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) Spending by the Department of Children and Families,
45 the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Agency for Persons with
46 Disabilities, the Department of Elderly 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 related 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 Network, and
55 the Hope Florida Fund. The report must also identify the number
56 of full-time equivalent employees in state agencies who are
57 currently working on Hope Florida functions, the extent to which
58 preexisting full-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) Spending related to proposed Amendments 3 and 4 to the
89 State Constitution from the 2024 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.