Renzo Downey
Fast-tracked legislation to pull the state from its contract with the lead domestic violence agency is now in the Senate’s hands after a unanimous House vote Thursday.
Last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis implored the Legislature and Chief Inspector General Melinda Miguel to investigate allegations of abuse of state funds by the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence (FCADV). The group finally handed over documents it had withheld for over a year but with redactions, leading the House to keep true to Rep. Tom Leek‘s threats to issue subpoenas.
“We were asking for information. They just gave us the back of their hand. They didn’t want to participate at all, so obviously, that’s very troubling,” DeSantis told reporters Thursday.
On Wednesday, both chambers put legislation (HB 1087/SB 1482) authorizing the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to contract with other nonprofits on the special order calendar, expediting the effort to cut the state’s ties with FCADV. That agency is currently written into statute as DCF’s lone domestic violence contracting option.
In the Senate, President Bill Galvano requested the bill skip the normal committee process to accept the House version. His chamber is expected to take up Rep. Juan Fernandez-Barquin‘s bill on Wednesday.
“What’s happened with the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence shocks the conscience — taxpayer money being diverted for personal gain,” the Miami-Dade Republican said. “This issue has kept me up at night because it’s not our money. This is the state’s money given to us and trusted to us by taxpayers.”
Public Integrity and Ethics Committee member Rep. Patricia Williams had submitted an amendment, withdrawn Thursday, to cap the CEO’s salary of whichever nonprofit DCF partners with at $150,000 or 5% of the contract total, whichever is less. But Fernandez-Barquin told the Fort Lauderdale Democrat and the House that his next goal would be to peer into the local care providers FCADV oversaw.
“After speaking to the sponsor of this bill and DCF, they’re willing to work with me toward stopping this from happening to anyone that receives state tax dollars to receive a salary of that kind of amount,” Williams said.
Last year, the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald reported that then-CEO Tiffany Carr received $761,000 annually. Then, the papers broke the news that the agency was stonewalling investigators without consequences.
For perspective, Fernandez-Barquin told the House that the Florida Coalition Against Sexual Violence CEO makes $120,000 annually.
Last week, investigators revealed that Carr was paid more than $7.5 million over three years, including more than $5 million for accumulated paid time off. The exorbitant expenditures led lawmakers to question whether they should ever again tie private agencies to state statutes with no sunset or oversight.
“When you’re talking about millions of dollars lining people’s pockets, that’s money that could go to help people who have been victims,” DeSantis said. “If you’re in this line of business, you should be there for the victims, not for yourself.”
Thursday evening, the Governor issued an executive order calling on all executive agencies to report within 45 days all sole-source contracts outlined in state law and all private groups that receive at least half of their funding from the state and federal governments. Additionally, the agencies must audit contracted groups and report excessive spending to the Inspector General.
House Speaker José Oliva agreed with the executive order after Thursday’s lengthy floor session. He called FCADV’s alleged abuse extraordinary.
“I can’t imagine that an abuse of that level exists somewhere else,” he said. “But without a doubt, we’re concerned and we’re looking at legislation that ensures that the right oversight is applied to anyone with that kind of authority.”
Prospective legislation would leave the ability for regular auditing and rules on appointing people to a non-profit’s board. FCADV’s CEO was responsible for appointing board members, and those members decided the CEO’s compensation. Additionally, the board was made up of leaders of the local shelters FCADV oversaw.
But the Legislature might not settle the issue before the end of the Session or even by the end of Oliva’s term as Speaker.
Both versions of the bill have been amended so the FCADV repeal immediately comes into action upon DeSantis’ signature.
And Fernandez-Barquin made an oath to continue his crusade against state service inefficiencies.
“I want everyone here to know that if I get reelected, this is going to be the first of many battles against nonprofits to ensure that taxpayer money is being used efficiently,” he said.
DeSantis thanked the House for taking the lead on the FCADV contract repeal. But the Governor noted his budgets proposed putting domestic violence coordination directly under DCF not because the job is easy but because he wanted a check on an entity that has the power to choose its own board of directors and pay schemes.
“When I first came in, I told the folks in our office, ‘Let’s look at all these practices contracting everything, figure out what we can do better and figure out where there are inefficiencies,’ because these things build up,” he said.
