Florida House lawmakers back down on limits to Gov. Ron DeSantis' emergency fund

Lawrence Mower, Miami Herald on Feb 18, 2026

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — After intense pushback from Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies, Florida House Republicans backed off a proposal to stop him from using an emergency fund to carry out his immigration efforts.

House Republicans plan to pass an amendment Thursday that would allow the administration to continue to pay for the Alligator Alcatraz immigrant detention center and other activities through a multibillion-dollar fund intended only to be used for declared states of emergency.

The House, amid questions over DeSantis’ spending, had proposed restricting the fund last week to natural disasters and emergencies and adding new oversight requirements.

Since then, the idea has been blasted by DeSantis’ allies and staffers who implied that GOP legislators were cutting off the governor’s immigration campaign.

DeSantis’ former chief of staff, Attorney General James Uthmeier, said on X that efforts to take away the governor’s control were “moronic.” A DeSantis administration staffer wrote to House committee members on Monday that the House’s bill would “jeopardize the safety of Floridians.”

DeSantis said Tuesday that the fund has been “absolutely critical.”

“It has absolutely saved lives,” he said. “It’s made our community safer.”

House Speaker Daniel Perez, who has repeatedly clashed with DeSantis in the last year, said Tuesday that he didn’t know why people were claiming that the House would end immigration funding. The spending could have been allocated separately from the fund.

“To say that we weren’t going to fund it, I don’t know where that narrative came from,” Perez said.

DeSantis asked lawmakers in 2022 to create a new Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund to allow him to tap into a pool of money for declared states of emergency without approval from the Legislature — and without having to comply with competitive bidding requirements and other laws.

It expires this week unless lawmakers renew it.

His use of the fund has been under scrutiny since last year, when GOP lawmakers passed a law requiring him to report how the money was spent.

The report, released last month, disclosed the administration had spent $573 million on immigration enforcement since 2023. The spending included more than $166,000 on restaurants and catering and a $203,000 private jet bill two days before Christmas last year.

DeSantis declared a state of emergency over immigration in 2023 and has renewed it 20 times.

The new House plan would extend the fund through 2030 but put guardrails on how it’s used, including forbidding the administration from spending it on boats and aircraft and requiring federal reimbursements be deposited back in the state’s general revenue fund under the purview of the Legislature.

It’s set for a floor vote Thursday. The Senate has passed a bill without those conditions.