Florida SB 780: Office of the Judges of Compensation Claims

Bill Text

780 
Government Waste and Misconduct 
2025-12-08T05:28:58Z 
Requiring the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, the Auditor General, and the Government Efficiency Task Force to prepare a specified report; requiring that the report include an investigation and evaluation of all state spending; creating the Working Floridians Tax Rebate Program within the Department of Commerce for a certain purpose; defining the term “waste”; granting certain state funds to people and households that received the federal Earned Income Tax Credit and meet certain criteria, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 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 can