not even out and about doing stuff. Well, the people that wear the uniform, they didn’t have that luxury. Okay, they were out there every single day — our police, our fire, our EMTs. And they had to work more than they ever have. Not just to deal with protecting us when the pandemic hit, but then obviously how police were treated, like last year in many parts of the country was a total disgrace and they had to put the uniform on,” DeSantis said. “Some want to defund the police, we’re funding the police and then some.”
The payments will begin going out after the state’s budget, which was recently passed by the legislature, is signed into law, which the governor said Wednesday he expects to happen “relatively soon.”
