Florida lawmakers approved significant new guardrails Friday for the multibillion-dollar emergency fund that Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 administration used to construct and operate the sprawling immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed \u201cAlligator Alcatraz.\u201d<\/p>\n
Less than two weeks after the Florida Trib reported that newly released documents showed the DeSantis administration had burned through more than a million dollars a day<\/a> on the makeshift tents-and-trailers facility, both chambers of the GOP-controlled Legislature voted to add new limits on the fund, including mandates that the executive branch regularly report spending and seek legislative approval for certain expenses.<\/p>\n The measure known as SB 7040<\/a> was the final bill lawmakers voted to send to the governor\u2019s desk during the 2026 regular session, which has been marked by intraparty tensions over legislative independence from the governor.<\/p>\n The documents obtained by the Florida Trib revealed the Florida Division of Emergency Management \u2014 the state agency that spearheaded the construction and operation of the Everglades site \u2014 had formally requested a $1.49 billion grant from the federal government, underscoring the staggering scale of spending of taxpayer dollars on federal immigration enforcement \u2014 largely out of public view<\/a> and with little oversight by state lawmakers.<\/p>\n FDEM Executive Director Kevin Guthrie has acknowledged that the agency has spent $573 million on immigration enforcement since the creation of the emergency fund housed in the governor\u2019s office in 2022, which empowered the executive to spend prodigiously without needing express approval by the Legislature.<\/p>\n Over the past four years, lawmakers have transferred a total of $4.77 billion into the emergency fund, though Guthrie told lawmakers that his agency has actually spent about $1.8 billion more than that, fueled by other federal reimbursements to the account.<\/p>\n Among the vendors who quickly inked multimillion-dollar deals with the state to build the Everglades facility were companies whose owners are major Republican donors<\/a> to political committees for DeSantis, President Donald Trump and other GOP candidates.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t change what has already happened,\u201d said Republican state Sen. Ed Hooper, who sponsored the bill. \u201cBut yes, we expect and we\u2019re demanding that we have more knowledge, more reporting, more transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n Some guardrails \u2014 but immigration spending can continue<\/p>\n Lawmakers allowed the time-limited emergency fund to expire last month, temporarily leaving the governor without the authorization to spend on emergencies. In reauthorizing the fund, lawmakers are reviving what critics still label as a \u201cslush fund\u201d for DeSantis \u2013 but with new limits that will rein in how the money can be spent and on what.<\/p>\n \u201cEmergencies demand speed,\u201d said Republican state Rep. Griff Griffitts, who sponsored the measure in the House. \u201cThey also demand discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the bill, which the governor has the power to veto, money in the fund can be used for natural, manmade and technological emergencies declared by the governor \u2013 which lawmakers said could include public health emergencies as well as additional spending on the Everglades facility.<\/p>\n But if the governor extends a state of emergency declaration, the executive branch would have to get approval from the Legislative Budget Commission<\/a> to use the funds \u2013 though that requirement could be waived for spending on manmade and technological emergencies if the chair and vice chair of the commission agree to approve the spending.<\/p>\n In Florida, a state of emergency declared by the governor can not last for more than 60 days<\/a> unless renewed by the governor. The spending on the Everglades facility was enabled by an emergency declaration<\/a> related to immigration that DeSantis first issued on Jan. 6, 2023 \u2014 and has extended 20 times since then.<\/p>\n The bill would also require that any federal reimbursements be held in a separate account within the emergency fund, a provision meant to help lawmakers keep tabs on the different streams of funding at a time when state officials and the federal government have given conflicting accounts about whether Florida will ever be reimbursed<\/a> for the costs of the South Florida detention center.<\/p>\n \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be giving more money and more latitude and more discretion when we were led astray,\u201d said Democratic state Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis.<\/p>\n Under the bill, FDEM would also be required to submit a report to legislative leaders each quarter detailing the fund\u2019s cash flow, year-end balances, a list of all inventory and assets purchased and an itemized accounting of all pending invoices.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to make sure that we know where those dollars are going,\u201d Hooper said.<\/p>\n