A fund that pays for emergency preparation and response is set to expire Monday, but the House and Senate are at odds over whether to limit how Gov. Ron DeSantis can use the money.
Since it was set up in 2022, lawmakers have put $4.77 billion in the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund. But DeSantis has used hundreds of millions of dollars on emergencies that aren’t related to hurricanes or natural disasters, including illegal immigration enforcement and rescuing Floridians from international hotspots like Israel and Haiti.
A bill released Thursday as part of the House’s budget package would bar DeSantis from using the fund for illegal immigration enforcement. The Senate, meanwhile, passed its own bill on Wednesday without restrictive parameters on how the money could be used.
The move from the House is another point of conflict with DeSantis, who has been at odds with House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, over several issues in the last year, including tax cuts and condominium safety rules.
But the House isn’t set to hear the bill in committee until Monday, and budget negotiations between the chambers won’t take place before the fund is set to expire at midnight Monday.
ALSO READ: Florida Senate votes to extend DeSantis administration's emergency fund
DeSantis first issued an emergency declaration on immigration in early January 2023, which allowed the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) to use the fund to establish Alligator Alcatraz and Deportation Depot, two state-run immigration detention facilities.
Florida spent more than $573 million on immigration enforcement, according to a 2026 annual report FDEM is required to provide to the Legislature. While the federal government has approved reimbursement funds of up to $608 million, the money hasn’t been sent to state coffers. The state only expects the federal government to pay about half of the $573 million, the report says.
Under the House bill, any reimbursements by the federal government would go into the state’s main coffers, not back into the emergency fund.
And money couldn’t be used on aircraft, boats or motor vehicles.
Between 2023 and 2025, the state spent over $29 million on goods, including helicopter engines, 2,500 cargo vans and trailers for immigration enforcement-related purposes, according to the FDEM report.
The bill also requires FDEM to provide an “accounting of all inventory and assets purchased, separated by emergency event and agency, for preparing for, responding to, or recovering from a state of emergency that is a natural emergency.”
The House would extend the fund until July 1, 2030, while the Senate would extend it to Dec. 31, 2027.
