Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs Highlights ‎2025 Successes Impacting State's Veterans

December 31, 2025

TALLAHASSEE - With the close of 2025, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida ‎Department of Veterans' Affairs (FDVA) are highlighting policies and ‎initiatives providing critical support to our state's Veterans, their families, and survivors. ‎ FDVA is ‎a ‎constitutionally chartered ‎department ‎responsible for serving the Nation's ‎estimated second largest Veteran ‎‎population. ‎Operating as the premier point of entry for Florida's nearly 1.4 million Veterans, FDVA ‎‎operates a ‎‎network of State Veterans' Homes and ‎provides statewide outreach to connect ‎‎Veterans ‎‎with earned services, benefits ‎and support. ‎

Investment in Veterans:‎

Governor Ron DeSantis signed many veteran-friendly bills into law following the 2025 Florida Legislative Session:

• House Bill 797 streamlines access to long-term care for veterans and their spouses by removing bureaucratic obstacles like Certificate of Needs processes. It also facilitates better utilization of skilled nursing facilities across the state by allowing them to designate specific beds for veterans and their spouses. The bill empowers FDVA to approve these designations, so long as facilities meet rigorous standards for care and admission.
• Senate Bill 116 provides a comprehensive overhaul of how Florida supports its veterans by expanding suicide prevention programs to include early recognition of mental health conditions and not just emergency intervention. The bill also directs the creation of a statewide plan for adult health care centers dedicated to veterans.
• Senate Bill 910 protects veterans from predatory practices by cracking down on bad actors who seek to exploit veterans navigating the benefits process. This legislation creates strong new protections for veterans by placing clear limits on unaccredited benefits advisors, qualifying payment contingent upon securing a real increase on benefits for the veteran, and capping payouts. It also bans referral kickbacks, prohibits misleading guarantees, and mandates that anyone offering paid benefits must pass a high-level background check. Violators will face stricter penalties under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

The Governor's Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Budget continued a $2 million investment to assist veterans in securing meaningful skills-based employment, provide employers a skilled talent pipeline, and to assist veterans in creating and operating a small business.

The budget also included $1 million for the Veterans Dental Care Grant Program, which expands access to dental care services for veterans through committed nonprofit organizations.

In 2025, FDVA State Veterans' Service Officers assisted more than 260,000 Veterans in providing information and counsel on earned services, benefits and support. In addition, State Veterans' Service Officers have ‎processed over 44,000 new claims on behalf of Florida Veterans and helped recover more than $238 million in retroactive benefits for Florida Veterans and their families. The Governor's 2025 budget increased the number of State Veterans' Service Officers to account for the number of Veterans seeking earned services, benefits and support.

FDVA's monthly Forward March Veterans' Newsletter continues to grow subscribers. The no-cost email subscription-based newsletter has more than 67,000 subscribers and is available by visiting www.FloridaVets.org.

FDVA printed and distributed 175,000 copies of the 2025 ‎edition of the Florida ‎Veterans' Benefits Guide, courtesy of a grant from the Florida Veterans ‎Foundation. This was 25,000 more than printed in 2024. An interactive online version is also available on the FDVA website at www.FloridaVets.org.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed proclamations honoring Veterans this year, including for Memorial Day and Veterans Day, Vietnam War Veterans Day in Florida, Korean War Remembrance Day, Florida Purple Heart Day, Patriot Day, POW/MIA Recognition Day, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day in Florida, and Battle of the Bulge Day.

Hope Florida:

Hope Florida brings together the vast resources of our community to create a seamless network of support. When you call (833) GET HOPE, you'll be connected to a caring Hope Navigator, ready to guide you on an individualized pathway to achieve prosperity, economic self-sufficiency and hope. Hope Florida supports Veterans by connecting them to services, earned benefits ‎and community resources through Hope Navigators. Unique to this expansion, Hope Navigators are coordinating with FDVA's State Veterans' Service Officers to assist Veterans in navigating their benefits. More than 710 Veterans and their families were served by FDVA Hope Navigators in 2025.

Mental Health:‎

Under the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis, veterans' mental health services continue to receive the attention they need.‎

• The Florida Governor's Challenge is an interagency team supporting the mission to ‎end veteran ‎suicide through identifying veterans in need of support and promoting ‎connectedness to ‎tailored resources. To read more on the Governor's Challenge, visit SaveFLVets.org.
• First Lady Casey DeSantis is a champion of suicide prevention efforts through ‎Florida's Hope for ‎Healing campaign, which combines the resources and efforts of public and ‎private sectors to ‎better serve those struggling with mental health and substance abuse‎. Visit https://www.hopeforhealingfl.com/ for more information.
• The Florida Veterans Support Line, ‎‎1-844-MyFLVet (693-5838) celebrated its 11th anniversary in 2025. The support line continued to ‎provide confidential emotional ‎support and connection to community resources ‎‎24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Career and Job Opportunities:‎

Veterans Florida is a State created non-profit that provides career and entrepreneurship resources and training for separating and retiring service members, veterans, members of the Guard and Reserves, and their spouses across Florida. The 2025 budget continued a $2 million annual investment in Veterans Florida activities to build a skilled military and veteran talent pipeline into the state.

