Lawmaker says DeSantis administration is withholding Hope Florida records

Yahoo

30-04-2025

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration is refusing to turn over records relating to the Hope Florida charity to House lawmakers, according to the Republican investigating the organization.
Earlier this month, Rep. Alex Andrade requested bank records and other information from the state about the Hope Florida Foundation, the state-created charity meant to support the first lady's initiative.
The charity has since turned over those records to DeSantis' Department of Children and Families for release, Andrade said. But the department, which oversees the charity, is 'now just sitting' on them, he told the Times/Herald on Wednesday.
'They refuse to answer phone calls,' Andrade said of the department.
Andrade has been looking into the state's decision to divert $10 million from a Medicaid settlement to the foundation. The Hope Florida charity was created to support the Hope Florida program, which began in the Department of Children and Families and seeks to help Floridians get off government aid.
Andrade is also looking into the state Agency for Health Care Administration as part of his investigation, because the agency directed the Medicaid company Centene to pay the $10 million, which came from a $67 million settlement related to overbilling prescription drugs, to the foundation.
He made a separate request for records to the Agency for Health Care Administration. The agency told him that it had 'compiled and reviewed' the records on April 22 but, like the Department of Children and Families, it still has not turned them over.
'They refuse to produce them or respond to our calls now,' Andrade said about the agency.
When asked why the records had not been turned over, DeSantis spokesperson Sierra Dean noted in an email that Andrade said last week that his subcommittee's investigation into Hope Florida was ending. Andrade made the announcement after three key witnesses did not show up to a committee hearing to answer questions.
'In any event, agencies worked with the subcommittee in good faith, sent representatives to multiple subcommittee hearings, and provided information refuting Mr. Andrade's accusations,' Dean said. 'Yet Mr. Andrade ignored the evidence before him.'
She added that 'he, like the Tampa Bay Times, is acting in bad faith and looking for the next hit.'
The Times/Herald has also struggled to get records related to Hope Florida. In February, it requested several records, including the foundation's bank ledger, which would capture all financial transactions since it was created in August 2023. The records must be released under the state's public records law.
On Wednesday, the foundation's lawyer responded by turning over an electronic spreadsheet of transactions. Its metadata showed that it was created in January.
The spreadsheet was missing both the $10 million it received from Centene's settlement and the two $5 million grants it gave to two nonprofits days later. The two nonprofits, which don't disclose their donors, then sent at least $8.5 million to a political committee overseen by DeSantis' then-chief of staff, James Uthmeier, in a series of transactions that Andrade said is illegal.
DeSantis and Uthmeier have denied wrongdoing.
Andrade said that if state 'bureaucrats aren't competent enough' to respond to records requests, he has no faith in them handling the state's business.
'It's obvious they're being told to obstruct and distract right now,' Andrade said. 'This issue isn't going away just because they're playing dumb.'
Although Andrade's committee abruptly dropped its probe into the charity last week, he said he's still looking into it in his capacity as a lawmaker who oversees a portion of the state's budget.
He has requested from the state bank records, emails regarding the settlement, emails regarding the money sent to the Hope Florida Foundation and drafts of the settlement itself.
He said he requested the records from the Department of Children and Families, the Agency for Health Care Administration, the governor's office and the foundation. He has also requested from the governor's office all text messages and call logs between Uthmeier and other people involved in the $10 million diversion and subsequent transactions.
Although Florida has a broad public records law, the DeSantis administration has methodically withheld releasing documents requested by news outlets and the public since he took office in 2019. Records can take years to receive, and news outlets and others have sued his administration multiple times over the years.
In 2023, ClickOrlando reported that state agencies will often compile the records within days or weeks but send them to the governor's office for an additional review. That review can take months.