Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday defended a state agency's involvement with a $10 million donation to a charity founded by his wife as a “cherry on top” deal using funds from a settlement between the agency and the state’s largest Medicaid contractor.
DeSantis spoke after House Republicans this week questioned the donation to the Hope Florida initiative founded by his wife, Casey DeSantis.
The donation was part of a $67 million settlement last fall between the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and Centene Corporation involving overpayments related to pharmacy benefit managers. State law mandates that money from the settlement be put in a trust fund or a general fund under legislative oversight.
“When you do settlements, you can try to get as much money as you can, but this was in addition to what they were getting. This is kind of like a cherry on top where they agreed to make an additional contribution, and so we were served well by what ACHA did,” DeSantis said at a news conference.
DeSantis called the settlement “100% appropriate" and said Republican lawmakers were “grasping at straws” to reflect negatively on the settlement, which he said has “nothing to do with Hope Florida.”
The Hope Florida initiative was launched in 2021 by Casey DeSantis as a conservative approach to welfare focused on helping people become less reliant on taxpayer-funded services. According to state records, the nonprofit Hope Florida Foundation was established in 2023.
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Republican lawmakers have voiced concerns that taxpayer funds may have been used to prop up the first lady’s key initiative, which could boost her resume in a potential campaign for governor in 2026. The current governor is in his second term and is term-limited.
House Speaker Daniel Perez on Wednesday defended lawmakers' questions about the donation, saying they mostly want to know how the money was received, where it went, how it was used and why.
“So far it looks as though it could be illegal,” Perez said.
“That $10 million was state money,” Republican Rep. Alex Andrade said Wednesday during a tense hearing with a state agency head who oversaw Hope Florida. “I still have no idea why this was justified. I have very strong beliefs that this was not legal.”
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For weeks, DeSantis has asked lawmakers to pass legislation to create a Hope Florida Office under the governor's oversight, expand the program's reach and require state agencies to participate.
An analysis by House legislative staff released last week delved deeper into the program's charity arm, noting that the Hope Florida Foundation appears to be out of compliance with multiple state laws.
According to the findings, the foundation has failed to submit an annual audit to the state's auditor general and hasn't published legally required information, including a brief description of its mission, a three-year financial plan, its code of ethics and its tax forms. Hope Florida did not provide required documents when asked to do so by House staff, according to the analysis.
Casey DeSantis is not listed as an officer of the nonprofit, according to state records. Website records from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, where nonprofits are required to report financial information, do not include any documents from the Hope Florida Foundation.
Kate Payne contributed to this report from Tallahassee, Florida. Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
