Florida reps. sending demand letters to state agencies amid government-spending probe
Citing 'deep frustration' and a lack of cooperation by officials in Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration, House budget leaders are issuing demand letters to some state agencies amid a probe into possibly wasteful government spending.
The House's inquiry into agencies' finances, ordered by Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, is part of a broader effort to slash spending as lawmakers craft a budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. House and Senate committees approved the chambers' proposed budgets on Wednesday, setting up negotiations in the coming weeks on a final spending plan.
The House Budget Committee on Wednesday heard a litany of concerns about finances at a handful of agencies, with some lawmakers accusing agency heads of thwarting efforts to delve into questionable spending.
Rep. Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe, said lawmakers need 'a better understanding of how the billions were spent per disaster' by the Division of Emergency Management. Shoaf, chairman of the House Transportation and Economic Development Budget Subcommittee, also accused the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles of giving pay raises to employees without authorization from the Legislature.
'I have problems in several of my agencies,' Shoaf said, referring to agencies whose budgets he oversees. 'Dadgum it, after hearing all of this stuff, we need to get more information and wrap this up.'
The committee approved a proposal by Shoaf to send letters requesting 'the production of documents and records' to the Division of Emergency Management, the Department of Management Services, the Department of Corrections, the Department of Education, the Agency for Health Care Administration and the Florida State Guard.
Bryan Griffin, a spokesman for DeSantis, said the agencies 'have cooperated and complied with House information requests.'
'Unfortunately, this is a politically motivated and false attack,' Griffin said in an email.
FLORIDA POLITICS: Once DeSantis' cheerleaders, Florida GOP puts his administration under scrutiny
Speaking to reporters after the committee meeting, House Budget Chairman Lawrence McClure, R-Dover, characterized the request for information from agencies as an effort to carry out part of Perez's mandate to root out wasteful spending.
'There's just a deep frustration. We're not trying to do anything other than make sure we're being good fiduciaries and stewards of the taxpayers' dollar. But if you don't have the data or the information … Look, there are some inconsistencies here that don't pass a common-sense test, but in the absence of data, you can't confirm it,' McClure said.
Rep. Vicki Lopez, a Miami Republican who chairs the House State Administration Budget Subcommittee, told McClure's committee she was 'stonewalled' by the Department of Management Services and its secretary, Pedro Allende, as she dug into spending by the agency.
Lopez pointed to a recent audit showing the department could not account for 2,200 vehicles. The agency also has at least four employees earning six-figure annual salaries who live out of state, Lopez's committee found.
'We were all striving to get some accountability … but we have failed miserably to get answers, and we need them and we need them now,' Lopez said.
Lopez included a provision in her part of the House's nearly $113 billion proposed budget that would put the salary for Allende — who earns more than $210,000 annually — in reserve.
The committee also signed off on a measure (PCB BUC 25-05) that would create a new 'Florida Accountability Office' and strengthen legislative oversight of state agency performance and finances.
Lawmakers also need answers about state spending on prisons, according to House Justice Budget Chairman Patt Maney, R-Shalimar.
The Department of Corrections 'has a chronic problem of improperly managing both their salary and overtime costs,' Maney said.
The state also has paid $35 million in interest after issuing bonds to finance a mental-health prison facility at Lake Correctional Institution, Maney said. But the facility has never been built.
'We've gotten nothing for it. We haven't used the money. We haven't started anything … and there's really been no explanation for why,' Maney said.
The demand for information to the DeSantis administration appeared to deepen an increasingly fractious relationship between the Republican-controlled House and the governor.
DeSantis, as an example, has pushed for a reduction in homestead property taxes while Perez is advancing a plan to lower the state's sales tax rate. Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, meanwhile, this week indicated that more time was needed to study the tax proposals.
READ MORE: DeSantis escalates feud with House speaker on tax cuts
In public appearances and on videos posted on social media, DeSantis in recent days has punched at the House for 'expanding bureaucracies' and failing to deliver on what he called the 'Florida model' of governing.
'They all campaigned on our conservative agenda and now that they're in power, they're basically squandering this,' DeSantis told radio host Dana Loesch on Tuesday, accusing the House of joining with Democrats 'to increase pork spending.'
McClure said the House's inquiry into spending doesn't target the governor.
'We're not hostile towards anybody. We're sincerely interested in looking out for the taxpayers of Florida,' the House budget chief told reporters.
RELATED CONTENT: DeSantis rips House Republicans in remarks to grassroots at governor's mansion
McClure's committee on Wednesday also tackled a schism with the DeSantis administration over offices on the 21st floor of the Capitol.
The Department of Management Services canceled the House's lease for the offices, which House leaders had allowed former U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio — a former Florida House speaker who now serves as President Donald Trump's secretary of state — to use. DeSantis said the House did not offer the offices to former Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody when DeSantis appointed her to replace Rubio in the U.S. Senate.
The House committee signed off on a plan (HB 5203) that would make the House, Senate, governor and Cabinet members 'permanent' tenants of the Capitol Complex. Any changes to the Legislature's leases would have to be approved in advance by the House speaker or Senate president. Legislative leaders also would have to sign off on any Capitol construction or remodeling projects.
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