TALHASSEE — Legislative leaders on Friday agreed not to fund Gov. Ron DeSantis’s Hope Florida program, taking a blow to one of his signature priorities.
During the deal to prepare the state budget for next year, House and Senate leaders have decided not to spend $2 million from Desantis on staff 20 who want agents for Florida Call Line.
They also agreed not to give DeSantis four positions in the governor’s office and set up a new Florida office.
The decision leads to a four-year-old program envisaged by First Lady Casey DeSantis, which aimed to help the Fludians move out of government assistance amid intense scrutiny by House Republicans.
Wrapped in promotional material and news releases, Callline 833-Get-Help is at the heart of that effort. Navigators, who act as caseworkers, are supposed to use helplines to guide Floridians to local churches and nonprofit organizations.
The helpline is currently funded by the Federal Child Abuse Prevention Grant through the US Rescue Plan.
It is not immediately clear what will happen to these positions during the next fiscal year.
“We’re a sought-after,” said Sen. Ed Hooper, a Clearwater Republican, who chairs the Senate’s Budget Committee.
“Do they still have the funds available? They will be revisited in a few months when they return to the next session.”
Desantis spokesman Bryan Griffin said in a statement that the program would continue and that the job was present before it was reused for Hope Florida.
“The good job Florida hopes will not be interrupted despite the fringe group of Congressional political games over additional pay and resources,” Griffin said in a statement.
Desantis asked lawmakers to embarrass Florida’s hopes on state law this year, making it a permanent program in the governor’s office.
Instead, House Republicans delved into the program and its charity division, the Hope Florida Foundation.
The state’s programs span at least 12 agencies, but administrative authorities struggled to explain how it worked and how it was successful. During a tense House committee hearing in April, the department head didn’t know that anyone was in charge of Florida’s hopeful program.
According to its website, over four years, Florida has supported around 115,000 people. By comparison, the 211 System, a similar referral service that does not use state funds, made almost 1 million calls last year.
Lawmakers also found that the Hope Florida Foundation was used last year to move $10 million from a settlement with a Medicaid contractor to two nonprofits.
Rep. Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican, said the series of transactions were illegal and the Leon County State Attorney’s Office is conducting public criminal investigations related to it.
