Read the full stored bill text
Florida Senate
-
2026
SB 780
By
Senator Berman
26-00504A-26 2026780__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to government waste and misconduct;
3 requiring the Office of Program Policy Analysis and
4 Government Accountability, the Auditor General, and
5 the Government Efficiency Task Force to prepare a
6 specified report; requiring that the report include an
7 investigation and evaluation of all state spending;
8 requiring that the report be submitted to specified
9 parties; requiring the Attorney General to take
10 certain actions to recover specified funds; requiring
11 that such recovered funds be transferred to the
12 General Revenue Fund and used for a certain purpose;
13 creating s. 409.1466, F.S.; creating the Working
14 Floridians Tax Rebate Program within the Department of
15 Commerce for a certain purpose; requiring that the
16 program be funded in a specified manner; defining the
17 term “waste”; granting certain state funds to people
18 and households that received the federal Earned Income
19 Tax Credit and meet certain criteria; requiring the
20 department to calculate the rebate and disburse funds
21 within a specified timeframe; requiring the department
22 to submit to the Governor, the Cabinet, and the
23 Legislature a certain report by a specified date;
24 prohibiting receipt of the rebate from being used in
25 certain program eligibility determinations;
26 authorizing the department to adopt emergency rules;
27 providing applicability; providing an effective date.
28
29 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
30
31 Section 1.
(1)
The Office of Program Policy Analysis and
32
Government Accountability, the Auditor General, and the
33
Government Efficiency Task Force shall work together to prepare
34
a report identifying fraud, waste, abuse of authority,
35
malfeasance, mismanagement, and misconduct in state government.
36
The report must include an investigation and evaluation of all
37
state spending, including, but not limited to:
38
(a)
Spending related to Executive Order 23-03, including
39
contracts related to the South Florida Detention Facility, also
40
known as “Alligator Alcatraz”; funds related to deploying
41
Florida law enforcement to Texas; and funds used for migrant
42
deportation flights, self-deportation flights, and the
43
Unauthorized Alien Transport Program.
44
(b)
S
pending by the Department of Children
and
Families,
45
the
Department of Juvenile Justice,
the
Agency for Persons with
46
Disabilities,
the
Department of Elder
ly
Affairs,
the
Department
47
of Veterans
’
Affairs, the
Statewide
Guardian ad Litem
Office
,
48
CareerSource Florida,
Inc.,
the Agency for Health Care
49
Administration, and
the
Division of Emergency Management
,
50
relat
ed
to the “Hope Florida: A Path to Prosperity” initiative
51
launched in 2021
,
and subsequent Hope Florida program
52
initiatives, including
,
but not limited to
, the
Hope Florida
53
Foundation
, Inc., the
Hope Florida hotline
, the
Hope Florida
54
website and online “CarePortal
,” the
Hope Florida
N
etwork
,
and
55
the Hope Florida Fund.
The report must also identify the number
56
of
f
ull-time equivalent
employees
in state agencies
who are
57
currently working on Hope Florida functions, the extent to which
58
preexisting
f
ull-time equivalent
employees
were repurposed
to
59
work
for Hope Florida functions, and
all
contracts for goods or
60
services entered into by state agencies to further the Hope
61
Florida mission
.
62
(c)
Spending on contracts for litigation costs and private
63
attorney services.
64
(d)
Efforts related to the Florida Accountability and
65
Fiscal Oversight Office within the Department of Financial
66
Services and the Department of Government Efficiency established
67
in Executive Order 25-44 and whether such efforts are
68
duplicative of the existing Government Efficiency Task Force.
69
(e)
Spending related to Florida Department of
70
Transportation Engineering and Operations Memorandum 25-01.
71
(f)
Spending related to the Canadian Prescription Drug
72
Importation Program established under s. 381.02035, Florida
73
Statutes.
74
(g)
Spending related to the use of ivermectin in treating
75
cancer.
76
(h)
Programs and tracking tools related to books and
77
educational materials which are duplicative of previous methods.
78
(i)
The assessment required by s. 1001.03(19)(b), Florida
79
Statutes, including an evaluation of the assessment’s response
80
rate, accuracy, and whether the information from the assessment
81
could be gathered through other existing research.
82
(j)
New College of Florida’s per-student spending as
83
compared to other state colleges and universities.
84
(k)
Spending related to Step Up For Students-Florida, Inc.
85
(l)
The acquisition of approximately 4 acres in Okaloosa
86
County from Pointe Mezzanine, LLC
,
and Pointe Resort, LLC,
87
pursuant to
s.
174
,
chapter
2025-198, Laws of Florida
.
88
(m) S
pending related to proposed
A
mendments
3 and 4 to the
89
State Constitution
from the 202
4
general
election
, on all of the
90
following
:
91
1.
