Weekly Florida Roundup: Time To Talk Spending

2Recap and analysis of the week in state government and politics.

TALLAHASSEE — Two-thirds of the way through the legislative session, horse-trading time has arrived amid a growing sideshow of the House squabbling with Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The big action this week was the House and Senate passing budget proposals, setting the stage for end-of-session negotiations. But attention also focused on the House questioning — and the DeSantis administration defending — $10 million that went to a direct-support organization tied to Hope Florida, a program championed by DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis.

BIG GAP

The House and Senate budget proposals passed Wednesday are more than $4 billion apart.

With the session scheduled to end May 2, lawmakers have three weeks to mesh their spending goals and reach agreement on a range of policy issues and tax cuts.

While the House has proposed reducing the state’s overall sales-tax rate, the Senate on Wednesday outlined a less-aggressive proposal that would provide a permanent sales-tax exemption on clothes and shoes costing $75 or less.

Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, said he expects the House and Senate to “end up somewhere in the middle” on budget issues.

“We’re going in the right direction. We’re communicating well. We’re working together,” Albritton said. “And I have every expectation we’ll get the plane landed.”

House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, said he expects lawmakers will reach agreement on time, while also saying “we believe in our budget.”

The Senate budget proposal (SB 2500) totals $117.36 billion. The House proposal (HB 5001) has a bottom line of $112.95 billion and is linked to a $5.4 billion tax package (HB 7031) that includes reducing the overall state sales-tax rate from 6 percent to 5.25 percent.

The plan also would cut a commercial-lease tax, the sales-tax rate on electricity, the tax rate on sales of new mobile homes and the tax rate on coin-operated amusement machines, such as pinball machines.

DeSantis has said he wants a one-time property tax break for homesteaded properties and to ask voters in 2026 to pass a constitutional amendment to reduce or eliminate property taxes. On Thursday, he put his thumb on the scale for the Senate’s $750 million tax-cut proposal, which also would include sales-tax “holiday” periods for back-to-school items, hurricane supplies, tools, recreational items and hunting equipment including guns and ammo.

‘100 PERCENT APPROPRIATE’

The House Health Care Budget Subcommittee on Wednesday clashed with the DeSantis administration about a $10 million donation by the Centene managed-care company to Hope Florida Foundation, Inc., which is tied to Hope Florida.

The donation was part of a $67 million settlement between Centene, a major player in Florida’s Medicaid system, and the Agency for Health Care Administration related to a state overpayment to the company.

Lawmakers questioned the legality of the donation and said required federal income-tax reports, providing information about spending and payroll, were unavailable for the Hope Florida Foundation.

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“AHCA (the Agency for Health Care Administration) decided as part of this settlement to say, ‘Send us $57 million, send Hope Florida $10 million’ without any discussion with any policymaker in the Legislature, which is required. We’re required to be informed of this,” House Health Care Budget Chairman Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, said, referring at one point to the foundation as a “black hole.”

Launched as the First Couple’s approach to government assistance, Hope Florida is under the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Shevaun Harris, a former Department of Children and Families secretary, pushed back against the criticism.

“I understand that there are questions being asked and we’re doing our best to be transparent … but it does feel like we’re not aligned in this overall goal of helping families,” Harris said. “It’s kind of sad, genuinely. This is the goal of helping individuals get back on their feet. I don’t know what’s wrong with that.”

That drew Andrade’s wrath.

“I’m going to take umbrage on that claim. We’re a separate governmental body tasked with oversight and direction of state agencies, and we discover that state agencies are redirecting money secretly in the 11th hour in a legal settlement without getting any notice, and the accusation is that we don’t care about helping Florida families?” he said.

The discord escalated throughout the day, with other DeSantis administration agency heads supporting Hope Florida and attacking Andrade.

During an appearance Thursday in Miami, DeSantis called the donation “100 percent appropriate” and the “cherry on top” of the settlement.

YENOR TAPS OUT

Scott Yenor, a Boise State University political scientist who faced an outcry after being appointed by DeSantis to the University of West Florida Board of Trustees, stepped down from the board Wednesday.

Yenor blamed his resignation on opposition from “a group” within the Florida Senate, which has to confirm university trustees.

Senate Ethics and Elections Chairman Don Gaetz, a Niceville Republican whose district includes the university, raised questions about the Idaho professor’s lack of ties to the Pensacola area. He also said opposition to Yenor’s appointment had increased in the community in recent weeks.

Since his January appointment to the board, where he was quickly elected chairman, Yenor has drawn criticism over such issues as a 2021 comment calling working women “more medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome than women need to be.”

DeSantis had steadfastly defended Yenor. The governor in February said he stood “100 percent” behind Yenor after the professor was called “a bigot” and “misogynist” by former state Sen. Randy Fine, a Brevard County Republican who was elected to Congress on April 1.

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STORY OF THE WEEK: Setting up budget talks, the Florida House and Senate approved competing spending plans for the fiscal year that will start July 1.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I believe that Mr. Yenor did the gentlemanly thing, because gentlemen don’t go where no one wants them.” — Senate Ethics and Elections Chairman Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, after Scott Yenor resigned from the University of West Florida Board of Trustees.

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