Veterans Florida administers the state's SkillBridge initiative, which connects active-duty service members with high-tech, Florida-based employers during their last six months prior to discharge. Since 2020, more than 260 service members have completed their training and moved into careers in law enforcement, aerospace, manufacturing and other high-skilled industries.

In 2025, the Veterans Florida Expo in Tampa drew 250 registered attendees, featuring resources, exhibitors, speakers, inaugural Next Mission Florida Transition Seminar and a statewide Battle of the Pitches competition, receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants and partners.

The Florida Department of Commerce, the Florida National Guard, the Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs and participating Florida employers partnered with CareerSource Florida's 21 Local Workforce Development Boards to connect Veterans with great careers in their communities. The annual statewide hiring events for Veterans and military families - Paychecks for Patriots - were held throughout the month of November. Hope Navigators from several State Agencies connected Veterans and their families with vital services.

The Florida Department of Commerce hosts the Spousal License Reciprocity Matrix, a one-stop reference source and national model for helping military spouses transfer, renew, or reissue professional licenses they need for work after relocating to Florida. For more information, visit https://www.floridajobs.org/docs/default-source/military-files/military-defense/fl-slr-matrix.pdf.

The 81st Anniversary of the GI Bill was June 22. More than 61,530 Floridians ‎used earned GI Bill benefits in fiscal 2024-2025 to further their secondary education.‎

State Veterans' Homes:‎

The Governor's Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Budget invested $12.3 million to support capital improvements for the State Veterans' Nursing Homes. The budget included $3 million for renovations of the 120-bed Baldomero Lopez State Veterans' Nursing Home in Land O' Lakes, which opened to residents in 1999. The budget also invested $2.2 million to support enhancing safe and secure medication management for residents in State Veterans' Homes.

• The Baldomero Lopez State Veterans' Nursing Home in Land O' Lakes and Clyde E. Lassen State Veterans' Nursing Home in St. Augustine are recipients of the Bronze - 2025 Commitment to Quality Award from the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living. The award recognizes organizations that meet progressively rigorous standards of performance to improve the lives of residents and staff in long term and post-acute care.
• FDVA's Long-Term Care Division earned the 2025 Florida Tax Watch Government Productivity Award for its "Established Peer Mentorship Program to Retain Nursing Staff" program. As an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit taxpayer research institute and government watchdog, Florida TaxWatch works to improve the productivity and accountability of Florida government.
• The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs released the FY 2025 VA State Home Construction Grants Priority List, approving more than $74 million in federal matching funds for the construction of a 120-bed State Veterans' Nursing Home in Collier County.
• FDVA secured federal matching grant funding from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for clinical nursing staff recruitment and retention initiatives. The grant allows a 50% reimbursement of funding expended by the Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs within critical clinical staffing areas.

Women Veterans' Outreach:

A comprehensive website for Florida's 172,000 women veterans is available at https://womenveterans.floridavets.org. The Sunshine State is home to the second-largest population of women Veterans in the nation. Many women Veterans don't know they are eligible for the full range of federal and state benefits, including special programs. A Woman Veteran license plate is available, with proceeds directed toward Women Veterans' outreach in Florida.

Florida Veterans' Hall of Fame:‎

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet voted unanimously to ‎induct five Veterans into the Florida Veterans' Hall of Fame. The Class of 2025 is the 13th class to enter the Hall of Fame.‎ Inductees include:

Lieutenant Colonel Marlené Carter, U.S. Army (Ret)

Captain Robert Crippen, U.S. Navy (Ret)

Captain Stephen Petty, U.S. Army (Ret)

Lieutenant Colonel Alicia Rossiter, U.S. Air Force (Ret)

Colonel Peter Tan, U.S. Army (Ret)

Gadsden Flag License Plate:

The Florida Veterans Foundation, the direct support organization of the Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs, continues to promote the sale of the Gadsden Flag License Plate. Funding helps the foundation continue its mission of helping Veterans in need. More than 49,650 license plates have been purchased to date. The continuous funding has helped expand the services provided by the foundation, including dental care for eligible residents in Florida's State Veterans' Homes.

GI LAW - Lawyers Assisting Warriors:‎

Gov. Ron DeSantis created the Governor's Initiative on Lawyers Assisting Warriors (GI LAW) to recruit Florida's leading law firms to provide pro bono, no-cost legal services to Florida's active-duty service members. ‎To date, eight statewide law firms have ‎provided free legal ‎representation to more than 360 service members.‎