Public service announcements, advertisements, or other
92
public information messaging pertaining to recreational cannabis
93
use, abortion access, or other subject matter relevant to
94
proposed Amendments
3
and
4.
95
2.
Legal costs incurred defending such public service
96
announcements, advertisements, or other public information
97
messaging.
98
3. Legal costs incurred related to cease and desist letters
99
sent to television stations and threatened prosecution.
100
(2)
The report required under subsection (1) must identify:
101
(a)
Spent funds lost to fraud, waste, malfeasance,
102
mismanagement, or misconduct.
103
(b)
Unspent funds at risk of being lost to fraud, waste,
104
malfeasance, mismanagement, or misconduct.
105
(3)
The report must be submitted to the Governor, the
106
President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of
107
Representatives, and the Attorney General.
108
(4)
The Attorney General shall pursue legal remedies to
109
recover any funds identified in paragraph (2)(a). Any such
110
recovered funds shall be transferred to the General Revenue Fund
111
to be used to fund the Working Floridians Tax Rebate Program
112
established in s. 409.1466, Florida Statutes.
113
(5)
The funds identified in paragraph (2)(b) shall be
114
immediately transferred to the General Revenue Fund to be used
115
to fund the Working Floridians Tax Rebate Program established in
116
s. 409.1466, Florida Statutes.
117 Section 2. Section 409.1466, Florida Statutes, is created
118 to read:
119
409.1466
The Working Floridians Tax Rebate Program.—
120
(1)
The Working Floridians Tax Rebate Program is created
121
within the Department of Commerce to provide low- or moderate
122
income residents relief on sales taxes, fuel taxes, property
123
taxes, or other taxes and fees such residents pay in this state
124
during the year, consistent with the goals of the federal Earned
125
Income Tax Credit. The program shall be funded exclusively with
126
moneys identified as being at risk of being lost to waste or
127
recovered after being lost to waste. As used in this subsection,
128
the term “waste” includes fraud, malfeasance, mismanagement, and
129
misconduct.
130
(2)
Each person or household that qualifies for and
131
receives the federal Earned Income Tax Credit in a specific year
132
may receive funds from the state if the person or household does
133
all of the following:
134
(a)
Maintains a Florida residence on the federal income tax
135
return during the tax year in which the person or household is
136
applying for the Working Floridians Tax Rebate Program.
137
(b)
Applies to the Department of Commerce, using a form
138
developed by the Department of Commerce, no later than June 30
139
of the year in which the federal Earned Income Tax Credit was
140
received.
141
(c)
Provides the Department of Commerce with documentation
142
verifying the receipt and specific amount of the federal Earned
143
Income Tax Credit.
144
(3)
Within 30 days after receiving a completed application
145
and verifying the information required under subsection (2), the
146
Department of Commerce shall issue a check or remit funds using
147
direct deposit to the person or household in an amount equal to
148
20 percent of the amount of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit
149
that the person or household received.
150
(4)
The Department of Commerce shall prepare and submit a
151
report by December 31, 2027, to the Governor, the Cabinet, the
152
President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of
153
Representatives, the Minority Leader of the Senate, and the
154
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives which addresses
155
the feasibility of creating and implementing an automatic
156
Working Floridians Tax Rebate Program using data provided by the
157
Internal Revenue Service or another federal agency so that a
158
person or household may receive the funds from the state without
159
having to complete an annual application and provide
160
documentation under subsection (2).
161
(a)
If the Department of Commerce determines that an
162
automatic program is not feasible, the report must identify
163
specific barriers to the creation of an automatic program and
164
provide proposed solutions to remove the barriers.
165
(b)
If the Department of Commerce determines that an
166
automatic program is feasible, the report must include a
167
legislative proposal to implement the automatic program.
168
(5)
Receipt of a rebate under this section may not be used
169
to determine a person’s eligibility for Medicaid, Florida
170
Kidcare, cash assistance, or the Supplemental Nutrition
171
Assistance Program established under 7 U.S.C. ss. 2011 et seq.
172 Section 3.
(1)
The Department of Commerce is authorized,
173
and all conditions are deemed to be met, to adopt emergency
174
rules pursuant to s. 120.54(4), Florida Statutes, for the
175
purpose of implementing s. 409.1466, Florida Statutes.
176
(2)
Notwithstanding any other law, emergency rules adopted
177
pursuant to subsection (1) are effective for 6 months after
178
adoption and may be renewed during the pendency of procedures to
179
adopt permanent rules addressing the subject of the emergency
180
rules.
181 Section 4.
This act applies to the federal Earned Income
182
Tax Credit granted beginning on or after January 1, 2027.
183 Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.