Tallahassee – Employees in the DeSantis administration are seeking money for political campaigns and campaigning for political issues that should be working for.
The bill, HB 1445, appears to be targeting staff in the administration of Governor Ron DeSantis, who reportedly called for political contributions to the president’s bid, and in 2026, first lady Casey DeSantis considering the governor’s run, called on state lobbyists to commit money to the political committee.
“This cannot be asked for funding, whether it’s already banned or out of business hours. You cannot engage in the funding process for a political campaign,” state Rep. R-Melbourne, sponsor of the bill, said at a House Committee hearing last week.
The bill also prohibits candidates, political committees, or voting issues, during hours when they are on duty or compensated by the state. And state employees are prohibited from using their positions to influence or interfere with the voting issue.
According to the bill, employees in states who violate funding or political campaign provisions could be charged with first-degree misdemeanors and could be punished for up to one year in prison.
The Sweep Ethics Proposal is the latest example of House Republican leaders trying to curb administrative agencies that use taxpayer-funded resources to increasingly blur the boundaries of campaign politics and national obligations.
It also appears that the DeSantis administration is using the power of the state government and the time of its employees to target several ways to beat abortion and marijuana-related voting measures in the last election cycle.
The governor recruited his Chief of Staff to chair a political committee targeting both voting measures, and administrative staff such as state surgeon General Joseph Radapop attended official newspaper meetings defending the issue. Employees at the Florida State Health Agency have also launched a state-sponsored website that has achieved status against abortion vote measures.
The bill could be considered across Florida homes on Wednesday. So far, it has bipartisan support.
“It seems we need to do more than just tap people with our hands,” state legislator D-Miami said at a committee hearing last week. Some employees find loopholes and “abuse them,” Gantt said.
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposal.
In addition to the bill, Congressional Republicans are also moving forward with legislative proposals that prohibit state funds from being used to defend constitutional reforms.
The proposal will be in light of the state’s campaign efforts.
Florida law already sets boundaries around political activities where civil servants can engage and prohibit employees of career government using official positions to “oppose or oppose a candidate, party, or issue in partisan elections.”
DeSantis has defended the administration’s efforts in the past, saying that state agencies “have the authority to educate the public about available resources under Florida law.”
The bill does not apply to political and fundraising activities of elected officials. It applies only to state employees and executives, including senior management positions who are not elected.
If approved, the House bill would make the legal boundaries between political activity and national obligations more clear. However, how enforcement of such changes will unfold in the future remains unclear.
At one point last fall, former Attorney General Ashley Moody argued that high-ranking state officials like the governor are exempt from laws prohibiting the use of their offices to affect elections.
The anti-mendment 4 website hosted by the Healthcare Administration has brought court challenges from those who argued that the state was inappropriately using its official powers, including one case before the Florida Supreme Court.
The high court, where five DeSantis-appointed judges are seated, refused to intervene, saying it would not force criminal prosecution or allow civilians to enforce criminal law enforcement.
Moody, recently appointed to the US Senate by the governor, made a similar argument by saying that because the law is enforced with criminal penalties, he must be the attorney general or another state official, like a statewide prosecutor or state attorney filing a lawsuit.
Florida’s current Attorney General James Usmier is the former chief of staff for the governor who helped coordinate the opposition campaign to amend the constitution.
When the Abortion Correction Compensation Campaign sued the Circuit’s Healthcare Administration website, the judge refused to block the state’s website, saying it was not appropriate for the court to decide what people should consider in the election.
Uthmeier’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
