TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) – A House committee unanimously approved extending Florida’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund with new restrictions on how the governor’s office can use the money.
The bill would limit the fund’s use to natural emergencies and prevent its use for immigration enforcement, which has been controversial since Gov. Ron DeSantis began using the account for that purpose under a 2023 emergency order.
“We’re here to support him. We’re just putting guardrails in place to ensure accountability and transparency,” said Rep. Griff Griffitts, R-Panama City. “That’s what we’re asking our people to do at the local level; we ought to do it at the state level.”
Lawmakers created the trust fund in 2022 to set aside money for the state to use in preparing for and responding to disasters that weren’t already budgeted for. The account expires on Tuesday.
The fund has been controversial because the money has been used on the state’s immigration enforcement effort under an emergency order issued in 2023. That order has been extended nearly 20 times since.
The bill approved Monday would prevent that use. The House wants to limit the fund’s use to only natural emergencies, specify what the money can’t be used on, put federal reimbursements in the general fund and add more reporting requirements.
“We did a special session last year on immigration to appropriate $300 million,” Griffitts said. “If we have another issue with immigration, which we know is an ongoing issue, the governor can call us back for a special session.”
The Senate approved extending the fund through the end of next year last week without any changes.
Senate appropriations chair Ed Hooper told senators they’re gambling with the Republican infighting.
“Are you willing to take that risk? That the other chamber is mad at us, that the governor is mad at somebody, and doesn’t want to deal with that amendment? I am not,” Hooper said.
“We will be coming up on hurricane season, June 1, we probably ought to be prepared for that,” Griffitts said.
Florida politics:
“I think the most urgent issue is we get this right,” said Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Minority Leader. “The fact that we’re here now four years later, putting guardrails in, lets you know we got it wrong.”
DeSantis is pushing back against the new proposals. His communications director posted on social media over the weekend that “Florida House ‘Republicans’ are trying to defund Alligator Alcatraz and other detainment centers across the state. Floridians did not vote for this.”
The House is also proposing to cut the fund from $500 million to $100 million.
The legislature has put more than $4.7 billion into the fund since it was created. However, it spent more than $6 billion from the fund. The state has been putting federal reimbursements back into the fund, mostly from natural disasters. The state hasn’t received federal reimbursement for immigration enforcement.
The big question is what will happen in the Senate. The Senate just extended the current fund, with leaders saying they don’t have time to talk about the guardrails. Any changes would delay making the fund available.
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